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Before the flight to Barcelona
© Grace Min
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A view from our balcony
© Grace Min
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Just a month after five top American junior boys returned home from a six-week stay in Spain designed to develop their skills on red clay, three talented American girls have traveled overseas for the same experience. Grace Min, Chanelle Van Nguyen and Breaunna Addison will be in Barcelona from April 21 to May 17 with USTA National Coach Lori McNeil (Coach Jean Desdunes will be joining the group on May 1, with McNeil leaving Spain on May 5). As the American boys did, the group will train at the Barcelona Tennis Academy and will work with the coaches and fitness trainers there. They will also have the opportunity to compete in some ITF clay-court tournaments during their stay. While in Spain, the girls will be writing an exclusive blog for USTA.com. Check back often for updates.
Entry 4 - Breaunna Addison, May 4
Hey Y'all,
Weeee'reeeee backkkkk!!! My name is Breaunna Addison. For the next couple of days, I would like to share my amazing stay here in Barcelona!! But before I begin, I would like to say I am extremely fortunate to receive the opportunity to train and compete here in Spain.
So far, the sites have been unreal!! I'm looking forward to our weekends out on the town. PARRTAYYY!!! Just Kidding!! Not only are the sites fantabulous, the coaching is fantastic, along with the world-class fitness (I must say Satoshi is still the best).
Today, Gabriel led us through a light weight session, followed by a strenuous stretching. Afterward, we grabbed a light snack from the cafe and headed down to the courts for a light grooving session. We hit for about 1 hr 30 min. The session included the basic cross-courts, down-the lines, volleys, serves, returns and point-play situations. By the way, the airport finally returned our racquet bags!! Honestly, my racquet never felt so AMAZING!!!
Next, Chanelle, Lori and I drove to Vic with the BTT players to check in for qualifying of a $10K Challenger. Later, we had dinner as planned at the site. Our meal consisted of pasta, salad and tuna. DELISHHHH!!!!
Well, It’s late, and I've got to get some shut-eye. Wish us luck!
Entry 3 - Grace Min, April 23
Hellooo,
It just keeps getting better and better. Today was also a fantabulous day (to my surprise, that’s actually a word because my spell check didn’t put that annoying red line under it). Life is good :]]
Similar to yesterday, we arrived at the tennis center a little before the fitness started at 9:30. We ran a couple laps around the tennis center for a warm up and did some on-court conditioning with Gabriel afterwards. We did endurance running towards the end, which was tough, but that’s what we need to get used to because red-clay tennis takes a lot of endurance. All was swell in the end, especially because the weather was PERFECT.
After a quick bite of a ham and cheese baguette (soooo good), we had practice at 11:30. I was with another different coach today; I think his name was Giron (please excuse my pre-mature memory). Anyways, he used to coach former Grand Slam champions Conchita Martinez and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario. I would never have guessed it because he was very down to earth and also extremely funny. The focus of the practice was similar to the morning and afternoon of yesterday, except with the incorporation of different drills, involving… can you guess? Yes, movement and footwork! Tough question, I know. I ended up having a lot of fun working with him.
After practice, we had a nice surprise waiting for us. Thanks to Jay Berger and Bob and Mike Bryan, we were spoiled with tickets to the Barcelona Open!! After lunch, we took the train into the city and made it in time for Rafa’s match. There are not enough words in the English language to describe how good he is. Seriously. I’ll just leave it at that so I don’t do him any injustice. It was a quick match… a little less than an hour. Nevertheless, it was highly enjoyable.
Afterwards, Lori treated us to Movenpick, which is another name for AMAZING Swiss ice cream. It was unreal. Movenpick has officially swooped in and taken the place at No. 1, ahead of Coldstones, on my list of favorite ice creams.
In the train station (on our way back), we had a little difficulty with the ticket machine due to the fact that it was all in Spanish. While we were trying to figure it out, we stumbled across a parent of a boy who trained at the BTT Academy, too. What are the odds? Anyways, he helped us out a lot with the tickets, and we eventually made it safely back to the tennis center, where we had dinner.
This will be my last blog for about a week. Chanelle or Bree will take the honor of keeping you posted!
Happy La Diada de Sant Jordi <3
Grace
Entry 2 - Grace Min, April 22
Hola!
I don’t know where to begin! Day 2 was fantastic. It was great to finally play some tennis. The day started off with fitness at 9:30. We did a few warm-up exercises in the gym with Gabriel. Then we headed outdoors for a nice run. We ran through the woods, so the beautiful scenery and tricky path were sources of constant entertainment. Afterwards, we did some on-court fitness for some speed, agility and running technique exercises. At 11:30, after a small break, we went out to the courts for our morning practice. The red clay was a little out of my comfort zone at first, but I grew to like it towards the end. My graceful fall (cough, cough) within the first five minutes on the clay only expedited my acquaintance with the surface.
Chanelle and I worked with a coach named Jordi for the whole morning. He had a lot of great drills that familiarized us with the clay (especially sliding) and also thinking with the right mentality that would enable us to not only play but to succeed on clay. Movement was the No. 1 component in all of the drills. Jordi emphasized every part of movement; the first step that ultimately decided how fast you got to the ball, the movement going to the ball, and the explosive recovery after the ball was hit. But the thing that I loved most about Jordi was his enthusiasm. He seemed to enjoy every single minute of just being on the tennis court. That kind of attitude definitely transcended into the drills and to us. It was like a circle of enthusiastic energy, constantly spreading from one person to the other.
We finished up practice around 1:30, stretched, had lunch and relaxed. The afternoon practice started at 4. This time, I was with a coach named Carlos and a girl named Gabriela. For the first half, we did a lot of forehand work. Again, movement was a key component. In the second half, we did more drills at the net and preceded to work on serves, returns and point play towards the end. Earlier today, Jordi mentioned that Nadal only hit four aces (in three sets) in the finals of Monte Carlo. With that being said, Jordi said that you don’t get too many free points on red clay, and the shots after the serve are what are crucial. Anyways, it was a very fun and productive practice. Carlos’ enthusiasm was also incredible, and it made the session that much more enjoyable. It also helped that we played a game at the end, too :]
Anyways, I need to watch the rest of the "American Idol" performances and rest for tomorrow!
Hasta mañana,
Grace
Entry 1 - Grace Min, April 21
Hey Everyone!
My name is Grace, and I will be blogging for the next few days about our stay here in Barcelonaaaa. Before I inform you on the latest, let me just say that Barcelona is insanely beautiful, even under the unexpected cast of gray skies.
I have been fortunate enough to be selected by the USTA (along with my two other friends, Chanelle and Bree) to train and play a few tournaments here in the red-clay paradise. Lori will be here with us for the first two weeks, and than Jean Desdunes will fly out for the remaining weeks.
We didn’t get off to the greatest start today. We landed in Barcelona early in the morning, deprived of sleep and looking a little frightening from the cramped flight, only to find that our tennis bags didn’t make the trip. No worries. Luckily, Chanelle was smart enough to pack a couple extra racquets in her suitcase, and we were told everything would arrive tomorrow.
We continued on to the tennis center with high spirits and did some light fitness and stretching with Gabriel, one of the fitness coaches, upon our arrival. The coaches/people there could not have been more welcoming. We then had lunch and checked into our “Aparthotel.” The view from our balconies is absolutely breathtaking, and the apartment is pretty snazzy itself, as Bree would say.
Afterwards, we went and got groceries for breakfast, which we will be cooking ourselves (we’ll see if that’s a good thing). Unfortunately, it started to rain. Scratch that... it started to pour. Inevitably, we did not get a hit in, so we did another session of fitness instead, with weights being incorporated this time around. As much as we were enthusiastic, we were also very sleepy. It was funny to see Bree falling asleep in the middle of the workout while waiting for her turn.
Anyways, we had dinner at the site around 6:30… luckily. It was lucky because the usual Spanish custom is to eat around 10 p.m.
That pretty much sums up our first day. Pretty eventful, I know. Hopefully, we might be able to get passes into the Barcelona Open this week… we’ll see. As Lori likes to say, “All will be known in due time.”
Talk to you soon,
Grace