One of Allison Chandler's tennis coaches jokes that she might want to try picking up a new sport.

 "Allison's one of those kids where if you handed her a football, next year she'd be in the Super Bowl," said Peter Smith.

 The 11 year old was a member of a curling foursome from Chester District Elementary School which won the under-15 provincial championship last season, and she recently won the Nova Scotia under-14 girls' tennis title with a 6-0, 6-0 victory in the final.

 "She's just perfect as an athlete," said Mr. Smith.

 "The things you look for are sometimes not the obvious things like how big and strong you are. She's quick and light on her feet, she's balanced and her back is straight. Those are the kind of things the rest of us struggle with."

 Still, he said it's important for successful young athletes to have a healthy perspective about competitive sports.

 "I don't care if she wins or loses right now. Some day, it will obviously matter. Right now, she probably cares if she wins or loses," he laughed.

 "But I think it's more important to learn the steps you have to take along the way and not put too much emphasis on the end result."

 However, he said it is important for her to set goals.

 "Otherwise, kids who are focused and intense don't do as well, and she's one of those. The more it counts, the better she does. If we go out and randomly hit balls down the middle, she'll do okay, but if I say, 'let's go to 20,' then she'll do even better."

 The Grade 6 Chester Area Middle School student agrees.

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 "Everything I do, I like to win, even if it's a little thing that doesn't mean anything," she laughed. "I always like to win."

 Allison is so self-motivated and plays at such a high level that one of her adult coaches in Halifax, Marijke Nel, has played doubles with her in a couple of competitive tournaments.

 "She is an extraordinary athlete who excels at virtually any sport which she is exposed to," said Ms Nel.

 "Although this is an incredible gift, it also creates a bit of a predicament - someone like this would be good at whatever they put their mind to, but it keeps them divided for a while - so at some point they have to decide where their passion lies so they can have a chance at maximizing their potential.

 "It basically depends on where Allison's passion lies. As one of her tennis coaches, I would like to give her the best possible opportunity to discover where her tennis potential might take her."

posted on 09/22/09