Tuesday 17th January 2012

Hey everybody, last blog of the trip so I’m writing it. If you have read any of the previous Blogs from this tournament then you probably would have gathered that my name is Mia!

Today we had a bit of a lie in compared to the morning before and had breakfast at 6:55am to give it at least an hour to digest before we started warming up at 8:10. We left the hotel with our bags and suitcases (Babolat everywhere!) to head over to the centre by 8am. We then prepared our water etc, and warmed up together. As it turned out Rob wasted his time warming up because I ended up hitting with a Serbian boy. It was a good pre-match hit and I left the court feeling good with one hour before my first match. I got changed into my match kit and then I did my pre-match analysis sheet before Rob and I went through it. I was ready to take to the court against Mijam Bjorklund at 10 am.

I started off striking the ball well but making too many errors and I went down 1-3*. This wasn’t a time for slow starting because in consolation it is only short sets to 4 but I managed to fight back to *4-3. I then lost that game to go 4-4. It was a long tiebreak in which I didn’t help myself because I wasn’t showing any energy or pumping myself up but my tennis pulled me through and I won 11-9. In the second set the same score-line was followed except she went 3-4 up. I came through once again playing exceptionally well but still not showing energy I needed to dictate with my presence as well as my tennis. I won the match 5-4(9) 5-4(2).

I only had just over an hour to each lunch, change and get prepared for my next match so I ate lunch and changed quickly before I went through my match with Rob. I then did another pre-match analysis sheet for my second match against Tessah Adrianjafitrimo from France.

I hit the court just before 2pm and was up for a good match with good energy and professionalism. The girl was better than in my first match but unfortunately I wasn’t playing as well as my first match. My energy and attitude was much better though. So it was basically the reverse of the first match! I lost the first set to love but fought hard to go 2-0 up in the second but then the unforced errors crept back in and she took the match 4-0 4-2.

Rob and I went through the match before I headed off to shower and change and then we jumped back on the road home. Before we left there was a quick panic as we couldn’t find the car keys but then once we found them we thanked the referee and said goodbye.

It was a positive week overall and I am ready to get back to some tough training before flying across the ocean next week to Africa! I can’t wait! I hope you all enjoyed reading this Blog and come and read them again when were in Nairobi!

Bye!

Monday 16th January 2012

It was a much lighter day today as not only were we restricted by how much time we could spend on court but, after training / competing for the last 7 days, Mia needed a bit of time to recover before consolation tomorrow.

It was a very early start this morning; the centre didn’t open until 7am and I thought it was a bit too cold to do our warm up outside when the temperatures have been -1°C so we actually warmed up in a very warm conference room at the hotel at 6.20am. We then left the hotel at 6.45am, drove to centre and were straight on court after the doors opened just before 7am.

To her credit Mia worked very hard this morning after a very exhausting day yesterday and she wasn’t alone as just after 7am Mark Taylor and Marcus Walters turned up to have an early morning session too. We worked tactically on Mia’s game within the first 3 shots of the rally and then opened it out to full court points including specifics on her return of serve. After training for an hour Mark asked if Mia wanted to play some points with Marcus so they first set up points cross court on both sides and then finished off the session with a match tie-break which Mia just happened to win!!

By this time it was just after 8.30am and time for us to go back to the hotel for some well deserved breakfast. I then got stuck into some work finalising details for the upcoming trip to Kenya for three U18 ITFs while Mia caught up on some sleep she missed out on last night!

Just before midday we headed back to the tennis centre to watch and analyse some of the main draw matches. It’s great opportunity this week to watch some of the American and Canadian players and see how they compare to the Europeans especially when the likes of Nicole Frenkel and Ali Black are regarded as some of the best 1998 players in the world.

We spent most of the day at the tennis centre and then had an early dinner to prepare for Mia’s consolation match(es) tomorrow. If she can keep up the level that she played her main draw match at on Sunday and the level she trained at today then we’ll both be very happy no matter the result.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Mia Smith (GBR) (251) vs Mirjam Bjorklund (SWE) (95) – 1st match at 10am

Sunday 15th January 2012

It was a disappointing day in terms of results today but a very positive day in terms of performance and how much Mia has improved in since her last international event in December.

Due to the strange way this tournament organising practise for the players (they determine the time and who you hit with!) we had to warm up earlier that we would have preferred to but Mia still had a good session from 9.00-9.30am. She then had some time to relax and prepare for her match before she went on just before 11.30am.

We didn’t know anything about Nina Van Oost before Mia went on but it was obvious from the start that she was a strong girl and a solid player from the back of the court. Mia started a little nervously but stayed with her opponent for the first 4 games of the match until she was broken in a long 10 point game at 2-2. Her level was good and mentally I could tell she was working a lot harder than she has in the past but after being broken she struggled to get the break back and ended up losing the first set 6-3.

In the second set Mia continued her great serving level but her inconsistency from the back of the court on the big points cost her another brake at almost the same stage as in the first set. Trailing 1-3* she kept fighting hard and making life difficult for her Belgium opponent but she still struggled to get the break back. Mia held her serve well at *3-5 and then produced some of her best tennis to finally break her opponent at get the scores level for the first time since 2-2 in the first set. She then had game points at *5-5 but despite being broken she again fought hard and played a tough game to break back and take the set to a tie-break. By this stage Mia was playing some of the best tennis I’ve seen from her and the early errors that were apparent in the first set were now only coming if the point developed past 8 or 9 shots. Mia controlled the tie-break from the start leading 4-2* and then 6-4* but could convert on either of her 2 set points and ended up losing the breaker 8-6. She was very disappointed with the result, especially as the match was over 2 and a half hours long but in my opinion it was one of the top 3 matches I’ve ever seen her play and these are the kind of matches she needs to toughen her up to get to the level she wants to be at within the next 12 months.

Because of the busy schedule today we then had a long break where we went through the match, had some lunch and watched some of the other main draw matches before Mia was back on court with Alex Herd for their doubles. They were taking on the Canadian paring of Katarina Kopcalic and Vanessa Wong and from the start Mia and Alex looked very flat. They must have both been disappointed with their earlier singles matches but it was a good opportunity to get a win on the board again a good doubles pair. Unfortunately neither Mia nor Alex managed to hold their serve in 8 attempts and even when leading 2-1 with a break in the second they struggled to take their chances resulting in going down 6-2, 6-2. Losing is one thing but losing and not improving is very disappointing especially when you’re testing yourself against some of the best players in the world.

By the time the girls had finished and Mia had stretched and showered it was around 7.30pm so she used her hospitality voucher to have dinner at the centre while I went across the road to Harvester for a very cheap and fast chicken, mash and peas – great value for a fiver!!

There’s no play for Mia tomorrow as consolation starts on Tuesday and, due to all the court being booked for practice we’ll be warming up at the hotel at 6.20am so we can go straight on court to hit when the doors open at the centre at 7am. The best way to get over a couple of tough losses is to get straight back on court the next day and work hard and that’s exactly what we’re planning to do!

Saturday 14th January 2012

It was just a training day today as all of the main draw teams arrived in Bolton in preparation for their first round matches tomorrow.

Mia’s had five early mornings in a row this week so today I wanted to give her a bit of a lie in by starting our training at 9.15am. We then went through 45 minutes of warm ups and movement work before we had an individual session for an hour to work on the specifics that came up from her match yesterday. The session started a little slow but Mia’s focus increased as time went on with the added motivation of being surrounded by some of the best players in Europe. After the session Mia went through her planned strength and conditioning, core and band work before having lunch.

We then had 2 and a half hours off which gave Mia another chance to keep up to date with school work before warming up again for her second session of the day at 2.45pm.

For her second session we decided to play a set with Alex Herd (Mia’s doubles partner) as we’d managed to book the whole court for an hour. Unfortunately neither of the girls were playing that great and when we stopped with Mia leading 4-2 there had only be 3 rallies that had lasted longer than 3 shots each!! As Mia was disappointed with her level and not being able to achieve the session goals she decided she wanted to stay on court so we then had a frantic couple of minutes trying to find a spare half court. Despite it being the busiest time slot of the day (right before sign in closes) we managed to get a half court with Eden Richardson and during the next 45 minutes Mia found a fantastic level which was exactly what she needed before her main draw match tomorrow.

After the session Mia had a long stretch out and then we returned to the hotel to shower and change for dinner. As the whole of the area around the tennis centre was unbelievably busy we headed into Bolton for dinner at Pizza Express before getting an early night.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Nina Van Oost (BEL) (165) vs (q) Mia Smith (GBR) (281) – 2nd match after 10am

Doubles to be scheduled after the singles matches

Friday 13th January 2012

It was a very positive day for both players in Bolton today as they started their campaign at the Grade 1 Tennis Europe event.

It was a very cold start to the day and when Mia and I left the hotel at 7.10am I had to scrape the ice from the car windows – it was lucky I’ve got my wife’s car this week as she’s organised and has a Scraper in the car, if it’d been my car I probably would have been doing it with a tennis marker!!

As Milo wasn’t playing until 4th on we decided to give him a lie in but Mia wanted to train early to get a full court for an hour with fellow Brit Alex Herd. The level of the session was very high and the superb physical and mental level that Mia has been working at this week was really showing. After an hour both girls were happy with their level so they stopped and Mia then went through her daily core and band work while I went back to the hotel to collect Milo at 9.15am.

Milo warmed up from 9.30-10am and then went on court for his pre-match hit with Bailey Robbins from the Riverside Academy in Chiswick. Again the session was very good and it was great to see how much Milo has improved his attitude and work rate since I was last with him the start of July.

Both players then had a long break from 10.30am until around 3pm when they both went on court at almost the same time. There is a lot of time to kill when you’re at tournaments and one of the worst things you can do as a player is to stand on the balcony all day watching the other matches. Mia and Milo both had the right idea of getting on with some school work or just relaxing in the café on the computer.

Mia had already seen her opponent play in the morning so she knew exactly what to expect and from the start of her match she was in full control breaking her opponent in her first service game and going on to take a 3-0 lead. She then played a couple of inconsistent games at 3-0 and at 4-1 but got back on track at 4-2 to win the next 8 games in a row to take the match 6-2, 6-0. She was happy with her performance when she first came off court but as she started to analyse her pre-match goals she realised she could have done better. It was still a very positive match but I was glad she reviewed it in the way that she did and that’s one of the main reasons why all of the players on the ITC trips do pre and post match sheets so they can learn and improve. Mia’s now qualified for the main draw of her first Grade 1 TE and gets a whole 5 points for doing so!!

Milo went on just after Mia and was taking on 2nd seed Mathieu Rajaonah from France. He started very well and the level he played the first 6 games was the best I’ve ever seen from him; his attitude, work rate and quality of hitting was superb. Milo broke at 2-2* and was *3-2, *40-30 when he double faulted which not only cost him the game but due to a significant drop in his level it actually cost him the next 7 games. His attitude reverted to how it has been in the past but to his credit he played 2 good games at the end of the match to finish on a high. Unfortunately he went down 6-3, 6-1 but again the positives definitely outweighed the negatives and Milo now needs to work on finding that mental and physical level more often that he had until 3-3 in the first set.

Milo’s dad had driven up from Kent to watch him play and after Milo had cooled down, showered, changed and eaten we all went through the post match analysis before they were back on the road to Kent.

Due to all of the courts being used for the matches Mia and I weren’t able to get back on court so she stretched out and then we headed back to the hotel before having an early dinner at ASK. After dinner we went across the road to the arcade in the bowling alley where Mia gave me a beating on the motorbikes but wasn’t brave enough to compete with me on the dance mat!

For some strange reason Teen Tennis always plays the whole of the qualifying on one day and then has a rest day on the Saturday so tomorrow is just a training day before main draw starts on Monday.

Oh, remember the girl I talked about yesterday who I thought could do well? She took out the 5th seed in the first round and then won 6-0, 4-6, 6-0 to qualify and gain her first TE points – 2 matches and being in the main draw by right is definitely better than taking a wildcard – well done Serena!

Please see the ITC Facebook page for completed qualifying draws (www.facebook.com/itctennis1)

Thursday 12th January 2012

Happy New Year everyone and welcome to the start of the second full year of International Travelling Coach. Last year I travelled to 25 International and domestic events and this year I have 33 planned including senior Men’s and Women’s events – it’s going to be busy so I hope you’re ready to keep up!

One year ago today I left Kent with Mia Smith and Milo Bargeron to go to my first ITC trip at Teen Tennis in Bolton and today it was exactly the same. I met Mia and Milo at the Bromley Tennis Centre at 7.45am this morning and we had a great training session until 10am when we got some lunch and then hit the road for the 250 mile journey to Bolton.

Within minutes of leaving the tennis centre Milo was fast asleep in the back of the car and Mia was wired into her laptop so I was left singing along to Capital Radio! The journey actually went quite quick despite taking four and a half hours; it must have been Mia’s amazing map reading skills (which almost took us to Liverpool!) or Milo’s film game where he kept naming films with a different letter than he was supposed to!!

We arrived at the tennis centre in Bolton just after 4pm and as we’d had previous experience of Teen Tennis we all knew that we weren’t going to be able to train on court today due to all the courts being booked out for coaching. We weren’t too disappointed by this as we’d already trained back in Kent and we knew what to expect so Mia and Milo took themselves through their full dynamic warm up to get the journey out of their system followed by some light band work. The players then signed in and we went back to the hotel to check in around 5pm.

By 6.15pm we were back at the tennis centre and had the draws in our hands. It was good to see that the boys draw was full and had a compete set of seeds – exactly how it should be for a Grade 1 Tennis Europe event, but the girls draw was again very disappointing. For those of you that followed my Blogs last year you’ll know that I was constantly going on about byes in the girls qualifying of the international events in Great Britain and today was once again very frustrating. It was exactly the same last year when there were again 3 byes but at least last year there were 13 seeded players – this year there are 3! Once again the centres that are funded to produce players for these kinds of events need to be made accountable.

Before the event we decided not to apply for a wildcard for Mia for the main draw as we want to get as many matches as possible under our belts before her ITF events in February but I am surprised by some of the main draw wildcards. In particular I’m surprised that Serena Nash has not had a wildcard as I think she’s been playing very well and has improved huge amounts in the last few months – it’ll be interesting to see how she gets on this week.

After we’d booked practise we headed over to ASK for dinner and then went straight back to the hotel for an early night.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Milo Bargeron (GBR) vs (2) Mathieu Rajaonah (FRA) – 4th match after 10am

(3) Mia Smith (GBR) vs Chelsea Samways (GBR) or Penny Roberts (GBR) – 5th match after 10am