In Colombia, we don’t have a holiday celebration like Thanksgiving. For me growing up, it was simply something that we saw in all the TV shows, but I actually had no clue what it was all about. During my ten years living in Florida, there was never a celebration because the holiday always fell on the same day as the Eddie Herr tournament (one of the most important junior tournaments in the world), and the entire academy staff was incredibly focused on preparing our players for this event and very busy watching and supporting all of them during the event itself. It was only until I moved to Boston that the spirit of gratefulness was felt during these dates by the entire community. The fact that my young family started growing quickly made me that much more reflective about the meaning, and throughout the years, all the growth and development that I have gone through as a person, as part of an awesome team, and as a leader for these incredible kids gives me the chills in regard to how fortunate I am to do what I do each and every week.
These past few years have brought a number of challenges that have tried to interrupt our path of service and improvement, and the resiliency shown by this team to continue making adjustments and enjoying each day on the courts makes me incredibly grateful and proud to get out there and continue the path of delivering opportunities for our young warriors to strive to use their tennis as a tool for better things in life while having a blast in the process (most of the time 😉 ).
If I was to try to simplify what I am grateful for, I would have to say that I am most grateful for YOU all. Luckly for me, it never feels like work, and that is because I get to spend my days around people like you who embrace in a team effort approach to reach individual goals and growth.
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
See you on the courts!
