Jack Foster's tennis triumph
By Katherine Eissler
“As a person thinketh, so he is.”
That is the motto of John J. “Jack” Foster, a native Laredoan who, despite cerebral palsy, proved himself able in the game of tennis. After receiving a racket from his father for his 31st birthday, Foster began playing tennis competitively and has now obtained one of the highest designations from the United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) - Professional I rating.
Foster was born February 12, 1942 while his father, John E. Foster, served overseas in the Southwest Pacific. Elizabeth Foster experienced a difficult delivery and the doctor who delivered Jack had to use forceps to pull him from the birth canal, causing Jack to have cerebral palsy.
According to Elizabeth , this was at a time when physicians knew very little of the causes of cerebral palsy. She was unaware that anything was wrong until she noticed there was no movement on one side of little Jack's body. He was diagnosed with spastic cerebral palsy, a form of the disorder in which the muscles are stiffly and permanently contracted. This form affects 70 to 80 percent of all palsy patients. In Jack's case it was right hemi-paresis, or paralysis of the entire right side of his body.
Jack underwent numerous operations during his teen years, wore braces, and attended therapy. He never outgrew wanting to play sports like his schoolmates did, but his lack of mobility was an obstacle. John Foster advised his son that he use his brain instead of his weakened brawn.
Jack, who graduated from Martin High School in 1960 and subsequently moved to San Antonio , never saw it that way.
He began to play tennis because it was a sport he only needed one arm to play. He didn't just play; he excelled, playing in a city league and ending up a league winner that year. Friends suggested he teach, and Jack was certified by the USPTA with a Professional II rating in San Antonio in 1991. He resigned his position as an internal auditor for Central Power and Light and became a full-time instructor.
The rest is history, a history of will and of triumph of the spirit over an infirmity of the flesh.
“When I told my mom I was going to be a tennis pro, she said, ‘You're going to be a bum?'” said Jack. “It's like that saying, ‘Do what you love and the money will follow.'”
He took up tennis “with a vengeance” and was on the court everyday. When he wasn't on the court, he was in the gym trying to maintain the level of physical fitness he had achieved.
This recent Professional I rating is, according to tennis professionals, a feat in itself.
“What is the opposite of winning?” Jack asks his students. “It isn't losing, it's not playing.”
He takes no excuses from his students or from himself. “I can't” doesn't cut it for Jack.
“He gives others courage,” said his mother Elizabeth.
The oldest of seven siblings, Jack says he now understands the protective messages his father tried to relay so long ago, but he doesn't consider himself handicapped and has realized that he can be a tennis professional.
His wife Millie Foster said his attitude in life is a reflection of his attitude on the court. “Tennis is difficult for him, but he doesn't acknowledge his handicap; it's the same off the court,” she said.
“His persistence is tremendous,” said Millie. “When he was younger and playing he would let speculation about his disability get to him. It fueled many a victory on the court.”
Jack, the director of tennis for Sienna Plantation in Missouri City , is also the senior tennis professional with Fort Bend Tennis Services. He is the owner of Jack's Tennis in Sugar Land , and Millie is the master racket technician at her store She Strings.
Jack is certified to teach children, competitive juniors, and ex-collegiate players, as well as players who use wheelchairs. He is chair of the Education Committee for the USPTA and a member of the USPTA Adult Tennis Council.
“I know what players in wheelchairs can do if they just get out of their shells,” said Jack.
Jack's influence on his students is especially visible in those who have stuck around to work with him. He teaches them not only for a love of the game but also because he believes tennis can teach young players life lessons by developing self-reliance, problem-solving skills, math skills, honesty, and perseverance. But perseverance and motivation must come from within, said Jack.
“Unless it comes from inside, you're not going to do it; it's what you have in your heart and guts, and you have to take the ego out of it to truly learn,” he said.
He says he has “figured out a way to solve a problem and come out on top,” an attitude that has carried him well through life.
