La Manga

I managed to survive 8 days in La Manga with a group of kids on a Tennis Scotland training camp. We joined with Leeds Academy, and between us had 24 kids (4 coaches) aged 10-15. Ellinore (national coach) & I shared an apartment with the two youngest girls who are both 10, and never stop talking. It was... interesting :)



The kids worked hard, we had 6 days of really nice weather and then it poured with rain on our last day and a half, but we did quite a lot of fitness stuff and some worksheets on match analysis and mental preparation. Also had team competition involving football, paddle tennis (a bit like racketball but over a net as well!) and crazy golf. On the last evening we'd asked them all to prepare a show for us in their apartment groups, and it was a highly entertaining evening (most were actually pretty good, but some so bad we were nearly crying with laughter!)

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Travel issues....

Last weekend Ross & I got all dressed up for the Tennis Scotland Awards Dinner... I was driving him & James through to Stirling for it, but we never quite made it. My car cut out somewhere on the M9 and although I got Karen Paterson & her parents to pick James up on the way by (he was getting an award so needed to be there!), Ross & I ended up getting towed back to Edinburgh. We joined the crew at Finnegan's to drown our sorrows, had a really fun night and to be honest, probably didn't miss too much at the dinner.

On Thursday I was biking back from work when my tyre popped on something and I ended up having to run home with it, as bike shops had closed - having a travelling disaster, just hope I don't break my leg next :) Mum & dad took me out to see an acrobatic performance (similar to Cirque du Soleil) at Festival Theatre, it was fantastic - I think those shows are amazing!!

Unfortunately it wasn't worth getting the car fixed, so with mum & dad's help this weekend I towed it to the scrap yard and said goodbye to the Nissan... it wasn't nearly as sad as parting with the Daewoo in AZ though.

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Winning Ugly :)

Apart from barely being able to walk now, I'm pretty pleased with my result from the weekend. Played in my first singles tournament since NCAA's in May 2003, and I managed to remember the crafty and determined style of play that used to win me matches. I won the tournament fairly comfortably in the end, although my legs were totally gone by the final. I couldn't push up on my serve, and moving for forehands out wide was agony, but luckily experience and determination was enough (juniors just don't know how to deal with slice and dropshots!)

It's amazing how different playing matches is - I could run for hours, do spin classes back to back, and even an adventure race, but 4 tennis matches in 2 days and I can hardly move :) Overall, I actually really enjoyed playing though, despite being a bit frustrated with shots/movements that used to be so easy, and just don't feel natural anymore!



This picture is with one of the kids I coach, Euan McIntosh. He's currently #2 in Scotland U/12 - aged 11, with size 11 feet...

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