This week at the Chippewa Racquet Club, I approached one of the head pros at the club and asked him if he would have time to let me interview him. He was hesitant at first but once I told him how long it would take, he agreed and we set up a time to interview. Rob Smothers, the person that I am interviewing seemed really excited to share his tennis insight with me and thanked me for picking him to interview and he seemed really honored.

During the time that I was observing, I witnessed a pretty scary injury. A young player, probably about 16 or 17 was running after a ball, hit it and then tried to recover for the next shot and rolled his ankle really bad. He was playing on the first court so he was right below where I was observing. I could tell the player was in a lot of pain and it took him a while to get onto his feet. Once he was finally standing, he was helped off of the court by the person his opponent and received first aid. The doctors said that he suffered a minor ankle sprain and that he should stay off of it for a few weeks. Other than the injury and the interview, business was as usual at the Chippewa Racquet Club.

This week was a particularly slow week at the Chippewa Racquet Club. I am starting to notice that the same people are using the club at the same times. They are taking lessons with the same pros, doing the same drills, and doing the same workouts as they usually do. Because they go at the same time every week, this gives me a great opportunity to learn their schedules and see if they have time to allow me to interview them. From what I have seen so far, this patrons of the club are very friendly and seem very approachable. I am somewhat disappointed that I am not able to report any new observations. Because it is winter, most of the facilities have shut down making it difficult to observe different surroundings each week.

This week at the Chippewa Racquet Club, I decided to do something a little different. I decided to venture over to the basketball complex to observe the activities over there. What I observed proved to be a breath of fresh air. There was a basketball tournament going on that was held for all different ages. It was cool to see the differences in the abilities and passion that all the age groups displayed.
The little kids looked as if they were having a blast and didn't care whether or not they won or lost the game. I haven't witnessed this carefree attitude in many year and it was definitely refreshing to witness. As the age groups began to increase, this carefree attitude began to dissipate and the competitiveness began to increase. The older age groups got so competitive that there was almost a fight and the game had to be stopped for a few minutes. After the game continued, you could tell that the referees weren't going to let any kind of funny business take place and were watching the game like a pack of hawks. Tensions were still high but the game continued with a minimal amount of fouls taking place.
I stayed around for a few more minutes to watch the championship trophy presentation. The players seemed so happy that they won and their smiles definitely showed it.

This week at the Chippewa Racquet club, i decided to do a little exploring. I wandered the halls of the club looking for something new to observe. The place with the most activity was the weight room. While I was observing, I noticed that most of the people there were working out with a friend or someone that they knew. The majority of the talks were about the recent super bowl and "the catch." It all started with the weight trainers talking amongst each other but soon turned into a big discussion involving everyone in the. Most of the people couldn't believe that Eli had lead the Giants to beat the undefeated Patriots in a such a great game.
I soon left the weight room to explore some more. I made my way up to the tennis area and observed some matches. It looked as if there was some sort of tournament taking place. Also, I noticed that as people came into the club, the secretary politely greeted them and had a short conversation with most guests. This part of the club really impressed me, I like the sense of comradely I feel when I am at the club. As the matches continued, I noticed that some people were beginning to get upset with their level of play and began to fall apart on the court. after their matches were over the players would walk up the stairs to where i was observing and talk about what they did or didn't do in the match.

While observing the Chippewa Tennis Club, I found a wide variety of skill levels playing. The little kids looked like they were having the time of their life as they ran around taking huge swings at the ball, missing most of the time. Older players would have good long points but would get frustrated if they missed a shot. Every once and a while I would hear the eruption of players celebrating a long hard point or screaming in frustration.

Researching the community

The communities that I am considering researching are:
Chippewa Tennis Club
Eastern Marketplace
Eastern Rec