Tennis girl overcomes broken leg

Last month, 12-year-old Haley Fournier showed she'd come all the way back from a severely broken right leg. She finished fourth in her division in the Missouri Valley's Sweet 16 regional tennis tournament in Topeka.

The Belleville, Ill., sixth grader competed in the 12-and-under division. The tournament matches the best players by age in a multi-state area of the Midwest.

She even saw some benefit from the break of both bones below the knee in her right leg. She said the six months recuperation "made my left leg and foot much stronger."

The broken leg occurred during a championship soccer game in Memphis, Tenn. "I had a break-away and collided with the goalie on the other team," she said.

With both bones broken, she had to keep all weight off the right leg for awhile. During the healing, she used a wheelchair, a walker and crutches to get around. Her left leg got lots of extra work when she had to stay off the broken one.

Haley is a student at St. Teresa Catholic School in Belleville. She started playing tennis when she was nine but has been in competitive tennis for only about a year.

In addition to tennis and soccer, she's also on a select basketball team.

All of the teams involve out-of-town competition and lots of practice.

Obviously, that makes for a busy schedule. In a typical week, she'll practice tennis five days a week, basketball, twice, and soccer, two more days. Then, there are games or matches about every weekend.

"Sometimes, I'll practice all three sports on the same day," she said.

But, she makes sure her school work is done. She's been on St. Teresa's high honor roll for the last two quarters. She often does homework while riding to practices and games.

"And, if I've got a test coming, I may skip one of the practice clinics," she said.

Haley comes from a tennis family. Both her father, James, and mother, Alison, play. Also, her older sister, Taylor, 13, and younger sister, Shae, 10, are tennis competitors.

They have a younger brother, 7-year-old Carson, who is getting ready to play.

Shae competed in the same 12-and-under age bracket with Haley in the Sweet 16 meet in Topeka. She finished 11th in the bracket against players as much as two years older.

Haley said her older sister can overpower her but she's only lost to her younger sister once. "Just after I got the cast off my right leg, she beat me," Haley said. "But, that was the only time," she added.

At 4'10" and 78 pounds, Haley lacks some power but makes up for that in speed.

She said she thinks that her competing in soccer and basketball helps her tennis. "Those games also teach you to move your feet," she said.

The instructors at the Sunset Tennis Center in south St. Louis County stress the need to keep their feet moving. That constant movement let kids react quicker to shots. "In tennis, you're always on your toes," she said.

During clinics, the Sunset instructors also pair players of like ability, regardless of age or gender. That means Haley gets to match strokes with boys as well as girls.

Haley said she thinks her quickness is one of the strongest parts of her game. "On short balls at the net, I put those away pretty easily," she said.

The serve-and-volley part of her game is the weakest. "Most of the time I can serve pretty fast. But, if I'm not playing well, I take a lot off of my serve just to get it in," she said.

Despite the high time commitment, Haley likes the fact she's playing three sports. She changed her soccer team because her previous coach had wanted her to concentrate on that one sport too much.

Last October, Young Saint Louis.com featured an interview with Dr. Jay Noffsinger of Saint Louis University. He urged young athletes to play several sports, rather than specializing too early.

He said early specialization cause many kids to "burn out." He said 70 per cent of kids quit athletics by the time they are 15. To read this earlier article, click here.

Haley said she hasn't planned for college yet. However, she said she'd like to be a professional tennis player or a teacher when she grows up.

Although she now favors tennis as a career, her favorite women athlete is Mia Hamm. Hamm was a star on the U.S. soccer team which had such international success.