April Sanchez.....your my hero!

Featured in this article is April Sanchez, one of our junior academy players.  She just won second place at a tournament over at the St. Johns Golf and Country Club for 10 & 12 U.  The reason my caption reads "your my hero" is because of what and how she did in her tennis match leading up to the finals of this tournament.  April fell on the court during the match suffering a pull in the groin muscle of her right leg.  She favored the leg after her fall but played on in the match.  April is a pretty tough cookie in my book and she LOVES tennis!  This is a girl who will not give up easily and fights to win in a match. April had a decision to make after suffering from an injury but played on until she finished the match.  She won it!  She was on her way to the finals when the pain was too much to bare and had to withdraw.  Later on she found out the leg was bruised and swollen by the doctors.  It was wise of her to stop!  Let me tell you that is not an easy decision for an any avid tennis player to make.  It was a mature decision on her part and I commend her for playing tough til' the end and making that decision to stop when the pain was too much to bare.  Athletes sometimes make the wrong decision to not stop and they find out later that they do more damage to the site of injury when they don't rest and push on through pain.  Pain is an indicator that there is something wrong.

If you can stop and rest it's more likely that your recovery time will be easier and quicker which is sweet news to any athlete.  Athletes do not make very good patients!

Congratulations April!  You are becoming an awesome and beautiful tennis player in the eyes of your coaches at St. Johns Tennis Academy.  You rock!

Coach Heather Lester, Cheryl Keller & Bill Angus