And finally it was Mark’s turn to go for an exam at Bovernizer and Baker Orthodontics! To be honest, he doesn’t truly need braces but for the sake of his future teeth health, we decided to get them put on. He was not super thrilled but at least it’s only for about a year! He didn’t get his braces on till the end of January, so no pictures of that yet.
Mark is still a Team Dunlop Player. He got a new Dunlop sweatshirt, finally (as he wore his gray one to death). Tennis still takes up the majority of his time.
In early December, Mark and Daniel played a tournament in Florence and won it in doubles! Mark actually did pretty well in singles as well in that tournament.
Daniel is a friend tennis player, whose parents are from Belarus. I still speak English when I talk to his dad though.
And also Carolyn and Breanna won first place in Girls doubles--they all are friends.
Moreover, Mark and Carolyn played MIXED doubles and got second place! They had lots of fun! Carolyn is a friend from Mark’s third grade:).
The tournament was held in Florence, SC and we were staying right in downtown which was decorated for Christmas. Mark is funny--one side of him is so goofy and he wants to do silly things like this, but the other side is telling him to be “cool” now and grown up-hahaha.
Then! Mark and I flew to Miami for Jr. Orange Bowl tournament. I can’t believe we actually did that! They reduced the size of the qualifying draw and instead of 128 were taking only 64 kids. Mark was on the alternates list, but so close to getting in that we decided to do it! We flew in the day before the qualifying matches started, staying in Coral Gables. That afternoon, Mark got to hit at Biscayne Bay with Cameron, his tennis coach, who traveled to FL to support four of his players.
Mark also warmed up with Cameron in the morning before the matches...mind you, still not knowing if he would make it into the draw.
Happy sweaty face, a screenshot of my phone.
Jr. Orange Bowl is a pretty big deal as it’s an international tournament for the best tennis players in the world. Because of Mark’s birthday, though, he is able to play it this year (2022) for the last time although he is not technically 14 even. Anyone playing it next year has to be 14 on Dec 31, and Mark will be 15 and three days... It really stinks as he would be taller, stronger and better by then for sure.
And, of course, the site of the tournament is Crandon Park which is iconic as they used to play Miami Open here.
For dinner we went to THE MOST expensive place we have ever been to. We kind of got roped into it as we were trying to feel a part of a team, but sheesh...it was a bit much. SO GOOD though! The place is called Komodo. Maybe we are not cut out for this fancy tennis world...
So! In the morning of the qualifying rounds, we were at the site bright and early, signing in to be an onsite alternate. We stood in a line of at least 50 kids, but what mattered is where you were already on the alternates list irregardless of the line. We didn’t have to wait too long, actually. About an hour after the matches started, Mark got called out to play a match against a boy from the Boston area. The boy was a lot higher in UTR than Mark, but Mark was playing great! In fact, Mark was able to pull him to the third set but lost in that tiebreak. It was tough...
Super sad especially being so close to winning... It’s hard to smile after a bitter loss, but that’s what you have to do. Fail to win, accept it, decide to keep working harder, brush up and get up to keep moving forward.
We switched our plane tickets super quickly and were able to get on a plane back to RDU that evening. It all worked out, just not the way we hoped for! Now we just have to help Mark get to his next goal of playing Orange Bowl for 15-18 year olds.
Mark is breaking strings every two or three days... He has four rackets now so Robert is stringing them a lot. We go through reels and reels of strings (each reel can string around 18 rackets and each reel is about $270). At least we are saving money by owning the stringer as each time it would be at least $15 for stringing a racket. Mark is still learning how to do it correctly.
Mark is also still learning how to not stick rubber chickens onto the ceiling;).
Oh yes, and Mark has a group of friends from church that he hangs out with periodically. He is closer with some than others, and most of the time they have fun. This is a picture of them all going ice skating before Christmas.
Lyana.
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