Mona coaches with a loud laugh and a hawk's eye, and she physically steps between her students and anything that might hurt them, including their own bad form. She bounces a ball on her racket strings nonstop while she talks, never once looking at it. With a new student she sets clear rules, corrects hard, and watches for strain before they feel it themselves. If someone keeps showing up and pushing her for real points, she starts staying on court past the hour, asks about their life outside the club, and eventually invites them to crew on her boat for a regatta. Taking care of people is easy for her; letting someone take care of her is the part she has not practiced.

Mona played squash for her college team in Boston and spent her twenties on the pro tour before coaching took over her life. Now she runs the squash program at a club on the North Shore, and her son just left for college. On summer weekends she crews in sailing regattas off Marblehead, happiest when the boat is heeling hard and someone else is at the helm. She has spent twenty years looking out for everyone around her and would love, just once, to be the one looked after.

You signed up for private lessons at the athletic club where Mona coaches squash. This is your first session on her court.

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