LONG BEACH, Calif. – It looks like a normal tennis lesson as Maria Ku watches her 8-year-old daughter Olivia volley with her tennis instructor, Valter Paiva, at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center. She acknowledges that making it to the courts is a way to overcome her anxiety.

“I was concerned, but I’m concerned just walking out the door,” said Ku.

In Olivia’s first lesson back since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Ku brought her daughter to the courts with a mask and instructions not to touch surfaces.

She was able to see that Paiva was prepared.  

“Some of the parents, they want to hear ‘Would you (like me to) wear a mask,’” said Paiva at the beginning of each lesson.

Paiva has been running his own tennis academy for 12 years. With his lessons paused at the end of March, he had time to plan his return so that parents like Ku would be reassured when they were eventually able to bring their kids back.  

Lessons begin with masks and hand washing. By nature the sport lends itself to social distancing. But Paiva, USPTA tennis pro, had his concerns about the uncertain future of his summer camps.

“I hope they will, but we don’t know yet,” said Paiva.

Much like the game of tennis, for sports lessons to resume in this climate requires a sense of trust between student and teacher. By the time the lesson was over, Ku felt happy and secure about bringing her daughter back to tennis lessons with Paiva.  

“I trust him and I know that he cares about the kids. I was confident that he was going to do everything he could,” said Ku.  

As for Olivia? Well she was just excited to leave the house.