I have not written in quite a while. I tend to write if I am in the valley or on the mountaintop. Sadly its the latter. Me, Dean, our group of friends and our tennis community lost a good one yesterday to a tragic accident. We are still stunned, in shock and devastated at this loss.
When I write I like to tell stories as I think stories connect the dots for me and helps support the point I am trying to make. So I am going to tell some tennis stories about my friend.
Let me start by saying that tennis connects a lot of people. It is a beautiful community of people that spend a lot of time together. If you look and evaluate tennis friendships you will notice some similarities in personalities – highly competitive, has a general love of people, Type A (large and in charge) just to name a few. Tennis has been a growing part of my life for some time and now have a strong group of friends that have gravitated towards each other, whom I just love. Jeff Manuel was part of this group. He, in fact was my mixed doubles partner – a well paired match as we are both highly competitive – Step on Your Neck Competitive! Sitting back this morning after hearing the tragic news I find myself thinking about Jeff and tennis. You can learn a lot about someone through the lens of a sport.
Jeff approached tennis with the same tenacity, grit and fight he did his own life. He was a fierce competitor. He had 1 speed – fast and get it done. At a recent state tournament we were playing a team we should have been beating but were struggling. It was a different pace of game play and I pulled Jeff aside and told him slow down, we need to change the pace. We lost – the only loss of the season together and neither of us were happy about it. After this match when we were about to go on court for our next match he told me that he was going to play HIS game – He was going to play “Jeff Tennis” and we were going to go and kick ass. I looked at him in all his confidence and said – Let’s play some Jeff Tennis! Jeff lived by his own rules – no one was going to determine the pace of his life – he went out everyday whether on or off the court – whether he won or loss and played Jeff Tennis. I respect a person that lives by their own rules and forges ahead in life following their own plan – even when there are missteps – living authentically.
If you haven’t gathered, we play a lot of tennis and I have so many stories…. Recently I was playing a mixed doubles match at a State Tournament. For this match I happen not to be playing with Jeff but Jeff and Dean were spectating. In this match the opposing guy was extreme and his goal was to intimidate the opposing female on the court and he took several opportunities to hit the ball as hard as he could straight at me. It was intentional and he wasn’t remorseful – he laughed about it. On the sidelines, Dean was watching and told Jeff that If the opposing guy hit me he was going on the court to confront him. Jeff’s response was classic – “I will be on the court before you!” He fiercely protected his people. Which is one of the reasons he played half of our season with a broken hand. He loved big and disregarded his own safety to protect his people. He wasn’t afraid to speak up if he felt something wasn’t right. He would do anything for his friends! He also brought that same fierce love and protection to his family. He loved his children and would do anything for them!
Jeff was also funny, witty, a coach and a mentor, a fantastic dad and a great friend.
Death is brutal – it takes your breath away. Your left standing there thinking what just happened. We had plans – He had Plans – and all of that just disappears, vanishes as quick as the person that left this earth. I wish we could have a redo of yesterday, a rewind and redo it differently. But we can’t and here we are.
I think I speak for my friends, my tennis team and tennis community when I say that Jeff will forever be missed on and off the court. Our hearts are forever broken and we will likely not get over this loss for quite a while. For me, he will forever be on my mind when I step on a tennis court. And for those of us who will be traveling to Sectionals without Jeff now – I say we all commit to playing some “Jeff Tennis” and win it for HIM! #JeffTennis
May GOD hold close and comfort his children and family and may Jeff forever Rest In Peace!
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