Gilbert athlete learns to play tennis with other hand

• High-school senior had surgery on right wrist but learned to play left-handed
• Clint Smith's tennis season is off to a strong start playing with opposite hand
• Smith serves with his left racket hand as his right wrist remains in a brace

Clint Smith couldn't stay inside anymore. He had to get out. Do something.

The Gilbert Williams Field senior picked up a tennis racket with his left hand, his right arm in a sling, and headed to the nearest court with his dad.

If he couldn't play the sport he loved with his natural hand, Smith decided to learn to play tennis left-handed.

Swing after awkward swing, he spent more than three hours a day on the court, sometimes by himself, trying to get his footing right, his one-handed backhand to come around, his forehand strokes to send the ball zipping over the net.

He bugged his dad to hit the ball back to him.

"I said, 'OK, Clint, I'll hit it with my left hand, too, so it will be fair,' " Cord Smith said. "Then, he started crushing these balls. I said, 'I'm going to go back to the right.' "

After feeling severe pain in his right wrist in a summer tournament, Smith was diagnosed with Kienbock's disease, which meant he wasn't getting enough blood supply in the central wrist bone and bones had begun to die and fragment.

The family consulted several doctors, all of whom recommended surgery. Smith had that on Jan. 31. It involved a bone graft and revascularization of the bone in his right wrist.

He was a month into recovery when Smith was getting so stir crazy that he figured he'd try playing tennis with his opposite hand.

His dad tried a Google search to see if it had ever been done in tennis. He couldn't come up with anything.

But his son persevered and now, after four weeks of constant practicing with his left hand, he has played in his first few matches of the season. He is 4-0 in doubles and just dropped his first singles match of the year at Phoenix Arcadia.

He was cleared to play by doctors only two weeks ago.

"It was super awkward at first, but, yeah, it's coming quickly," Smith said.

When he first heard he had this rare disease, he said, "I was crushed."

"I thought my career was over," Smith said. "I saw the team playing, and I just wanted to hang out with them."

Smith was 10-2 in singles matches last season, a big contributor on the Williams Field team with college tennis dreams.

Now he is excited just to be playing again, even if he has to serve the ball with his racket hand with his surgically repaired right wrist in a brace.

He said maybe in three months, he'll be able to play with his right hand again.

At that point, he should be pretty ambidextrous.

"They're having a great season," Chase said. "He doesn't want to mess up their mojo. He just wants to help the team out."

See Richard Obert's high-school sports blog at azcentral.com/blog/richardobertshighschoolsportsblog

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