Home Sweet Home!

 

Back home in the Bay Area

 

My Welcoming Committee

How ironic that I was up at 2am this morning...the same time that I wrote my first blog entry in Mallorca! Once again I slept like a log when I got home and now jet lag is kicking in again! I learned a few lessons on my trip home.

1) When flying to the US from outside the country, do not buy liquid in duty free unless you have a non-stop to your final destination!

On Saturday night the guys and gals went out to dinner and for dessert the restaurant owner let us sample some very tasty lemoncello-like (but non-alcoholic) drink. I found it in duty-free in Madrid and thought I had struck gold. One of my best friends loves lemon drops (the drink) so I thought this would be a great gift. Ooops. I didn't realize that we would have to go through security again (since I was transferring) once we cleared US customs. So, I gave my bottle to the nice lady at the security and told her to share and enjoy!

2) Do not panic if yours bags don't make it with you to the US.

I waited and waited at baggage claim in Newark for my bags to arrive. On the descent, I keep hearing about the need to retrieve my luggage and go through customs regardless of my final destination. How was I supposed to go through customs without my bags!? Well, I waited as long as I could before I was going to miss my connection and went through customs with my hang luggage only. Airline services said check with baggage claim in SFO. On the flight home, I made a mental list of the stuff in my bags...my Bronze Medal!!! Note to self: next time carry on Medal. All's well that ends well. My bags arrived the next morning with all belonging intact.

So this is the final entry for my Mallorca blog. I am glad to be home and see family, friends, kitties and colleagues. And most of all to be able to share pictures and stories from my trip!!!

Young Cup (W40s) and Dubler Cup (M45s) Teams

Captain Rachel Gale and me in the Spanish team jackets!

Captain Rachel Gale's Blog for Sat May 2nd

Saturday, May 2nd
3rd & 4th playoff
USA vs. Spain

USA defeats Spain 2-1 to come in 3rd place in the 2009 ITF Senior World Team Championships!
The USA Young Cup team clinches a bronze medal!
Our #2 singles player, Renata, played Leticia Almrall of Spain. Renata was down in the 1st set 3-5 and came back winning 4 games in a row to win 7-5. Then Renata kept her momentum going in the 2nd set and won 6-2!! Great job Renata!
USA 1 Spain 0

Our #1 singles player, Vesna, played Ana Maria Segura. Vesna had a great start in the 1st set and was up 5-1 when Ana came charging back to be up 6-5. Vesna held serve to make it 6-6 and went into a tie breaker. Ana won the tie breaker 7-1.
In the 2nd set Vesna lost 6-1 to a very strong ground stroking Ana Maria Segura.

The match came down to our doubles team of Rachel and Renata who played against Ana Maria Segura and Rosa Bielsa of Spain. Rachel and Renata played a great 1st set with crisp volleys and awesome hands at the net. They won 6-3.
In the 2nd set they were down 3-0 very quickly. Then they were down 4-1 and ended up losing the set 3-6.
They got very pumped up for the 3rd set and had the strategy to be very aggressive and get to the net! This strategy paid off for the Americans and they went on to win the match 6-2!!

I am very honored to be writing this blog because this was a big win for us over Spain. We are very excited to be bringing home the bronze medals!

In this blog I am being interviewed by my team mates.

Rachel Gale-Interview
Rachel is the Assistant Tennis Coach at Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina. “I love my job and being so fortunate to coach under head coach Kelly Weaver! The Meredith girl’s tennis team has made it to the NCAA’s this year and two days after I get back from Turkey I will go with my team to the NCAA tournament. The girls on the team are a very special group of individuals! It is great to have a job you love.” Rachel is also a teaching pro at Lochmere swim and tennis club in Raleigh, NC.

This is Rachel’s 2nd World Team Championships. She played on the Suzanne Lenglen Cup team in Turkey in 2008. This year Rachel was a playing captain.
How do you like being a playing captain?
After today’s doubles match I can say I LOVE being a playing captain! It was nice to play with Renata and pull out the win for our team mates!! I have totally enjoyed being with my team: Renata, Vesna and Carolyn all week long. We really bonded during this week! I have enjoyed interviewing them and writing these blogs each day. My team has been very supportive and they have made it easy for me to be their captain! This experience has been second to none!
My team has given 100% of themselves in this tournament and for this I thank them very much!!
On behalf of the 2009 Young Cup Team I would like to thank the USTA promoters and sponsors for this opportunity to play for our country. We are honored to be promoting tennis to our younger and older players in the United States. Tennis is a sport of a lifetime and the Young Cup team has cherished this opportunity and was proud to bring home a 3rd place finish!
Your 2009 Young Cup Team Members,
Rachel Gale-Captain
Vesna McKenna
Renata Marcinkowska
Carolyn Wei

Lunch in Cales de Mallorca

 

Sunday May 2nd, 2009

Today was our last day together as a team and we decided to go on an expedition around the area. I drove, Vesna navigated, Renata was the backseat driver and Rachel was happy to be relieved of captain duties! The picture is from our lunch stop. We had intended to meet the guys for lunch in Cala Figuera but we got a little lost along the way, and growling stomaches demanded that we stop and eat. We ended up in Cales de Mallorca to eat and do a little shopping before heading home in the late afternoon.

I dropped Vesna off at the Beach Club Font de Sa Cala where the World Individuals started today. Both she and Renata will be playing, but Renata is heading up on Monday instead. I was happy to see Carolyn Nichols so that I could say goodbye and also saw Tracy Houk who is from the Bay Area. It looks like a beautiful area/venue where they will be playing the Individuals. Vensa's room overlooks the beach and the water. Pretty sweet!

I zipped back to meet up with Rachel and Renata and we had evening tea together. Our resort seemed so deserted as many players had left for home or the Individuals and the rest were probably packing up like I needed to do! Our airport shuttle is due at 6:30am on Monday!

Final Day of Play

 

Day 6: USA def Spain (2-1) for the Bronze Medal!

I was so tired yesterday I didn't have time to blog after we won, so this is a little late. But pictures are up on Picasa.

I woke up at 5am on Saturday, eager to get online. I went outside at 6am to check the weather and noticed immediately that it was WINDY! At 6am? Well, it just kept picking up and while we thought Friday was windy, Saturday was even MORE windy! At least this time it seemed more consistent in one direction and less swirly than Friday. At least it was not raining!!! Warmup was fun, we had to make sure that everyone practiced from both sides to get a feel for the conditions. We played our matches on court 15 and the guys on court 18, so close by again.

We were very much looking forward to playing Spain, as they are the host country and this is the land of Rafa Nadal!

It is breakfast time so I am going to continue this later.

Day 6: 6:15am on Saturday

Well, my internal clock has adjusted pretty well to the hours where wifi is working!!! Now I am getting up at 5am! I stayed up all day yesterday with no siesta and crashed at 11:30pm. Now I am sitting in the lobby yawning but thrilled about my wifi connection! Having my computer has been awesome. I've been able to upload picures to the web really quick, throw in a blog and then see results of other Cups etc. Rachel and I have been hanging out in the lobby after dinner so I can show her all the cool things about Picasa. It's been a real test of patience to have the wifi signal go up/down within the span of two minutes. Makes it hard to upload pictures, but somehow we have managed!!!

I can't believe that I have been here a week now! Time flies! I regret not having experienced more of the local scene around town, but yesterday Renata and I went walking after dinner. We did some souvenir shopping and walked the boardwalk. I like these small resort towns, it is nice to say hi to the same shop keepers every morning and have them recognize you!
The people here are so nice, I wish I had made more of an effort to learn Spanish, but I seem to have gotten by with a mix of Italian and French and their English is pretty good!

It looks like all matches will start at 10am today, and I just walked outside where the sky is fairly clear, the ground is dry and it is a little breezy. This sort of reminds me of the Hawaiian climate, where the trade winds blow through and a storm can come at any time. I am glad I decided to get a warm coat here and big beach towel. It's been keeping me nice and warm in the morning when it is cold and the afternoon when the wind gets crazy! I think the forecast is for sunshine today and tomorrow. Yay!

Ok, I am now falling asleep on the couch in the lobby (and I am still the only one here). It is starting to get light. Breakfast starts at 7am so I am heading back to the room to get my first cup of tea.

Hasta Luego!

 

Day 5: Italy def USA (2-0)

Can you believe we woke up to rain this morning and courts too wet to play on? Rain Delay!!! We ended up having a leisurely breakfast and lounged around in the lobby in between making numerous trips back and forth to the courts to get updates. We headed over around noon and sure enough, Renata was able to get started by 1pm. I bundled up in warm jacket put my hat on to keep off the rain. The wind picked up real strong as the afternoon went on. Brrr!

Italy is the #1 seed and for good reason! We were impressed with the way the gals glided around the court, got to every ball, and hit a wide variety of shots/spins! They played really well and Renata and Vesna both lost despite some spectacular points and shot making. Tomorrow we play Spain in the 3/4 playoff match. Italy plays France in the women's final.

The guys has a rough day as well, losing 2-0 to the Netherlands. Tomorrow they play Great Britain in the 7/8 playoff match. Austria plays Germany in the men's final.

It's been a long day and I am thankful the wifi is working right now, so I can get this posted and go get some sleep!

Hasta Luego!