September 2008 -- Bunny Bruning, past president of the Missouri Valley Division, recently gave 24 hours of nonstop tennis lessons as part of USPTA's Lessons for Life™. She raised $3,250 for Rally for the Cure, a program of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer foundation. Bruning, who lost her father to cancer 20 years ago, tells the story of her benefit lesson marathon in her own words.
I haven't stayed up past midnight for several years. Extending my awake time to 24 hours - that happened when I was on a flight overseas and I was seated in the middle row with no air conditioning on board. I had no idea what was really in store for me July 18-19.
Our fearless president, Gary Trost, had been sent an e-mail from the Rally for the Cure people encouraging tennis pros to host an event. Lessons for Life has been my baby in our division so I told Gary that I was all over this. The idea of a multihour event had been itching my brain for a long time and I thought I better produce this before I aged one more gray hair. So I decided to host a 24-hour tennis lesson marathon at Wakonda Club in Des Moines, Iowa.
One week out, I had only six hours filled with willing participants. I had suddenly realized that all my tournament kids would be out of town that weekend. I started e-mailing and calling players from the club and the community and faxing the TV stations. It worked. Suddenly I was just a few hours short of being full. The idea was that I had to stay on the court the entire 24 hours minus five minutes per hour for shower or bathroom duties. So even if I had no one booked that hour, I would have my lounge chair if I needed it.
No such luck. Every $100-per-hour slot was filled and it suddenly occurred to me that I really would be staying up around the clock and teaching tennis. Everyone kept asking how I was going to do it. I had no answer - I just had to. In my 30s, I hardly needed sleep. But as I have aged ungracefully, I like at least seven to eight hours per night.
I began the journey Friday, July 18, at 9 a.m. We endured a couple of hours of light rain but were not deterred. Pictures were taken hourly. People brought food and drinks - I really wasn't on a deserted island - they were kind. The highlights follow:
9 a.m. Four ladies from my early teaching days - great kickoff!
10 a.m. Cardio Tennis with disco music - my favorite.
1 p.m. After purchasing his own one-hour lesson, one of my students helped feed balls for a few lessons and assisted in a large group lesson.
6 p.m. It hit me that I was not halfway done. Thank goodness for clay courts.
9 p.m. A family brought me a chair massager and a foot bath while I wolfed down a sandwich. I had still only spent eight minutes in the pro shop and was banking some time for later.
9:58 p.m. I received hugs from two 6-year-old girls - revived!
11 p.m. Taught topspin to a mom who never could do it before - working miracles!
Midnight Three kids and two parents arrived screaming and hitting balls; the moon is blood orange.
2-4 a.m. My staff and a couple teenagers have too much energy - thought I could take a break but no - I had to feed them balls for games. It's dark this time of night!
4 a.m. Marty and Jeff come in their pajamas. Marty's mom died from breast cancer. Whisper of sunrise.
5 a.m. Don't remember much - fading. Feel like throwing up.
6 a.m.: Where's Wes? By 6:30 a.m. I figured he wasn't coming, took a cat nap for 25 minutes. Bugs are eating my face.
7 a.m. Felt alive! Where am I?
8 a.m. Final lesson with two girls who had been teaching me Hebrew.
9 a.m. Done! No fanfare - just more pictures and a latte.
Did I feel anything else? I think I was too numb. People kept saying they were proud of me, it was a great event, they saw me on television, etc. I could not feel anything except for some nagging lower back pain. I thought sleep would help. Sunday arrived. I stayed at home. E-mails from people asking how it went; calls from my kids at the tournament. Felt nothing.
Sunday afternoon, sitting outside with my animals, I thought about all my friends and colleagues - and my father - who died from or survived various types of cancer. That's who I had done this for - they are the heroes - they had to endure the pain, the diagnosis, the treatments, the appointments, and the loss. I just had to last 24 hours. They had lived months, years with a disease, making adjustments to their life and their family and sometimes losing the battle. I started to cry.
Monday: "Are you going to do that again?" My usual semiterse answer was "No!"
Tuesday, I printed the pictures and wrote the captions. My two artistic staff members made a storyboard for all to see. Suddenly, my tiredness was gone. Only the smiling faces, the light, the dark, the memories, the friendship of all those people filled me. Tennis brought us together. We did it for them - those who died and lived, and we did it for us - for this moment. We celebrated!
Next year? I think we are going to do a 36-hour tag-team tennis lesson marathon!
