by Rayan Khossousi
At Blue Gum Tennis club, I work as a tennis coach and as an Equipment manager with a under wage salary, my job is to help kids from ages to 5-10 yrs. play tennis with a couple of coaches, the head coach makes me check, and organise the equipment in good condition for the people playing tennis. During my shifts if I don’t have anything to do, I help the coaches who need help to supervise the players, When the young players don’t listen and to don’t pick up the balls, I show leadership by encouraging them to pick it up by showing making it look like a game which works and helps speed things, I also congratulate the players if they’ve done a really good job at hitting the ball, I remember on my first couple of shifts, when I encouraged the players, I would remember seeing a smile and seeing them enjoy playing tennis if they were the best or not, this made me realize at the start that I wasn’t a leader but instead a nice and quiet person, but when the months go by, I realized that I am a leader to those kids because I show and represent a nice understanding coach who can help them be a very good tennis player. Even throughout the years I still feel like a leader to the young tennis players and my teammates.