Live at the Collegiate Open: The Role of a Tennis Host Parent, From Court to Kitchen
Nov 14, 2023Season 1Episode 9
Bonita Bay Club
Picture yourself at the bustling Breezeway Bar and Club Restaurant, amidst the electrifying vibe of a collegiate tennis event, where young athletes display astonishing performances. You're sitting next to Bonita Bay Club member Dan Robbins, a temporary tennis parent to two stellar Purdue team athletes, and he's about to give you a behind-the-scenes view of their journey.
Our Sports Director Paula Scheb sits with member Dan Robbins and invite us to experience the incredible discipline, fitness, and sportsmanship displayed by these young talents, and Dan gives us an insider's look at their anticipatory skills and the inspiring level of athleticism they bring to the club. But that's just the start of it. Beyond the tennis court, there's a unique joy that comes with hosting these young athletes. Dan paints a picture of the culinary adventures, from breakfast cooking duties to a surprising shortage of Nutella. He describes the youthful vitality these students infuse into the club, the international FaceTime tours of his home, and late-night pool games. Get ready for compelling anecdotes and heartfelt gratitude for the chance to be part of these young athletes' journeys. This conversation is an inspiring and entertaining examination of the crossroads of sports, culture, and hospitality.
Picture yourself at the bustling Breezeway Bar and Club Restaurant, amidst the electrifying vibe of a collegiate tennis event, where young athletes display astonishing performances. You're sitting next to Bonita Bay Club member Dan Robbins, a temporary tennis parent to two stellar Purdue team athletes, and he's about to give you a behind-the-scenes view of their journey.
Our Sports Director Paula Scheb sits with member Dan Robbins and invite us to experience the incredible discipline, fitness, and sportsmanship displayed by these young talents, and Dan gives us an insider's look at their anticipatory skills and the inspiring level of athleticism they bring to the club. But that's just the start of it. Beyond the tennis court, there's a unique joy that comes with hosting these young athletes. Dan paints a picture of the culinary adventures, from breakfast cooking duties to a surprising shortage of Nutella. He describes the youthful vitality these students infuse into the club, the international FaceTime tours of his home, and late-night pool games. Get ready for compelling anecdotes and heartfelt gratitude for the chance to be part of these young athletes' journeys. This conversation is an inspiring and entertaining examination of the crossroads of sports, culture, and hospitality.
Speaker 1:
Hello Bonita Bay Club. I'm at the Breezeway Bar and Club Restaurant, right at the tennis courts, with one of our favorite members, mr Dan Robbins. Welcome, dan.
Speaker 2:
Thank you, Bala, for having me on the air and thanks for the background. Music Brings the whole place livelier.
Speaker 1:
It just feels like we're part of a huge Broadway show, doesn't it?
Speaker 2:
It does. This is quite the theory that you've brought to Bonita Bay. This is a great acting and great performances. The athleticism is amazing.
Speaker 1:
It's crazy to think that we have just eight colleges here four men, four women and two are playing at a time two men's teams and two women's teams and it feels like everything's buzzing, doesn't it? I mean, doesn't it feel crazy energetic around here?
Speaker 2:
It is, and you just don't even know where your eyes to go. We are, of course, married to the two kids we are hosting from Purdue, and fortunately they're the number one in two seats on the Purdue team, so they're great matches. But there's so much other great tennis here that I'd love to go out and see, but we got to root our guys on. That's just. That's our job as parents.
Speaker 1:
Yes, you all are tennis parents for the weekend, that's for sure. But you know, truly, this event could not happen if it wasn't for the support of our members. Both you and Laura have been so grateful to help us financially and then also help us with hosting the event. You've only had one night, I know, but you had a party last night and a little bit of time. I want to know, really, who cooked the breakfast and how was the breakfast this morning?
Speaker 2:
I heard the breakfast was amazing, that we came up short on Nutuela, that we thought we had it, we don't, and the kids were really excited about it. I played tennis with Randy Highley's group this morning and so Laura had cooked detail. So it's my job for the next few days to cook breakfast and they ate well.
Speaker 1:
I could only imagine.
Speaker 2:
They ate, they have good appetites.
Speaker 1:
These kids eat so much. But you walk around you and I were talking earlier. They seem to be taller, they seem to be more fit, more fast, not necessarily than any of our members, but they just seem to be very fast and fit. I hate to compare them to our members, but our members probably were that one day, one day not too long ago, right?
Speaker 2:
right when we were just climbing down from the trees a hundred years ago. Uh, these are real athletes, and I remember the tennis players when I grew up. I did not go to an elite school for tennis, but we had a tennis team with some great players on it, and these guys are in a different league. They're much more muscular, they're you know, they're thin. There's just no excess body weight at any of them. There's no ball that they can't get, which is just amazing to watch them.
Speaker 1:
Uh, chase this stuff down I'll tell you, as as I sit and watch a point here, in a point there you talk about chasing it down. I am astounded about how well they read the shot that's coming to them and many times are in position before the balls. They are just almost waiting, it's, it's almost celestial, it's just crazy good their anticipation is absolutely amazing and they're ready for it.
Speaker 2:
It's not that they just got to the spot, but they're waiting for that ball. It's like they have free time and when we're playing we're busy scrambling and we're hitting the ball half as fast and half as deep, and yet we're scrambling and they're looking fluid on the court. It's really.
Speaker 1:
It's inspiring for us to watch because it's something for us to aspire to that's an interesting way of saying it, that they seem to be just waiting on the ball and everything seems to be, from their perspective, slow motion. That you're right. That is a very interesting perspective. So, coming back to the excitement around this event, you all have been great, great tennis supporters. We really I look you in the eye and so appreciate you and Laura, you've stepped up to the plate and anything we've asked you to do and we've asked a lot. So what does it feel like with the kids here? I mean, we've got, goodness, 80 kids that are 21 and under what. What is that brought to the club? Has it been good, bad and different? What are your thoughts?
Speaker 2:
oh, first of all, these are incredibly disciplined, well-behaved student athletes and they, they're just really nice and inspiring. And people from all over the world and you know they're very honored to be here. They're proud of what their accomplishment is, but that doesn't translate into excess ego. They, they are just so happy that we're extending the hospitality we're getting. We have these sleep number beds so they can adjust the the firmness of the mattress in there oh my god, just the firmness of the mattress. Having come from college life to you know, nice plush retired life and they're they're enjoying it and we're enjoying having them because they bring a lot of spark and vitality here and it's it's great to see. You know, thank you for giving us the opportunity to do this and have them be inspiring. And you know, our kids are inspiring, but we raised our kids. Our grandkids are inspiring, we know them, but these are.
Speaker 1:
This is just a whole different dimension than we enjoy doing well, I can tell you from talking to the coaches and some of the players that this tournament is one that everybody looks forward to, and ncda rules are so difficult and incredibly challenging to navigate would be the best, best way to say it. And these kids come here and they're treated to the very best in everything and spoiled for three days, and they just love it. They feel like they've inherited a temporary mom and dad. So thank you and Laura, so much we appreciate it it's also cool that their parents are overseas.
Speaker 2:
And one of the kids was walking around the house with his uh face time on his phone. He's like look at this house, look at the pool, look at the yard. He's just giving him like an inch by inch tour of that house. And last night they hurried home after they had a party here where everyone's here, and they're like we're done, let's go home. And they settled in and they just want to stay up and shoot pool all night until I'm done. All right, guys, yeah. And. And they're like yeah, we're, we're, we're exhausted, can we? Can we finish down? Like no, I was waiting for you to call uncle, so uh that's cute.
Speaker 1:
That's a cute story. Well, I'm sure you've got lots of other fun activities planned for the weekend and in the meantime, we'll call it a wrap and we appreciate your time, dan robbins thank you for having me, paul, and thank you for bringing this tournament to here.