Thread 3: Lessons learnt

I framed my story in the manner that I did for this platform hoping I can bring out some key lessons for the reader, without necessarily pointing them out. I will however share a few of the life lessons I have learnt from and through sport and in my life in general:

1.Accept who you are (as it relates to things you know you cannot change)-as someone with a disability this is probably the foundation for everything else.Unless, & until you have accepted who you are,you will spend most of your time looking to change into someone else you are'nt

Accepting yourself will allow you to focus on making the best of what you have, however imperfect. And this applies to everyone actually. It does take time though, sometimes years. However long, it’s a key foundation for everything else.

Accept yourself and live your life to the fullest, I mean life is too short

And when you get that call to “come over, no one’s home” go…

There are pros and cons to this disability thing Cdes…decide which part you want to focus on:

(by the way, if you don’t laugh at jokes made by someone with a disability you are going to hell)

Just so you know, some of us are safe. (rumour says hell is not accessible ). We can’t be punished twice aaaa

Ok, enough of

2. Whatever you decide to do, give it your all - even if you think you have no chance, sometimes the universe connives and does the rest. 1 example (out of so many), one of the parents who child was being coached by Petros in 2008 would see me at training

..when he dropped off or picked up his child for tennis. 1 day, I was on the court and he was chatting to Petros. I had just had my first UK visa turned down and needed to appeal but could not afford the US100.00.

Long story short, he left the US100 with my coach, a few weeks later I was on my first flight to London.

3. The path is not always straight but stay on it! - in hindsight, I can connect a lot of the dots in my life about how this was meant to lead to that or was connected with that. How this disappointment opened doors for this opportunity etc.

To be honest, in real time, you don’t know all that and you will have doubts at times. If you have a goal, stay on that path

4. Plan - there is a lot of thinking and scenario planning that needs to happen all the time. Have your plan A, a back up plan and a back up to the backup plan if possible. Be open to change those, always. My studies were always my backup plan and that gave me some comfort.

5. Do what you love and love what you do - It’s easier to pursue something if you love it. That love carries you through the tough times. Have fun while at it as well, have fun!

6. Saw this somewhere: time wasted is not wasted time if you actually enjoyed yourself (I agree, don’t argue with me ). I missed out some things in pursuit of my dream, but I loved it.

7. Arm yourself with information – this I cannot stress enough. This was and is probably one of my biggest strengths. I read all I could find about tennis. I knew the rule book too well which served me well a few times in my career.

I spent time on websites reading, watching, learning whenever I could afford to go to the internet café. I do this about many other things as well, thanks to the internet. If you dont have internet, talk to people, ask to shadow them and take in as much as you can

8. One of my friends told me early on that it’s pointless to be a great tennis player but a bad human being. Humility and gratitude always. I pray i have reflected both in my life

9. Place and time – some things are not meant for you, the ones that are, you will find yourself in the right place at the right time. (1 story of many such – I missed out on an opportunity to attend University of Kwazulu Natal on a presidential scholarship beginning of 2008.

I had been accepted, processed the visa but could not go last minute and I was heartbroken. Well, you now know what happened in my life in 2008 andwhere that led

End of thread. Sorry i said this was the last one, no. i have one more, very short, my apologies