After playing tennis for more than 45 years, and still loving it enough to devote all his waking time and energy to it, Daniel A. Young, 69, is truly passionate about the game.
Young works as a driver for the Wolfline buses , but according to him, it’s “just a way of earning money [to] buy tennis balls.”
Young recently won the North Carolina Senior Games in Raleigh for the second time in a row.
He started playing tennis at the age of 24, when he challenged one of his acquaintances to a tennis game. Surprised when he lost 6-0, Young wanted a rematch. After a few months of practice and getting to know the ropes of the game, he played again and this time he won 6-0.
According to Young, he taught himself to play tennis just by reading books and practicing on a wall.
“Hitting the ball on a wall and catching it gives you a consistency you will not be able to get by practicing with other players, especially weaker ones. I started with gradually increasing the number of balls I could hit and catch, and now I can go up to 300 for backhand and 300 for forehand without missing at a time,” Young said.
Young’s strategy is to use the mind while playing. When he started playing the game he used to think about tennis all the time and how to improve, even when he was not practicing. Now that he has long been an expert at the game, he likes thinking about he can get others to learn the game. Besides playing, he has taught tennis around the country, from Chapel Hill and Durham to Florida and San Diego for more than 30 years.
“I believe tennis to be the sport of a lifetime, something a person can start at any age,” Young said.
He gets letters from people who are enjoying the game he introduced to them.
“We are thankful to you for teaching us the strokes, strategy and sportsmanship of tennis. You are responsible for our great improvement at the game,” Juergen and Johanna Plaehn , a couple he taught to play tennis, wrote to him.
Janet Stevens, who lives in San Diego, is another protégé of Young who started playing the game when she was 40 years old. She too gives him credit for introducing her to the game, with it now being an activity she thoroughly enjoys.
His passion for spreading the game even led him to try and teach it to auditorily and visually impaired children.
“I contacted John Deluca , who is the president of the Morehead School to introduce this idea,” Young said. “Blind kids already take part in some physical activities such as racing with the help of holding ropes, so I thought they could be taught tennis as well. They were able to play along with a helper who would tell them whether they were hitting the ball too low or too high.”
Not many children at the school took up tennis, but Young is still optimistic. He believes this game to be a great way to stay active as well as make friends.
“I believe I have played with more people than anyone else,” Young said. “I love walking into a court and challenging players for a game. Even if they are not very good at the game it doesn’t matter, because I might help them get better.”
When he teaches, he likes to use the analogy of window shades, hammers and scissors to get his students to learn the right grip of the racquet and the right way of bouncing the ball.
Young also advocates families playing together, with parents helping their children get better at the game. Families that play together, stay together is what Young believes. His enthusiasm can be gauged by the fact that he would like to challenge Serena Williams to a game.
“I think I can defeat her,” Young said with a smile.
