Gausdal, somewhere in the middle of Norway

I'm here for 2 weeks of tennis tournaments, actually playing this time not just travelling with kids! It's literally in the middle of nowhere, about 35km north-west of Lillehammer - a ski resort with a hotel, some tennis courts, a big hill and....that's pretty much it. There's a few other British girls here, so we've been practising together, supporting each other, cooking dinner, playing games etc - come to think of it, we've pretty much lived together for 9 days and haven't killed each other yet. Actually, it's been a really good laugh.

Week 1 - I qualified for singles then lost a close match 6-4 7-6 (8) which was really annoying as I had quite a few chances 2nd set. Doubles - won 1st round with Sam (Vickers), then she unfortunately got injured in her singles and couldn't really walk so our next round was pretty challenging... obviously we were going to win the tournament so a bit gutted but c'est la vie ; Week 2 - about to begin...





I spent last Friday morning being a tourist in Oslo after arriving on Thursday, and stayed with Kester Black's parents - they were so welcoming, really appreciated them putting me up for the night!! Oslo was great - really nice atmosphere in a beautiful setting...





So I've been playing a bit more competitive tennis again and really enjoying it...just finding it pretty difficult to find time to train properly, after spending most of the day teaching fitness classes or coaching. I'm trying to get a ranking (both singles & doubles) before the end of July, to give myself a slim chance of being selected for the Scottish team in the Commonwealth Games. I really don't know how small or big the chance is, but it's a dream opportunity and definitely worth trying for! After Bolton (British Tour event in March) I played in the Bournemouth & Edinburgh $10K's...reached 2nd round MD in Edinburgh and semis of doubles with Sam. Loads of people from fitness classes/tennis coaching, and my family came to watch which was really cool, it makes a big difference when you have people really supporting.

See more pics!