A story by Vanessa
Compared to life now, life in the 80’s was carefree with little organization. Parents now take their kids from one activity to another. For the most part we made our own fun. Parents worked and were busy, so children organized themselves when it came to games. And there was always the beach. Many happy hours were spent in, on or at the sea! But eventually clubs for kids began to form even in Bequia.
I don’t know if I learned anything in my time in the Junior Sailing Club, for sure not how to sail, but it was fun while it lasted. I remember my mom being somewhat stressed, doing too much as usual, trying to organize a bunch of kids and senior members to teach us on her afternoon off work. I think the club was an excellent idea, if maybe ahead of its time.
Boats were built for us to use. I don’t mean little boats like a sunfish, actual wooden Bequia sailing boats. Paint colours were chosen and sails were made, and all that remained was the naming of the boats. I remember clearly one being named Bullet. I giggled, but couldn’t share the joke – how to explain to your mother that you were laughing because the name sounded like bull it?!
My mother taught swimming to the kids. Not only how to swim, but proper swim strokes. This was my favourite, not just because of the teacher, but because we actually got to do something.
We were given rope to practice tying knots, which did not interest me at all. Other than that, I have no memory of learning anything else. The team captains were all boys and they were instructed to take the younger ones out and show us the ropes, so to speak, but I was placed as ballast in the boat and not a word was said to me. The Easter Regatta came around and I didn’t get to race in the sailboat, just the older boys. When our boat capsized and we lost the race I was both irritated at the captain and glad he had lost! I was rather smug when I won the swimming match and placed second in running. Take that older boys!
I finally learned to sail at a summer camp in Canada. Even then, Rachel and I were still placed as ballast when we raced on the bigger boats with the adults!
We were convinced by our mother to join Brownies, because she had been one as a child and had fond memories. I have to admit that my short stint in Brownies was very confusing. We had to sit and play circle games and there were badges to be earned but I didn’t understand how to go about it. We had to wear brown uniforms and a matching brown toque. This toque was so hot in the heat it made all our heads itch. We did some marching and lining up, and some singing at events. But it was not my cup of tea and I was relieved when we stopped going.
The tennis club was a bit more successful. For years we watched our daddy play in tennis matches at the Sunny Caribbee tennis court, and later at the Gingerbread court. It was interesting for about 5 minutes, as we couldn’t run around (even off court) and no talking was allowed. Whenever a ball was hit into the bushes we were sent on ball-finding expeditions. I was so excited when our club was formed because we actually got to play! And it was chaos.
There were at least a dozen of us. Kids came and went, showing up when they felt like it. We ranged in age from very young (I think Ross and Freddy were 6?), to around 16. Some didn’t even wear shoes. We met at 10 am on Saturdays, and at the start I think there were 2 racquets to share. My dad surprised us one day at the Pizzeria with 2 neon orange wooden racquets. They were much too big for us and so heavy I could barely lift it mine. For a while there we had to use 2 hands just to make a stroke, they were heavy! We all learned on those, and when I finally got my hands on a Slazenger Junior racquet it felt like a dream!
Bob Berlinghoff was our coach and we had a great time. He lined us up and we took turns hitting balls back and forth. He showed us strokes and corrected us. Sometimes there were so many of us whacking balls that you got hit constantly and had to learn to move out of the way of racquets. There were too many people to play actual full matches, but we got to hit the ball, and once we understood the rules and scoring system we played matches on our own time.
For $1 EC a kid could rent the court at Gingerbread House for an hour provided no paying adults had booked the court. We soon learned no one wanted to play when the sun was the hottest, so that is when we played. We pooled our money to rent the court for an hour or two and that is when we played actual games. It was nice that we all happily played together, regardless of sex or age or even ability. Bret Berlinghoff was our usual tennis partner, he was always game. We would take turns playing singles or find a fourth to partner for doubles. His younger brother Ross (and his sidekick Freddy) was an occasional and reluctant ball boy.
We didn’t have water bottles, sliced fruit or gatorade at tennis club. By the time the club let out (and most of us stayed long after Bob left), we were hot, thirsty and hungry. Rachie and I would head over to the Pizzeria for a tall glass of pepsi with plenty ice. In the off season when the restaurant was quiet we would order some food, and while we waited we played poker in the dining room. Money was not used, that was for ice cream and court rentals only! We played for bottle caps and used matchsticks. Bret was as passionate about cards as he was about tennis, and we played all kinds of card games. What a sight we must have been to some wandering tourist, a group of sweaty tennis kids playing cards and betting with garbage!