Hey all!

I have just come back from 3 weeks abroad in America with Naomi! Starting with the 1st week in Midland, Michigan, a small town near the Canadian border so ridiculously cold with heaps of snow! We were very lucky because we had housing with a lovely family with a beautiful home! They had 2 acres of land and a home cinema which I must say came in very handy after hard days. The tournament was one of the best and well run tournaments I have been to and they couldn't of helped or done any more for us. I would definitely recommend this tournament as part of a players schedule. There were always lots of courts for practice, all day food for players and coaches, events and pro ams giving chances for the players to interact with sponsors!


Naomi got to a good start by qualifying for the 100k event and beating the same girl she had beaten in the 1st Cuban 10k final. It was good because she started well which I knew she needed to do and gave the girl no space to breathe which was good because we know this girl competes hard and can be tricky but Naomi again got on court and did her job very well! Unfortunately in her 1st round match she lost 6-4 in the final set to an older French girl. Naomi dominated this match and it was defiantly an opportunity to take as she was playing some great tennis in the 2nd and start of the 3rd set. What is good for her to see and take on board is to know that she belongs at this level and could and will do some damage in one of these tournaments which is exciting.


After Midland we had an unfortunate hiccup which is what happens sometimes on the road of tennis! We had a flight to catch to Phionex Arizona! The morning of our flight our house family got a phone call to say our flight had been cancelled due to weather storms and that we have been replaced with a flight the next day, which was too late for Naomi's sign in. After lots of phoning airports and reffs we had bad news that Naomi couldn't sign in over the phone and that she couldn't play the tournament because she wasn't physically for sign in, with the added bad fortune that she was only one place out of getting in to main draw which would have been fine because she would of made it in time! The thing that frustrated me the most was that the airline gave us such late notice and canceled both of our flights to get to Arizona, the second one was from Detroit ( our connecting flight) which was only 2hours away which our house family were willing to drive us to to make at-least our connecting flight so that she would make sign in. But because they had canceled our seats and put us onto the next day to fly, other people had already booked up and given our seats and there was no way of us to make it!

After a stressful evening with the help of  David we came up with Plan B which was to do a phyical block with Naomi in Alabama and to get her really ready for her next two tournaments out here in America. This is all good experience for me, developing my skills on solving problems when traveling with players, so far away and sprung on to you so quickly with only a short matter of time to sort it. We came up with a good solution as Naomi needed to spend more time on her fitness on and off court to develop her tennis.


We stayed in Alabama for her physical block and preparation for her nexttournament in Hammond which was only a 2hour drive away. One of Davids old friends, David Cody who's been involved in tennis for years and has a lot of coaching experience and a very good record talent spotting helped us out with accommodation, court facilities and a gym which was great. He also helped Naomi with on court work and has gone on with her to the next two tournaments. I really enjoyed it because it was a very relaxed place and quiet where we stayed so we were able to get some good training in. She did 2 fitness sessions a day which were tough but very specific to Naomi's needs for her game and 1 tennis session. As it got nearer to the tournament I cut the physical down to just the one session and more tennis and match play!


What was also fun was that we rented a car and it was my first time driving in the States on those big intimidating highways with lots of junctions going here there and everywhere but very cool and a challenge lol! It was good because we were able to go to lunch where we wanted and in the evenings there was a City 30mins away called Mobile with good restaurants and shopping malls, which every girl enjoys! We had a few trips where we nearly headed in totally wrong directions taking us to a totally different state but I must say Naomi's map skills impressed me :p very amusing times!


On her one day of rest we prayed for sun but unfortunately it didn't happen but we remained hopeful and I drove us to the nearest beach which was a good hour away, but the sun never showed. We did get to see a lovely beach and drove threw some typical, lots of character Southern towns in America. We managed to sit out at the beach for a good whole 15mins until we nearly froze to death lol but we did come across an outlet mall on our journey back so we made the most of our day off and actually saw quite a bit of the place which very rarely happens, particularly nice as it was nearly Naomi's birthday so we used it as her birthday day and had a tiramisu with candles to celebrate because I went home just before her birthday :(!


I left Naomi out there in America with David Cody for them to carry on to the last two tournaments. I think everything does happen for a reason as she then went on to qualify and make quarters of Hammond and David Cody says she is playing some good tennis scoring some good wins. I am happy that we used the time well we had from that unfortunate mishap and has helped her to feel more confident about her movement and strength on the tennis court!


I am now back in Bath working with Team BathMCTA and it is going great. I am excited about the new program and the development of these players in the future.