From Australia with Love
December 2005
Luke

It is hard to put into words what the International Christian Tennis Association and Coach Scotty Paschal has done for me and my work.

I can not talk about how he has helped me with my forehand, backhand, or physical fitness because I do not play tennis. Don’t get me wrong, I love the game but if Scotty saw me with a racquet in hand he would be embarrassed beyond belief. I serve like Michael Chang at the French Open after being injected with a general anaesthetic.

I am however involved in Sports Ministry in the media and a few years ago I was searching for some people who might know something about different sports to spend some time on the radio chatting about those sports and I came across this ICTA. I emailed asking if somebody would talk about the pro-tour and I received a reply with the enthusiasm that we come to expect from Scotty.

“Hi Luke, Sure we’d be thrilled to talk pro tennis with you on your program! I’m excited at the opportunity! The Australian Open is about to kick off the new tennis season in a huge way… it’s a great time to get started with a new weekly tennis broadcast.” Was the email that came on the 8th of January 2004.

A few emails later and I was starting to doubt whether I was actually onto the winner that I first thought. An email from Scotty mentioned the ‘kids running him around the court’ and I had this vision of a sixty year old man coaching six year old kids and being excited to talk pro tennis just because it was a chance someone would listen to an senile old man’s ravings.

Well, Scotty was not sixty and the kids were not six (I can’t argue against the senile though) and I truly ‘was’ on a winner. I planned to have someone talk about professional tennis; I got a friend, a mentor, and an accountability partner.

We have had responses from around the world loving the chats with Scotty about tennis and the ‘passion’ that he has and the stories that he can tell, but the biggest gift has been his friendship. It was almost immediately that we had a bond but still nearly two years later we have never ‘physically’ met. We have never experienced a hand shake or a hug but we have actually met. We have met in our prayers and we have met in the encouraging words that have lasted weeks afterwards. We have met in a deep spiritual way that simply can’t be explained.

Scotty loves God and everything that is of Him. He loves his players that he has a chance to guide and lead on and off the tennis court and he can love you as well if you give him half a chance. Scotty and the ICTA are not about tennis but about God and tennis is just the added fun that they have along the way.

I love the image that I have of Scotty coaching the number one player in the world in a Grand Slam final when the cameras catch him communicating to his player during a match. An investigation forces them to try and work out what he was saying and they discover that they can’t fine him for breaking the rules because his words were actually, “tell them about Jesus’.

Can you imagine John McEnroe’s reaction to that?

Luke H.

Senior Presenter/Producer; Australia