Sur la Terre Battue

That's our Lucy, on la terre battue, the red clay similar to that used at Roland Garros for the French Open. She had a one-hour private lesson today with the director of the tennis academy we had found last week here in Brussels. Her shoes quickly turned that clay pink color. I think she likes it that way; She said she wants to show her Junior Team Tennis teammates the remnants of the clay so she does not want to change out her shoelaces right away when we get home. We may sign her up for one more private lesson before we head home.

She also had an opportunity to join the competitive group for an hour of the academy's morning camp session. She played well with a bunch of boys, working mostly in small groups with the older kids. The coach in that session said Lucy was playing very well. In the camp group, Lucy mostly heard French instruction. She said the coach would talk for a long time in French to the other kids, then give her the abbreviated version in his more limited English. I told her that body language could go a long way too. The director also generously offered to let Lucy join the camp for one or two more mornings; we calculated the prorated fee for one morning in the red clay.