Hand to Hand Sportsmanship

Proper etiquette stressed during YMCA Junior Tennis Program

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — They didn’t quite hear him.

“Did you shake hands?”

They still didn’t understand.

“Did you shake hands … shake hands after the match?” Brian Parrott repeated, now pantomiming with an extended hand.

The two doubles teams finally got the drift and confirmed that they did shake hands after the match, yet were willing to do it again to alleviate any doubt.

“Those are just the little things that are so important in tennis,” said Parrott, who is the varsity tennis coach at Charles City High School.

“You can’t emphasize that too much.”

Parrott has a history of championing sportsmanship in tennis. He actually tried to get Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe to sign a “Code of Conduct” contract before representing the United States at the 1985 Davis Cup, which Parrott was one of the organizers.

More recently, Parrott was the organizer and instructor for the YMCA Junior Tennis Program, which is concluding its first session this week at Sportsmen’s Park.

Session 2 will run from June 20 to July 1.

“We’re still taking signups for Session 2,” Parrott said of program catering to boys and girls entering grades 4 to 9. “The most we can probably take right now is 20 per group.”

One of the teaching tools Parrott is using is jumbo-sized tennis balls.

“When things are going good, the ball can look this big,” Parrott said with his hands indicating the size of the volleyball. “Then there are days when the ball seems the size of an aspirin.

“We use these balls not only because they are a little bigger, but they have less bounce. Players can control them better and work more on their ground strokes.”

Assisting Parrott with the camp was one of his top singles and doubles player from the varsity girls team — Morgan Kellogg.

Another assistant was Charles City sophomore Isaak Jensen, who played high school tennis for Mason City this past spring because Charles City doesn’t have a boys team.

Parrott is trying to restart a boys program at Charles City by next spring.

“That would be nice,” Jensen said. “There are a lot of good players in Mason City, and I’m glad I got to play with them. But I’m a Comet and I’d like to play as a Comet.”