Things To Do In Westwood

The player toes the baseline, bounces the tennis ball a few times per ritual, and then tosses it skyward for the first serve. The ball is hit a touch too firmly, and it sails past the service area for a fault. No matter, you get two faults in tennis. The second serve takes some oomph off the stroke while imparting spin, hoping to keep it safely in-bounds. Instead, the ball is lands wide of the sideline for fault number two.

It's common situations like these that certified tennis instructor Peter Ohanyan believes separate an average player from confident players whose skills are refined. Recognizing the need to combat mental obstacles and boost confidence, particularly with beginners, Peter applies all the knowledge learned from playing singles at the NCAA level, coaching a high school team, and earning degrees in psychology and physical education. He takes a positive, reinforcing approach to teaching the game, and employs a wide range of equipment—such as agility ladders, cones, and hurdles—to help his students sharpen technical skills.

Kids typically love a chance to play with a set of toys that's new to them. At The Big Playhouse, the staff not only provides toys to play with, but grand playsets, including a cafe, doctor’s office, enchanted loft, construction site, and salon, that spark imagination and develop social skills better than any imaginary tea party or Senate hearing. Kids can play house in a pretend home complete with a washer and dryer or wax entrepreneurial in a bake shop stocked with pretend cupcakes. As they check their shoes at the door, they can choose a toy vehicle or doll to adopt for the day, or they can bring their favorite doll or truck with them. Birthday parties, meanwhile, include catered food and customized games such as freeze dancing, limbo, and simon says. WiFi and coffee are available for parents as they watch their children from the viewing area.

Yoga, ballet barre, Pilates, and Zumba aren't one-dimensional workouts. That's why they and other similar classes are offered at Spectrum Wellness Center. There, the team of instructors pushes students toward overall wellness, not just exterior goals like six-pack abs and chiseled thumb muscles. Classes are kept small so students can receive personalized attention, which is ideal for all skill levels. Spectrum Wellness Center's holistic approach also shows during one-on-one injury-prevention sessions, which lets athletes get back in the game without risking performance.

PGA Teaching Professional Tom McGuinness hones in swings and sharpens short games in his campaign to help students better enjoy the game of golf. Tom's private and group lessons at the award-winning Emerson Golf Club welcomes every kind of golfer, whether he or she happens to be a junior or an adult, a beginning golfer or Jack Nicklaus's even-better-at-golf cousin. Lessons use video so that the student can easily see what the instructor sees, and range balls are provided throughout the session.

At Sae Shim Kumdo Academy, the three fourth-degree-black-belt instructors treat each other like family, because they are family. The Parks—father, mother, and son—teach their students the art of kumdo, a Korean-style fencing class, which exercises both, minds and bodies.

The Art Spot's workshop connects artists with professional materials, individual workstations, and friendly guidance to help them tap into their creative inclinations. Drop-in studio sessions present visitors with two avenues for crafting framed 2-D artwork: flesh out one of hundreds of pre-made sketches using studio materials, or build an image from scratch using acrylic paint, artistic vision, and the pair of cracked spectacles that prevented Picasso from lining up facial features correctly. A friendly instructor installs each student at a well-lit drafting table equipped with a box of basic mark-making materials, pointing out a meticulously organized supply cabinet of colored pencils, three kinds of pastels, brush art markers, watercolors, and acrylic paints. Coordinated media ensures that draftspeople pair the right materials for their masterpieces, saving brushes' wet kisses for cold-press watercolor paper or canvas and smearing pastels' thick lipstick on acid-free cotton paper. Those working without a sketch who would prefer access to the studio's full panoply of pigments may buy their way out of acrylics for an additional fee ($25/hour).