Hadley Schwarz, 7, of St. Clair, prepares a serve to 10 and under opponent
Carly Smith, 9, of Portage, Wednesday during day 3 of the 56th Francis J.
Robinson Memorial International Tennis Tournament at Sandborn Park. /
MELISSA WAWZYSKO/TIMES HERALD
Written by Anthony Odoardi
Port Huron Times Herald
July 18, 2013
Times Herald
Hadley Schwarz first picked up a tennis racket at age 2.
Five years later, she is the youngest player competing at the Francis J. Robinson
Memorial International Tournament.
“She’s just fierce. She loves tennis,” said her mother, Lydia Schwarz, as Hadley
competed in the 10-and-under bracket.
The child also played last summer as a 6-year-old, and her passion for tennis is
evident.
“She asked me if I would home school her this past year so she could play more
tennis during the day,” her mom said. “Which that isn’t happening, but she did
request it.”
Play in the under-10 bracket kicked off the third day of competition at the Robinson.
“I’m really have a great time,” Hadley said. “It’s just playing for fun.”
Her dad, Bill Schwarz, also is passionate about tennis. A few years ago, when Lydia decided to take up the game, she signed up for
lessons along with her son, Quinn, who is now 10.
Hadley, who was 2 at the time, found a racket, picked it up and started swinging.
“I didn’t sign her up at all,” her mother explained. “I just had a blanket with her stuff thinking she would just sit on the sidelines. Well,
she wanted in. … (She said), ‘I wanna play. I wanna be with Quinn.’”
From that point on, Hadley was hooked on the game.
At this week’s tournament, the entire Schwarz family is competing, although mom took some convincing before joining her husband
in mixed doubles.
They lost, which was fine with Lydia, who said her main job is being mom.
“It helps me understand what they go through when they’re out here playing,” she said. “It makes me a better mom when I play tennis
because it makes me understand something they love.”
Quinn and Hadley plan to continue their development at the Tennis House. They also are big fans of each other.
“She’s really good,” big brother said of his little sister.
It is possible they could face each other this week in the under-12 mixed doubles.
“They’ve never played a match,” Lydia said, laughing. “I don’t think we want to do that.”
Contact Anthony Odoardi at (810) 989-6267 or at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @aodoardi32.