First Match

OMG! I am in CA playing in a National Tournament. Though the draw is small because evidently women between the ages of 30 and 35 have better things to do, I am so glad I entered.

I am thinking that somehow my reputation for a meanie preceded me. My first round opponent withdraw as my plane was touching down, so bye in the first round. Yea, me!

I was disappointed because I knew the competition would be tough, but I really wanted to kick off my USTA season with the best tennis possible and I thought I would be able to get that in a national tournament.

It annoys me when people roll their eyes at my Pollyanna-outlook, but the fact that my opponent dropping out meant that I would face the number one seed in my first match, was not as earth-shattering as you might think. I am very pragmatic about mostly everything and the thing is, I did EVERYTHING I could to prepare for this match. I ran when I hate running. I worked out when I didn't want to. I played tennis against some rather cocky and rude Big Bangers who enjoyed kicking my butt whenever I would allow. So the only thing I could do here was my best. I couldn't have done anymore.

And so it was proven in my first match which I lost 1-6, 0-6.

The woman I played was a player ranked 5.5, which as far as I can tell, they rank her that as a warning to everyone who comes near her on the court. Kind of like a high voltage sign is there for your protection.

She was a very experienced player who'd spent ten years on the pro circuit. There's always something to take out of the match and what I found was that I wasn't out played. I could hold my own. I aced her a few more times that she aced me. She blazed winners by me at the same speed I blazed them by her. The difference was her experience. She seemed to be that smart kid in class, who has all the answers before the teacher ever asks the questions.

But I wasn't outplayed.

Back when I first picked up a racquet and there was nothing about my game worth watching, a teaching pro told me that I would be hard pressed to find another woman who could outhit me. He said that I had the power and once I learned the game I would be great.

I've believed that all this time, but this match was like a confirmation.

At any cost, I play doubles today. Hopefully, it will be fun. I have not played doubles really with my travelling partner so all I can hope for is fun, to work on some things and to get some more tennis in.

Tomorrow morning I play for the third place bronze ball. My opponent is a psycho who tried to cheat her way through her semi final match this morning, so I look forward to her theatrics.

Stay tuned...

KS

Playing for a Party

I leave for Sacramento in two days. I am so excited. The draws are set to be posted tmr and I am anxious to see.

Realistically, my goal is to finish in the top three in the singles draw. But now, I have extra incentive. One of the ladies in one of my tennis clinic is throwing me a party if I win! Woohoo! Sweet! It reminds me of getting ice cream when you brought home a great report card!

I still have racquets to string, but should get them done in a few hours. The closer I get to Thursday, the more excited I feel. I can stop worrying so much about what-ifs as the little details are being worked out, like who's taking us to the airport and picking us up, everything being packed that needs to be packed, etc.

Soon, all that will be left for me to do is to get on the plane!

Stay tuned,

KS

Six Days To Go...

I ran into issues stringing my racquets on Tuesday. Rushing to string is never a good idea. The more I rushed, the more mistakes I made and so, I ended up only having one racquet strung and I wasted a whole set of string on another racquet. I have been experimenting with more durable strings while trying to find something that wouldn't aggravate the tendinitis in my wrist so much. For now, I have settled on Technifibre Black Code in 18g. The thin string has not been so bad on my wrist and I love the bite I get on the ball from using something this thin. Despite its thinness, it is remarkably durable. I am able to play a three to four weeks on one set before they break and they maintain tension pretty well.

At any cost, I can't seem to find that string locally, so I am ordering online and waiting for express delivery. I will probably spend Tuesday morning stringing.

I've been playing a ton of tennis this week. The best performance was beating the pro at my tennis club in a tiebreaker. I won 7-5, so it was close, but I was never behind and I played with confidence. I have been training so hard, it was great to feel like it was paying off. Everything came together for that tiebreaker. I didn't miss one return. I didn't over hit the ball. I was balanced. I was patient!

I played a Suburban tennis match this morning. My partner and I won both rounds; the first 10-0 and the second 9-2. I love how I am able to get "up" to compete. Sometimes practices are discouraging for me. I am always working on something new or working to improve something and while I am learning, there's always the frustration with not being able to see the results. Well the last few days, I've been able to see results.

I am so hoping to take that success with me to CA.

Stay tuned,

KS

Big Bangers

It is not two and a half weeks until I leave for Sacramento for the National 30s Indoor Tournament. The last month, I have been going back and forth between being excited and being super nervous. I think now that the plane tickets are purchased, the hotel and car (the responsibility of travel partner) hopefully is or is being taken care of, I think I can relax a little more.

All I have left to do is play. With the Michigan weather finally somewhat warm enough for me to get outside, I have been playing more with practice partners I call Big Bangers because of how hard they hit the ball and most of them use the Luxilon brand of "Big Banger" string typical for guys who hit as hard as they do.

After what seems like millionth hour of playing tennis with some of these guys, I began to feel a little discouraged last week. For awhile, I had a good mix of hitting with them and they hitting with people more around my level of play. Mentally this was good; get my butt kicked for two hours and then go be competitive later in my own skill class.

Most of March, however, I almost exclusively hit with the Big Bangers and at some point, I really began to hate them!

Well, maybe not hate...

I did hate that I seemed to be getting aced three times a game!

I did hate that my best serves were getting blasted back at me with NO regard to my sensitive feelings.

I did hate that whenever I went to the net behind a lackluster approach shot, some of the Big Bangers tried to make me pee my pants my taking aim at my head.

I did hate that one of this Big Bangers pointed out that I was only winning about 0.3 games a set.

But then I resumed hitting with my normal practice partners and I began to see the light. It was like that church moment in the Blues Brothers where Elroy realizes the answer is "The Band".

I found myself reading the court better. Without the ball coming back at me at 170 mph, I could see weakness in my opponents game and pick them apart. I was able to dictate play more. Playing with the Big Bangers made me take advantage of every opportunity to win a point, knowing there wouldn't be many chances. And that carried over to other tennis and I found myself more dominant.

I am so looking forward to nationals now.

I have racquets to string in the next week, a couple of mixed doubles matches to play, and some clinics to attend.

This week I lay I start laying off of the weight training, but continuing with the cardio and most importantly, PLAYING, PLAYING, PLAYING!

Incidentally, I played a mxd doubles match on Saturday against a 68 year old woman that I think I am going to have to honorarily dub a Big Banger.

This lady is everything I want to be as a tennis player when I am that age. She was ripping returns back our way like she was demonstrating "How to Burn Someone With a Return".

That's it for now,

Stay tuned,

KS

Stinking Thinking

38 days and counting...

38 days until the 30s National Indoor tournament.

Although my days have primarily been filled with training and tennis (aside from a couple of weeks where asthma decided to kick my butt), I am beginning to feel less confident.

I am often reminded to not do "stinkin' thinkin'", Dr. Phil's favorite saying when someone has bad thoughts for no good reason, but sometimes, it is so hard not to.

I lose a match to a person I shouldn't or even struggle with and win ugly against a player of lessor talent and I begin to think maybe I don't have the talent to compete for a Gold Ball. But then I will have an amazing match and I think that I can't wait for the end of April.

All of my practices are purposeful. Beforehand, goals are written down and despite results, I try very hard to stick to the plan. For example, win or lose, a goal might be to serve and volley, every opportunity I have. So at the end of a practice, when I have served and volleyed more times that Pete Sampras, himself, why am I disappointed with a set score of 3-6?

Stinking Thinking...

A goal of mine has been to hit with more pace. Too often, I don't go for shots that I make all day in practices and clinics. In matches, I am content to moonball to my opponent or push the ball back at the person who is pushing at me. So, in my first outside session of the year, when a well-intended, but very misguided, acquaintance reminded me to just get the ball back against a guy that routinely stomps me and waits for slow sitters, why did I allow myself to falter, to go away from my plan?

Stinking Thinking...

So, my goal for the next month is to be mentally tougher. When a psycho across the net from me, asks me for the millionth time whether I am sure of a call, I am going to "chill". When my opponent, who has brought her own lounge chair to the court so that her changeovers are only missing a pina colada with a little pink umbrella, I am going to "chill". When the person on the other side of the net decides to go fetch a third ball from another court before telling me my first serve is out, I am going to "chill" and then blow her away with a second serve ace!

Focus! No Stinking Thinking...

Stay tuned,

KS

Tennis Noises

After watching the Australian Open, I have decided that the noise I make when hitting the ball, a monotone "uuuuuhhhhh", is simply too boring.

I need a new sound, a new grunt. Something intimidating. So this weekend, while competing at the SE Michigan Combo League playoffs, I was on the hunt for a new noise.

For me, my noise has always been about letting out air, remembering to breathe when I hit the ball, something like the way weigh trainers exhale when dead lifting. Although, its audible, I've never received complaints about it being hindering, which seems to be the objective of my loud-exhaling tennis peers.

This weekend, I found the possibilities were endless. Did I want to go with some kind of primal, monstrous growl? Or something more shrill and scary? The kind of noise that would cause my opponent to tighten up like someone had run their fingernails across a blackboard.

But I have narrowed it down to five.

First, my favorite; "WHOOPEE". Victoria Azarenka, the young, up-and-coming Belarusian whose Australian Open dreams ran into a brick wall named, Serena, two years in a row, has always been very vocal when striking the ball, but thanks to some enthusiastically inebriated Aussie fans, who had not had their fill of tennis because of a Federer beatdown of Lleyton Hewitt, the "Whoppee" was brought to light. Personally, this is my favorite, ball-striking word. "Whoopee!" What a way to relax when you're on the tennis court. "Whoopee!" While you are having a blast striking the ball, your opponent, if they haven't already died of laughter, will probably be too confused about all the fun you are having playing to return the ball. Win-win! Or, in the words of Azarenka, WHOOPEE!

Second, "BOO". I am not sure if this is meant to scare your opponent. The man doing it, a club-level player, didn't shout it suddenly, like you would expect of someone saying "BOO!" Instead it was more like a warning, a long dragged out warning, one you would expect Casper, the friendly ghost, to let out, warning you that, yes, he is a ghost. Yes, he is required to greet you in the customary ghoulish manner. But just between you and him, he's not really trying to scare you. The tennis player said, "Boo" every time he hit the ball, but dragged it out, so that by the time the ball landed on his opponent's side, he was still oo-ing.

Third, "AH-HAA". This is perhaps the most creative one in the bunch. It was the sound of laughter like Roger Thomas from What's Happening. Again, a male club player was the one observed letting his lung air out by "Ah-haa-ing". If you choose to employ this breathing technique, make sure you are hitting the "haa" a whole octave higher than the "ah". This one might take practice. Work at it and I am sure you can get it. If you really want to go throwback, rock some knee-high crew socks with the wide green stripes at the top. Ask your opponent to slap you some skin. Right on!

Fourth, "Ayyy-YAAAA". This one is for all of you Kung-Fu enthusiasts. Every time you hit the ball, pretend like you are about to split a stack of boards with your forehead. Take a deep breath, swing your racquet and "Ayy-YAAAA!" or "Ka-POW!" (if you are a Batman and Robin follower) or "BOOYAH" if you want to revive the Stewart Scott expression. Whatever you say, say it with enthusiasm. Say it like you are slapping down a royal flush! "Ka-POW!"

Fifth and lastly, "Oy-yee". This is for those who like experiencing different cultures. I most often hear this from European kids. It's kind of a whiny, high-pitched sound, annoying like the squeaky wheel of a grocery cart that you put up with because you're too lazy to go back to the front of the store to get another one. Pronounced correctly and dragged out sufficiently, this noise is the kind of slow torture counter punching players can use to further drive their opponents mad. "Oy-yeee!"

That's it for now. Stay tuned,

WHOOPEE!

USTA National 30s Indoor Championship

I started this blog to journal my attempts to become a USTA national champion in the 30s age group, an ambitious, but attainable goal considering I have the better part of this new decade to accomplish my goal.



The National 30s Indoor Championship is held in Gold River, CA at the end of April. That gives me approximately 90 days to train, to work and to refine my game.



There are also things to work on, of course, like the money to train, to work and to refine my game! The most amazing thing to me has been the willingness of so many people I know to be a part of my goal, to do what they can to aid me in my attempt to achieve this dream.



This Blog entry is to just update what's going on.

I have been playing for the past year with Wilson Hyperlast Spin string. Its a hybrid with polyester in the mains and Stamina in the crosses. I like this particular string because it has been arm-friendly for the most part. I fractured my wrist playing ice hockey a couple of years ago and since then have struggled with polyester strings which has caused tendinitis symptoms in my right wrist at times. At its worst, I played with Wilson NXT, a soft string that frays and breaks for me in record time, but has always alleviated the soreness in my wrist. The Hyperlast string is an 18-gauge string, a lot thinner than the normal 16-gauge.

I've had some soreness the past four weeks in my wrist and have been debating switching back to the NXT while I am training for the next two months and then switching back at the beginning of April so I have a few weeks to play with the polyester again.

The reluctance is that I really enjoy being able to hit out on the ball with the polyester. I enjoy how hard I can hit the ball without fear of it sailing on me. But I have to take care of the wrist first.

The second injury, which has been a problem for the past year is the plantar fasciitis in my left foot. This injury has just refused to go away and I don't want to take the necessary long time off to let it heal. If I thought it would heal in three weeks by me not doing anything, I would totally do it, but I have taken a couple of weeks off without much relief since I still have to do the day to day walking around. The insoles have helped tremendously. The two pair of socks for extra cushioning has helped. I am icing and soaking at the end of the day which has done a lot. I am not waking up with the same pain as I was before. So hopefully the treatment routine will get me through another season.

Strength and Conditioning training has been what you would expect; WORK, HARD WORK! But I've done what I can to break up the monotony. I've really focused on high-rep, endurance-oriented weight training with lots of sprints on the treadmill and stair master mixed in.

Tennis training has, of course, been so much more enjoyable. I am playing anywhere from 10 to 16 hours a week. My favorite part of the week has to be the clinic at Franklin Racquet Club on Saturday mornings. Last Saturday, I got to rotate through the different drills with the biggest hitters in the clinic, 4.5 and 5.0 guys. And I loved it. I have to admit, I was scared at first. I didn't want to be hit with a ball so the pros figured they should move me to a "safer" group. I also didn't want to hit so poorly that the guys were like, what is she doing with us?

I held my own and loved the pace!

I think it was the new shoes. I've designed my own with the mi adidas application on the adidas website. The shoes are red, silver, white and navy. UDM colors! Grant it, the shoes only go with half of my wardrobe, but that's okay!

Go Titans!

Stay tuned,
KS