by Payne Schanski
Site Director, Tennis Coordinator, Curley K-8 School, Jamaica Plain
Day 7 – March 23
It started snowing right in the middle of filming a target workout for practicing drop shots. If I’m remembering correctly, that’s the first real snow we’ve had in Boston since before Christmas. A month ago, I would never had considered playing tennis in snow, but today is a new world, and it was fun! At least once a day, I make sure to get outside to either make the daily video or just to get some exercise of my own.
The Curley school building was open for just one final day, so I made a quick pit stop for a few last essentials and to say “hi” to Curley Principal, Ms. Grassa, but also just to have an excuse to go somewhere. The bonus was grabbing some JP Caffe Nero on the way, recognizing that even this luxury would be gone soon.
Day 10 – March 26
It took our site team some time to see ‘Tenacity from home’ plans pick up any steam, but I’ve been pleased to hear stories from students and families on how much it is helping them keep their spirits up and stay active.
JB, one of the 6th grade boys, got excited about the Thursday ‘three ball’ Solo Tennis competition and posted scores of his top times. Keerah, another 6th grader, started up daily homework sessions with Ms. Peavy live on Zoom. Jayden called Ms. Li to ask for help researching Andy Murray and Kevin Anderson for a class essay he was writing about pro tennis players (he didn’t ask his tennis coach for any help on this, but that’s neither here nor there).
Day 11 – March 27
The shortest commute is not necessarily the best commute. For the first week-and-a-half of quarantine, my home office was a makeshift desk and chair arranged a racket’s length from where I lay my head to sleep. In theory, I could wake up at 8:59 and 58 seconds in the morning and still be sitting at my cubicle on time for the work day.
As it turns out, that’s not the best idea. After a stretch of several nights in a row where I couldn’t fall asleep, still buzzing from work mode, I decided a change was necessary. Sacrificing a little convenience for sanity, I now make a 13-second commute to set up shop in another room.