MARCO R.I.P.

Coaching tennis can have its rewards.  Over the years I have been able to really affect people’s lives through tennis. 

When I first arrived in Bangkok in 1986 I worked at the Hilton Bangkok, one of the best hotels in the city at that time. The Hilton Bangkok had a top flight French Restaurant called Ma Maison and I think it still goes by that name today.  The manager of Ma Maison was Marco, actually an Italian guy in his mid-twenties who stood stiff and proud at the entrance to the restaurant every evening. Marco and I would exchange greetings as I returned from the tennis courts in the evenings and he waited at the doorway for his evening clientele. Sometimes I would stop and talk, usually small talk, but it was always fun as Marco had a good sense of humor.  One day Marco said that he had always wanted to learn to play tennis but had never had the opportunity. I offered to teach him and Marco accepted!

In the beginning Marco couldn’t even make contact with the ball but his joy at just swinging a racquet was plain to see.  I was able to try different approaches to teaching him and soon Marco began to improve until he was able to rally with me after only a few days. During this time Marco’s whole personality began to change.  He began to exercise more away from our scheduled lessons.  He stopped smoking and eating red meat.  With these changes even Marco’s appearance began to alter, he was a new man and Marco began to look at me as a messiah who had changed his life.

I left the Hilton not long after and lost contact with Marco.  I heard stories that he eventually left the Hilton Bangkok and had gone to Phuket Island to work, taking a job as a general manager at a resort hotel there.  This was great news as he had an excellent service mentality and this was just the type of work he would excel at.

Years later Thailand was shocked when the Dragon Air flight from Phuket to Bangkok crashed into the sea shortly after take off.  All the passengers were killed, including my dear friend Marco who was on-board that day.  Unfortunately there was an element of horrible bad luck to this story.  Hours before the flight the Governor of Phuket was running late for the scheduled flight.  His wife kept pleading with him to hurry or he would miss the flight to Bangkok.  He insisted that he had arrived quite late in the past and had always been allowed to board the flight, and this would be the case today.  Fortunately for the Governor and unfortunately for Marco the Governors seat was given to the first person on stand-by, Marco!  Marco flew that day and died in the crash that occurred just after take off.