By Carrie Rupp

It is not everyday that a child can influence the extracurricular activities of his or her parent; usually it is the other way around. But in the Uhle family of Blue Bell, Pa., that is exactly the case.

Thirteen-year-old Claire Uhle says she’s been playing tennis for almost seven years. She was introduced to the sport at a day camp she attended as a child. Now, Uhle attends the Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis Center’s Tennis Academy nearly everyday, participates in Jr. Team Tennis and is a ball girl for World TeamTennis franchise the Philadelphia Freedoms.

Even with that busy schedule, Uhle says she never gets sick of the game.

“I love it. It’s my life,” she said.

She passed her love of the game to her family, especially her mother, Joanne, who now plays a few times a week and is also a volunteer for the Freedoms.

“My husband and I weren’t tennis players at all,” Joanne said. “But Claire got us involved.”

“We started just watching her play, and then we started hitting on the weekends and eventually we attended some lessons through our township’s tennis program,” she added. “We’re definitely not on Claire’s level. She’s totally embarrassed to play with us!”

On the court

Claire’s 14 & Under Advanced Jr. Team Tennis (JTT) team, Kinetix, won the 2007 Philadelphia Area Tennis District (PATD) championship and finished second at the 2007 JTT Section Championship.

In the District Championship, Claire won her singles match as well as two girls’ doubles matches and one mixed doubles match.

At the Section Championship, Kinetix fell to a team from Delaware by just eight points. Claire participated in both the girls singles and mixed doubles competitions.

The budding tennis star, who is an eighth grader at Wissihicken Middle School, says she wasn’t disappointed to finish second at the championship. She was just excited to be there. This was the first time her team has made it this far.

When asked if she prefers playing singles or doubles she laughed.

“I like them both. I just like to play,” she said.

Up close and personal

It is Claire’s easy going attitude and love of the game that gets her through her busy days. One day last summer, after Claire finished competing at the JTT Section Championship, she went straight to work again as she was scheduled to ball girl the Freedoms’ match featuring Venus Williams.

“It’s a pretty busy day,” Claire said. “Hopefully I’ll make it on time.”

She did, and so did her mother.

“I really enjoy volunteering, I actually really enjoy watching Claire as a ball girl,” Joanne said. “It makes the matches more entertaining.”

Joanne, a social worker and professional “tennis mom,” remembered when Claire worked a John McEnroe match and got up close and personal with his fiery personality.

“She was standing pretty close to him when he was cursing at the umpire,” Joanne said. “I’m pretty sure it was just an act, but she heard it all.”

“Tennis has done so much for both Claire and me,” she added said. “I went from never stepping foot on the court to playing leagues, to captaining a 2.5 team that went to districts last year.”

Joanne isn’t the only one who has grown from playing the game of tennis.

“It’s been such a wonderful outlet for Claire,” she said. “She’s built confidence and self-esteem; she’s met tons of friends of different ages and from different backgrounds and it’s just been wonderful for her fitness and for mine too.”

For the Uhle family, tennis has brought them more than improved fitness, friends and trophies on the trophy shelf; it has brought a family closer together through a simple love – the love of the game.