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Carel instantly noticed cutural differences between South Africa and the US...
Carel instantly noticed cutural differences between South Africa and the US...
Carel said, "I had to get a taxi that cost me $11 and I didn’t tip the guy because I didn’t know you had to tip! Because nobody tips in South Africa and I felt terrible when everybody told me you had to tip."
Jobs & Oppurtunities
Jobs & Oppurtunities
TOTAL TENNIS
TOTAL TENNIS
Total Tennis offered Carel a summer job when he was 18. Originally, Carel did not intend on staying in the United States. For the first 5 or 6 years he only came for the summer to work at the tennis resort. They offered him a welcoming, inclusive environment to make money doing something he enjoyed. Later, he went on to coach children in tennis at Meadowbrook, and various other tennis academies and camps.
"I was a decent tennis player and I was in a tennis community so I could kind of shine in that community, but the nice thing was that most of the people that worked with me at the tennis camp were foreigners, so we were all in the same boat.”
"I was a decent tennis player and I was in a tennis community so I could kind of shine in that community, but the nice thing was that most of the people that worked with me at the tennis camp were foreigners, so we were all in the same boat.”
-- Carel Pretorius
-- Carel Pretorius
♥️ Finding Love ♥️
♥️ Finding Love ♥️
Carel made many friends during his time in the United States. One of these friends was Dan Cayarga. He asked Carel to go to a halloween party with him. There, Carel met a woman wearing vampire makeup, named Molly Holme, who after a few years became Molly Pretorius Holme. They got engaged on July 22nd, 2000 and married on June 2, 2001. Now, they live in Needham, Massachusetts with their daughter, Emma, and their son, Henry.
Starting a Family in the United states
Starting a Family in the United states
Emma Pretorius
Emma Pretorius
Relationship: Daughter
Age: 17
Carel started a family with Molly. He currently works at NPRC (Needham Pool and Racquet Club) and NPTC (Needham Platform Tennis Club) as a tennis and paddle coach. Carel says that he never regretted moving to the United States. He said, "My favorite thing about living in the US is safety... Everything you have in South Africa is behind very high fences and everything is locked up and you pay people to look after your car in a parking lot. In the US we don't even lock our doors. We don't even lock our cars if we don't want to. We leave stuff outside. Amazon packages are left on the front porch. You can never have that in South Africa because number one, nobody doesn't have a fence and number two if they didn't everything would be stolen instantly."
Henry Pretorius
Henry Pretorius
Relationship: Son
Age: 12
"I really love it here."
"I really love it here."
-- Carel Pretorius
-- Carel Pretorius
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