The coach is Russian. That's right, a Russian who plays on the French national team. She was likely picked out at a young age because of her athletic ability (and size!) in Russia and sent to a sports boarding school/training camp. Who knows if she ever made the Russian national team, but here she plays for the French...and coaches the 8-year-olds. Her style is classic 1980's Russian...how do you spell Gulag? Last week when the girls weren't paying attention during a drill she made them run lines for 5 minutes; that was after a literal hour of running line drills. (Poor Tennie couldn't walk the next day.)
She means business. Each Saturday there are games, some are in Nice and some are as far as Marseilles. This coach intends to win! She yells out commands in her thick Russian accent and the girls are perfectly compliant. I laughed out loud today watching Tennie try to figure out what she was supposed to be doing. At one point the coach was yelling out "one" or "two". On "one" they were supposed to stop and sit, and on "two" they were supposed to stop and stand. Tennie ran around the court like the other girls...easy enough...then "ONE!"...all the girls dropped to the floor except Tennie. She quickly caught on and dropped. In her natural good-naturedness she has jumped right in and makes the most of it. The coach likes her. Maybe it is because Tennie tries hard, or that she can laugh at herself, or that she has some natural ability. Whatever it is...we're glad she's on her good side!
Adele's reaction after Tennie made a basket during a competition drill...a true fan!
1 comment:
I love it! Way to go Tennie! That workout reminds me of the workouts I did in high school except our lines were on the tennis court in 100 degree weather. You're going to be quite the fit little athlete! And your cheerleader is mighty cute :)
That 4 day week sounds ideal, especially with a break in the middle of the week. I really really like that!
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