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Grove Isle Tennis
FORTY LOVE TM
On the Internet at www.GrandLifestyle.com ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
1 February 2003 |
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Contents
Do
as I say, not as I do
The Coral Oaks Tennis Club is hosting the tenth annual Mercedes Benz Tennis Tournament. The men's singles tournament runs from February 7-9. The men's doubles and women's doubles run February 14-16. The mixed doubles are on Saturday, February 22. The finals for men's singles and men's and women's doubles are on Sunday, February 23. Coral Oaks Tennis Club is located at 10530 SW 57 Avenue in Pinecrest. More information: Tennis Director Jeff Allen at 305-661-0092;
pdpcoraloaks@netscape.net. Or visit www.coraloakstennis.com.
Norm Schellenger's
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How did she get the job? “We always lie on our resume,” she volunteers, “and I didn’t want my age to stand in the way.” She continues admitting, “I never had a dancer’s body but loved to dance.” She was a dance draftee at sixteen, started college at night while apprenticing at the Robert Jeffrey Dance Company, was honored as a Fulbright scholar at the Royal Ballet in London before the age of 18, and matriculated at the New School for Social Research. “That’s how it started,” Amy Buchman proudly recalls. “I tried to satisfy my father by going to college and chose dancing, which is a full-time career, because it was in my blood.” Dancing was not the climax of her career. “It led me to my chosen profession to do things for other people’s bodies that I couldn’t do for mine,” Dr. Amy Buchman concludes humbly. “I’ve been injured, I couldn’t work out, I couldn’t play tennis,” the physical trainer explains. “They wanted to put a pin in my foot,” without telling the interviewer who ‘they’ is because Amy turned and greeted a friend: “Hi Vick.” That appeared to be the end of the interview because Amy ran off to warm up in preparation of the World Team Tennis match with Gwendolyn Carter, another Grove Isle Club member, and the match was just five minutes from getting underway. What a break for the interviewer! Dr. Vicky Simon was watching her children practice and, it turned out, is a gold mine of information. “I have been more like a sister than like a doctor or someone like that to Amy” was the signal. “Amy and I have been friends since Hannah (her daughter) was a little girl twelve years ago,” Dr. Simon introduces herself. “She is a truly amazing person.” We learn that Amy’s father is one of the top liqueur lawyers in the world and a herb specialist serving the U.S. government. Julio Gallo of wine fame is her godfather. (Don't let the Gallo family know what Amy’s moonlighting aspirations are.) Vicky admiringly speaks of her friend: “She has lived a very interesting life. Amy is very humble and has a heart of gold.” “We miss her because she is allergic to our dog so we don’t see her much anymore,” Vicky adds with a sad tone in her voice. “She is allergic to everything on this planet, our dog included.” Vicky proudly tells us about Amy’s voluntary work with the Miami City Ballet. Amy is on the board of directors and contributes greatly to bringing the best of ballet to Miami's performing arts aficionados. The warm-up is over and Amy Buchman is cornered once more before play begins. “This is only the fifth time in three months I am playing tennis,” Amy is sad. “No warm up, no nothing. I don’t want anyone to do as I do.” “I was the only … (‘Good luck, Amy,’ someone shouts from across the court. ‘Thanks, I need it,’ Amy replies). She didn’t finish the sentence. How did Amy get into tennis? “I played on a team where I think I was the only truly English speaking person. We had people from Norway, Denmark and Italy; we had Mirella Valentini, Tortoise Linbay, Pat Kilgore; and a lot of them converted to become golfers. It made me fall in love with tennis.” We squeezed in another minute or two before Amy was called upon to serve. “I have been a member of Grove Isle for 14 or 15 years.” Amy recalls. “Even when I lived in New York I used to come down and do corporate workouts for a lot of clients in Palm Beach and Bal Harbour, and I used to do workout weekends with a lot of people.” “I chose to become a Grove Isle Club member because I saw a great future. Grove Isle then was a diamond in the rough and I fell in love with the club.” Today she is a Grove Isle Grovette, member of the 4.0 tennis team that proudly represents the Grove Isle Club in competition. Time is being called any minute now. “It’s very weird that I am even doing this now being a doctor of health, a doctor of keeping the body healthy; look at me going from one injury to another; and here I am playing this match.” Amy continues her explanation of moving to Miami: “I moved down here when I heard Eddie Villella (the world-renowned ballet maestro) left New York to start a ballet company in Miami; I figured Florida has to have something to keep him down here.” Amy is still involved in dance, but has not taken a class in all the years she has lived here. “I keep saying I am going to start, but then something happens,” the tennis player who cannot forget dancing admits. Dr. Buchman talks about her work. “I used to run with and had tri-athletes as clients. But now I do it all in the water. I only train people in the water.” We learn of an Amy Buchman who’s not afraid to fight for what is right. She organized the International Dance and Exercise Association which came about by suing one of the biggest health clubs which is now owned by the Bally Corporation. “So they are not enamored with me,” Dr. Buchman stands on her convictions. “I sued them for being an unsafe health club and I started a standard where they have to test people who work in gyms, lay floors properly on top of cement so people do not contract spinal injuries, pay attention to the medication people take that controls heart rate, and just to give them a little bit of knowledge.” Dr. Buchman, with a Ph.D. in kinesiology and physiology of exercise from Columbia University in New York, sums up her professional commitment: “I basically work out bodies; I am not just a personal trainer where I work out an injury because your body compensates; I try and help to get your body working in total.” Amy Buchman switched her career from ballet, the love of her life, to helping other people. The most eligible Grove Isle batchelorette is, indeed, an amazing person who helps other people and lives by her creed, “Do as I say, not as I do.”
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