Victory Gallop Sunday, February 10, 2008

I was sitting on my girlfriends couch about to enjoy a relaxing morning in Boston, when I got the call. Jim Thomas was a man short for a charity match/event in Akron, Ohio and was looking for a substitute. My 6 day vacation/training in Boston was interrupted in Day 1 with flight planning and inquiries as well as me debating if my girlfriend (Monica) would kill me for canceling the plans she had for friday and saturday. After some diligent searching for the fastest way, my girlfriend and I were on our way early Friday morning to Akron. Going into the day I knew I was going to Akron for 2 days and had to bring my rackets, that was basically the details that Jim gave me on the phone. We arrived on friday just before noon and was told that I would have approximately 10 mins from when we arrived at the club until when I needed to be on court. I said I needed 5...and a tall vanilla latte and I will be ready! Victory Gallop was the organization running the event headed by Sue Miller. It's a program designed to give opportunities to underprivileged children and allow them to ride horses at farm in Akron. Maybe the neatest part of the organization involves "Petie the Pony," who is a REAL pony who every friday goes to hospitals and visits sick children. The video they showed us was amazing, when I first heard, that Petie the Pony visits kids in the hospital, I thought for sure it was a guy in a horse suit! But, no!, he's a real pony, they bring him in and he goes room to room and greets the children. It's so awesome...you should see the looks on these kids faces as Petie walks in and puts his head on their bed. We did a pro-am, had a dinner/auction, 3 clinics and finished up with an awesome doubles match where Jim and I played against Mardy Fish and Sam Querrey. It was a whirlwind 48 hours, but it went great. Monica who after the dinner mentioned that she would love to see the farm, was greeted Saturday morning by about a dozen different organizers who all said, "So, I hear you are going to volunteer at the farm!" I was busy teaching clinics, so I couldn't go, but she had a great time, although it sounded like she spent most her time playing with the 4 puppies and the biggest dog you have ever seen (Simba). That made her day. After the 2 day event we were headed back to Boston and Monica and I couldn't stop talking about everything that happened over the course of the weekend. We met so many great people and felt so great that we had helped contribute to such a neat cause that 48 hours earlier we didn't even know about. Thanks to Sue, James, Ted, Rocco, Jim and everyone else who put on the event and made us feel so special, it was such a great experience for both of us! - Booty