The Politics of Art & Authenticity

It was a sunny day at the beginning of summer.  I was seven and a spoiled brat.  I had been given an ultimatum by my parents: become a magician or choose a sport.  I chose the latter.  I thought I knew everything and could do anything by myself. I thought tennis would be a walk in the park, I would master it and be finished with it.  That day I met three people who would change my life, Rhea, Katrina, and Kim.  Katrina and Rhea couldn’t hit the ball correctly and Kim was inconsistent.  I knew I could beat them.  I felt I was the best until I met him, the coach, at Go! Tennis.  He was 6’2″, had crazy orange hair, and an unusual sense of humor.  If any of us could win just one point off of him he would give us a dollar.  We each tried again and again, sometimes getting close, but never scoring a point.  It occurred to us that it would be impossible to do it alone.  After much discussion we decided to play doubles against him.  Two against one is never fair but we reasoned two of us made up one of him.  Together we played, compensating for what our partners could not do such as running for the ball when they could not.  In the end we achieved our goal and each of us won a dollar.  We learned the value of teamwork while learning strategy and formed The Tennis Experience.