Taking tennis’s temperature with Trey

In my youth, I spent many hot summer days on area tennis courts working on my game. So it was a bit of nostalgia when I met up with Trey Weatherly to play tennis at McEuen Park on a recent Sunday morning that was on its way to being a scorcher.  

Although he now mostly plays tennis with his wife, Leah, Trey grew up playing with his family in Tennessee, so he really didn’t seem to mind the heat at all. But it’s not just the lack of humidity in Coeur d’Alene compared to Nashville, it turns out that keeping cool and calm is a big part of Trey’s philosophy of tennis and life (and it’s also why he’s so good at his job as a middle school counselor at the Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy).

While we were warming up, he explained that his dad, Robert, taught him from an early age that he should be able to play tennis with a Pringles chip in his mouth without breaking it. 

 As Trey explained it, in tennis you’re not only facing your opponent, “you’re also playing yourself. I like the mental gymnastics of it because … your heart rate is getting up and everything gets kind of chaotic … but you have to stay calm. And that’s the whole thing like, don’t break the Pringle in your mouth. It’s a good reminder to stay calm and I think that’s a good life lesson.”

With that in mind, as we started our match, I tried to stay loose and calm. At first, we seemed to be pretty evenly matched, trading games back and forth. As the temperature on the court kept climbing, Trey always kept his cool, laughing and enjoying every rally and point. I, on the other hand, started out relaxed enough but as things got more competitive, I started engaging in more negative self-talk for my missed shots and double-faults.  

And that’s when Trey started pulling ahead. Eventually, he wore me down with his sizzling first serves (and his killer drop shot) and he went on to win the set 6-3.  

Afterward, as I was guzzling water to keep from melting in the heat, Trey shared a bit more wisdom about tennis and life. Like Danny Rojas in "Ted Lasso," whose mantra is “football is life,” Trey clearly relishes tennis’s many “life lessons.”

His primary lesson, however, is, “You’ve got to be able to adjust. You’ve got to stay flexible. It’s the opposite of common messaging of work harder and you’ll get over it or pull your bootstraps up. No, sometimes you’ve got to put your sandals on and chill.” And like Danny Rojas, playing with Trey reminded me that joyful tennis is winning tennis and that no matter how high the temperature gets on the court, you’ve got to play it cool. 

THE GOOD: Outdoor tennis is a great form of exercise, a fun way to socialize with others and it’s also inexpensive because there are free courts all around our area (as long as they aren’t overtaken by pickleballers). All you need is a racket, a can of balls and a friend (or three) to have a good game. Or, if you want to get involved in league play, the Coeur d'Alene Tennis Association, a nonprofit community organization, organizes and coordinates team tennis leagues every summer for players of all abilities. 

THE BAD: If you want to play tennis year-round, there are only four indoor tennis courts in the area at PEAK Health and Wellness in Hayden. PEAK does offer a variety of tennis programs including lessons, leagues, camps and tournaments, but, as you can imagine, the courts do get reserved quickly.  

THE NITTY GRITTY: Tennis can be a great lifelong sport. As Trey says, “I’m never going to give up tennis. I love the movement too much.” To find out more about playing in the summer league, head to cdatennis.org and for more on indoor options go to peakhealthgyms.com/hayden/tennis.

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Dr. Emry is a family physician and partner at Ironwood Family Practice in Coeur d’Alene. Exercise Explorer MD will appear every other week in The Press and Dr. Emry can be contacted via email exercisexplorermd@gmail.com. © 2024. This work is licensed under a CC BY-ND 4.0 license.