<p>Joey Thurman:<br />Tennis star Alfonso Mendoza. Alfonso, man, you have a really unique story, right?<br /><br />Alfonso Mendoza:<br />Really?<br /><br />Joey Thurman:<br />Why did you pick tennis sophomore year of high school, because tennis is a very skilled sport?<br /><br />Alfonso Mendoza:<br />Uh-huh (affirmative). It was actually a funny story. Me and my friends were in math class, we were chatting it up, and I don't know, we decided to join tennis. We were all like... We all agreed, and I guess we started playing tennis.<br /><br />Joey Thurman:<br />You just were like, "Hey, I'm just going to play tennis. I've never played tennis in my entire life."<br /><br />Alfonso Mendoza:<br />Yeah. I never watched tennis or anything like that. I just decided to play tennis.<br /><br />Joey Thurman:<br />Okay. Now, when you first started playing, you said you were just playing with friends, and I imagine your form wasn't as good as it could be and is right now, so-<br /><br />Alfonso Mendoza:<br />Nowhere near.<br /><br />Joey Thurman:<br />What did Coach Stott tell you when you just came in, just hitting with, what, all arms or all muscling?<br /><br />Alfonso Mendoza:<br />He told me to forget everything. Start new, start as a baby, because you don't want to have those bad habits that I had back then to be part of you today.<br /><br />Joey Thurman:<br />Yeah.<br /><br />Alfonso Mendoza:<br />So what he made me do is learn the techniques like little by little, but it showed because over time, it actually, I saw results and it actually worked out.<br /><br />Joey Thurman:<br />Really? So you were able to just to pick it up that fast? Because unlearning something is very hard to do, especially when you have these bad habits.<br /><br />Alfonso Mendoza:<br />Well, I don't know if I picked it up that fast. It's just, I put a lot of time to working on it. So I'd say, well, I was lucky a lot, a short amount of time, but-<br /><br />Joey Thurman:<br />Well do you think you can teach me the tricks as fast as you were able to learn them?<br /><br />Alfonso Mendoza:<br />Yeah, of course.<br /><br />Joey Thurman:<br />You're not going to spike it in my face or anything, right?<br /><br />Alfonso Mendoza:<br />No, no, no. No no.<br /><br />Joey Thurman:<br />I think he's going to spike it in my face. Alfonso Mendoza.<br /><br />Joey Thurman:<br />Coach Jon Stott, man. You found a diamond in the rough, right?<br /><br />Jon Stott:<br />Absolutely.<br /><br />Joey Thurman:<br />Tell me about Alfonso.<br /><br />Jon Stott:<br />Yeah I found Alfonso, it was about two years ago.<br /><br />Joey Thurman:<br />Uh-huh (affirmative).<br /><br />Jon Stott:<br />It was through the Phyllis Park tennis camp that I've been running for about 22 years. It was for, it's kind of at-risk kids. It was a subsidized program through the Fox Valley Park District. And Alfonso would come out here late, little dirty, and I would be like, "What are you doing late?" when he would show up actually late. He was landscaping, working in landscaping with his dad.<br /><br />Joey Thurman:<br />[crosstalk 00:02:14] Straight from work to tennis courts.<br /><br />Jon Stott:<br />Straight from work to tennis. Yeah. He would come from one to four and I was like, I'm not, I was like, "He's always late, why would I want to work with this kid?"<br /><br />Joey Thurman:<br />Right.<br /><br />Jon Stott:<br />But he would run onto the courts, and yeah, he showed a really hunger and passion. And just a natural, natural athlete. I was like, "This kid can play."<br /><br />Joey Thurman:<br />What do you see for him in the future?<br /><br />Jon Stott:<br />I see him going into, if he can continue to progress, I see him going to NIU, hopefully. I see him going to a Division Two school even, and continue to progress. If he continues to progress, even the coach said over at Oban's, he said if I end up going somewhere or whatever, he's like, "I want this kid coming with me". Even within 30 minutes in just seeing the kid hit, you see him just progress before your eyes. He's that good of a player.</p>