Rick and Brenda Sharton can still recall the summer their two boys caught the tennis bug.
Their first son, Will, was 9 years old; his younger brother, Charlie, was 7. The two would spend their summer days at tennis camp learning the fundamentals and making friends.
They’d return home each night, put up a net, etch chalk lines in the driveway, and keep on playing.
When they grew exhausted, they’d head inside and turn on the TV, soaking in any tennis they could find.
“I remember throwing up my hands,’’ said Brenda, “and saying to Rick, ‘It’s got to be genetic. They’re obsessed with tennis.’ ”
The sport has meant a great deal to the Shartons. A decade of tournaments and travel has afforded the Wayland family enough memories to fill a book.
“Tennis has been great for us,” said Charlie, now a rising junior at Wayland High. “It’s so prevalent in my family. It’s been a great bonding activity for our family as something we can all relate to.”
The Sharton and Ruel bloodlines are such that one could almost feel that passion for a sport — and talent at it — might be genetic after all.
Brenda was the seventh and final child of Bill and Kay Ruel, the latter a 2006 USTA New England Hall of Fame inductee and the first female president of the United States Professional Tennis Association New England.
All seven Ruel children grew up playing tennis. Brenda picked up the sport at age 3, and was regularly afforded the final 10 minutes of her siblings’ lessons with the local professional. When it came time for college, Brenda committed to Rice as one of the nation’s best players.
Unlike his wife, the game came late to Rick. When he was around 16, Sharton dropped basketball for tennis when his younger brother, Jim, embraced the game.
Jim Sharton, who now teaches the sport at Pine Brook Country Club in Weston, went on to great tennis things, and Rick proved a fast learner, ultimately playing No. 1 singles at UMass Amherst. He would play a tournament almost every other week for more than two years at the conclusion of his college days. For nearly two decades, Rick Sharton has served as tennis director at the Thoreau Club in Concord, where he has been named the USPTA New England Professional of the Year and coached juniors to more than 300 national rankings.
At Thoreau, under Rick’s keen eye, Will and Charlie’s games blossomed.
A three-time state champion with the Wayland tennis team, Will is ranked No. 90 in the nation and third overall in New England. He previously held the top ranking in the region, and will continue his playing career at Georgetown, where he’ll enroll in the business school.
Charlie, who also has some interest in economics, is in the midst of the college process now, but also boasts an attractive resume. He is No. 69 in the country in the Boys’ 16 pool and is ranked seventh in New England. In late June, he took home the USTA New England L3 Super Six Sectional Championship.
A two-year age gap can sometimes cause tension among teenagers, but tennis has cemented the bond between the Sharton boys.
“It’s definitely nice, especially with my brother — that’s where I notice it the most,” Will said. “Some siblings are close, some aren’t. You don’t necessarily have to play the same sport, but I think him going through the same stuff and us being so passionate about the exact same thing, that makes us closer.”
The Shartons were honored last year with the Edwin Goodman Family of the Year Award, presented annually by the USPTA of New England to a family that has made significant contributions opms to tennis in the region. All four Shartons were cited — Will and Charlie for their junior play, Rick and Brenda for their time and dedication.
“When we accepted that award, we said we accepted it on behalf of the whole family,” Brenda said. “The extended family as well — uncles and grandmother and all of those who had helped foster the love of tennis.”
There’s plenty of tennis talk in the Sharton household, but keeping their beloved sport in perspective is something both Rick and Brenda stress often to their sons. They do so because they’ve lived through both success and failure on the court, and they understand that while the game may provide defining moments in life, it doesn’t define the individual.
“There’s going to be another match around the corner,’’ said Rick, “and if you play this game long enough, you’re going to have heartache and disappointment, and you’ll have some highs . . . You have to get back up and go to work. It’s a process, like anything.”
“I’m so incredibly proud of both of them,” Brenda said, “really not so much in what they’ve accomplished, but who they are and how they carry themselves. That’s what makes me most proud as a mother.”
Andrew MacDougall can be reached at ajmacdougall-@gmail.com.