Shubert Blog – Shubert in Hometown Hawaii!

Written by: Staff on 28th October 2011

Shubert Blog - Shubert in Hometown Hawaii! |

Aloha! Sorry I haven’t updated you guys lately, my internet is down at my mom’s house and its taken a while to get it back up and running! Speaking of running, the crew and I hit the ground running, literally, and have been enjoying great weather and great practices the past two days. We had one practice yesterday at the JW Marriott in Kapolei and another two today. This morning we were at the Central Oahu Regional Park before heading back to the hotel to finish the day there. I’ve immersed myself in my role with the team. Whether I’m a player or coach, I try to do the best I can for myself and my game, and also dole out tips when necessary to hopefully implant in these youngsters the kinds of ideals and thought processes that will benefit them later in their careers. So far my body has been holding up fine but maybe that has something to do with all the local island delicacies I’ve been able to gorge the past two days!

Now for some fun news. A club director friend of mine in California noticed I was in Hawaii and asked me to work with his daughter the past two days. I jumped at this because it’s an opportunity to pay for gas around the island and develop closer ties with the director. I hit at his clubs all the time so I figure there must be a trade-off on my part somewhere along the way. So, apparently this junior national going on this weekend is a boys and girls event! I’ve also been stringing a lot of rackets for my team and this girl that I’ve hit with the past two days, staying busy! This schedule of coaching/hitting reminds me a lot of my summer schedule right before the September SoCal futures, I feel confident that this process will benefit my game and harden me for the long grind ahead of me.

I took a friend of mine out to eat tonight before meeting up with my old coach from Punahou, Rusty Komori later on for some pupus (late night appetizers) to “talk story”. Little did I know he’d bring along actor Kelly Thomas and we’d share a funny story and laugh over past fun times. It was the perfect end to a day of 6 hrs on court and two rackets strung for me. It’s kind of funny to find myself in situations like these after living in seclusion out in Utah for 4yrs and not having these types of experiences. I’m thankful Christopher Grant’s dad was able to bring me along with the team to train and consult in order to improve his son’s environment. I feel rejuvenated and refreshed in my hometown and so does my passion for the game. I feel more alive here, feel like I can snap my forehand anywhere around the court and run all day. Try to read Steve Jobs Stanford commencement speech from 2005 to pay close attention to his ideas about death. Those words rare ringing very true for me at the moment and hope I can continue to “stay hungry” for a very long time. Mahalo and enjoy your tennis!!!

Providing some island hospitality to the visiting tennis players here on the island,

Shubert

Topics: Thomas Shubert