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Bac Lieu U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 5

Thursday 13th October – Friday 14th October 2011

So . . . it was all down to the doubles and Mia and Angelina Skidanova would have to really be on their game to take down the no.2 seeds in their first round match.

We were on court warming up at 9.15am before Mia and Angelina starting hitting against Anais and Julia at around 10am. It was really good to have the 4 girls warming up together especially as it meant they could hit next to their doubles partner – that’s something that might seem small but it gives the players a chance to get used to their partner being right next to them before they play the match. Unfortunately the session didn’t last very long as after 10 minutes the rain came down (at least the rain kept up its 100% record!) and we had to escape to an undercover parking area for some shelter. We thought it would only be a quick shower but in the end it rained for 4 and a half hours!!

We went back to the hotel for some lunch and it gave Mia and the other girls a chance to catch up on some school work while Pierre and I went for a bit of a stroll around the riverside. You rarely get a chance to explore the town much when you’re away at these kind of events and often you get a misconceived impression of how poor some of the places really are, after all we go from a nice hotel to a tennis club and back each day and maybe venture out to the supermarket! We spent about 30 minutes walking around, chatting with some of the locals and seeing how they live their lives:

The waterside houses just metres from our hotel and locals selling Chickens, Ducks and Rice.

The rain eventually stopped around 2.30pm but as they still had to dry the courts we didn’t end up going over to the club until 3.30pm. We watched the match before Mia and Angelina’s and as it was getting to the middle of the second set the girls warmed up before I sat them down to go through the tactics for the match.

It was always going to be a tough match against the 2nd seeds especially as Ah Song from Korea had won the doubles the week before but Mia and Angelina started well despite going a break down at 2-1. At this point they were actually playing better doubles than their opponents but just missing once they had set the point up and the older, more experienced pair knew they just needed to stay solid and take their chances. Song and Phakamad then took the next 4 games to take the first set 6-1 and continued their solid level to go on to take the second set 6-2. I was really pleased with how positive Mia was when she came off court; we both agreed that it was a good performance especially from her and considering Mia and Angelina are the youngest players in the draw they showed they they’re both capable of competing well in doubles.

Mia and Angelina vs Song (Kor) & Phakadam (THA)

After the match we headed back to the hotel to get some dinner and then, while Mia went with Julia and Stephanie to get a massage, I tried to change our flights. The problem was that the Singapore Air offices in Vietnam were all shut but thankfully my wife came to the rescue and did all the hard work for us in changing the tickets from the UK. Unfortunately the flight we wanted for the next evening wasn’t available so we had to opt for the 1.10pm flight which meant we had to get an overnight bus to Ho Chi Minh! Mia got back from her massage at 9.45pm and that’s when I told her she only had 1 hour and 15 minutes before we had to leave! Luckily she hadn’t really unpacked so she was ready before me!

We said goodbye to everyone and got a taxi to the bus station at 11pm before boarding the bus at 11.30pm. The next 20 hours looked something like this: 6 hour bus journey to Ho Chi Minh, taxi to the airport, 5 hour wait at the airport, 2 hour flight to Singapore and then a 7 hour wait for our final flight to London. It’s now 9pm and we’ve still got another couple of hour before we board!

Overall the trip has been very positive and a complete success; yes we came here to pick up some points and unfortunately we didn’t quite manage it but the training, competition and all round experience has developed Mia as a person and as a tennis player and it’s something that can only be achieved by being on the road at these type of events.

Bac Lieu U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 4

Wednesday 12th October 2011

It only rained a little today which gave us the perfect opportunity to get in a lot of training before the first round of the doubles tomorrow.

Where as last week we had to be at breakfast at 6.45am and then get the 45 minute bus journey to the courts this week it’s a bit more relaxed. We’ve pretty much got busses whenever and wherever we want them and the court are only a 5 minute drive away so after breakfast at 8am we were on our way to the courts at 9am. While Mia completed her warm up (and then went in search of her hat!) I warmed Julia up for her singles match for 45 minutes and then started Mia’s first session of the day. We worked on her strength and movement patterns with the medicine ball for a tough 20 minutes and then it was on court hitting purely with the doubles in mind.

Mia working hard with the medicine ball

We had a good session in very hot conditions and then made our way over to one of the other sites to watch Julia play her 2nd round match. When we got there Julia was still waiting to go on so Mia completed her strength programme and had a good stretch out before we got some lunch together.

Julia had a tough singles match against a tricky opponent but despite not feeling 100% she took a 4-1 lead in the first set before frustrations about her serve started to get to her. Her opponent then took full advantage and fought hard to win the next 11 games in a row to take the match 6-4, 6-0. After the match I walked back to the main club with Mia only to find out that Anais had to pull out of her match after losing the 1st set 6-0. She’d had food poisoning for the last couple of days and had been up most of the night so really it was a good effort for her just to step on the court!

Just before 3pm we were back on court for our 2nd session of the day which again was just doubles related. We worked on a lot of movement specifics and made sure that Mia knew exactly where she needed to be no matter where the ball was hit in the rally. We also tightened up her volleys and smash so that when she did get the opportunity to finish the point she did so in 1 shot rather than giving her opponents another chance to get back into the rally. It was another good session and after an hour and a half the rain started to come so we got the bus back to the hotel, completed Mia’s core programme for the day and then had another good stretch out.

Anais managed to come down to join us all for dinner at 6.30pm and she was looking a little better, I just hope that she’s ok in the morning to play her doubles match with Julia. Mia had a good days training today and I know that if she executes her doubles game like we know she can she’ll come out on top tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Mia Smith (GBR) & Angelina Skidanova (RUS) vs Siriporn Phakamad (THA) & Ah Song (KOR) – 3rd round on, not before 11.30am

Bac Lieu U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 3

Tuesday 11th October 2011

It’s always a lot harder to write this Blog after a tough day on and off the court but I’m sure we’re going to look back on this day in a few months time and realise it was just one step on the journey to a player becoming a professional player – that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt though!

After meeting up with the other guys for breakfast at 8.30am we took the 10am bus to the practise courts and after a good physical warm up I hit with Mia for just over 30 minutes to prepare her for her singles match. It was then straight back to the hotel for a quick shower and change before getting some lunch. We’d already made sure that we had a “Not Before” time for Mia’s match which meant that we didn’t have to rush back to the club and wait around there all day. We eventually got back to the club just as the match before Mia’s went on which was perfect timing as it gave us a chance to go through a thorough pre-match talk, setting tactics and goals for Mia to focus on.

Mia warming up against Hsing-Ping Cheng

Mia went on just before 3pm against 8th seed Hsing-Ping Cheng from Chinese Taipei and from the start I was very impressed. Unlike last week she wasn’t tentative at all and she knew exactly what she needed to do but more importantly she knew exactly how she was going to do it. The first game was really close and despite losing it Mia looked very comfortable and really up for the match. She held strongly with 4 unreturned 1st serves and then broke Cheng to take a 2-1 lead. The games then went with serve until Mia was 5-3 up when the heavens opened and the rain came hammering down. It was actually exactly what I wanted as Mia had just started to up the pace on her shots (which she didn’t need to) resulting in more unforced errors so it was a good chance to refocus her. After around an hour they were back on and I hope my words of wisdom helped Mia to break Cheng’s serve straight away to take the set 6-3. I haven’t seen Mia play a more professional and smart set of tennis (74% 1st serves in and 12 winners in the set) but the tough job was now to keep that up.

Unfortunately that’s exactly what Mia struggled to do and from the start of the 2nd set it was obviously it was going to be a bit of a rollercoaster. Mia went 3-0 within 6/7 minutes but played 2 solid games to get back to 2-3*. It was then the 6th game of the set that was the important one and Cheng responded to Mia’s threat by stepping up and hitting 4 clean winners in a row. Instead of accepting that sometimes your opponent is allowed to play well Mia got frustrated and went on to lose the next 2 games to lose the set 6-2.

At the rain break at the end of the first set we talked about the possibility of being up or down throughout the match and I urged Mia to remember how she played in the first set to get into a winning situation. She must have thought about that at the start of the 3rd as she played a good steady game to hold in the first game, Cheng then held to make it 1-1 and that’s when Mia started to wobble again. She was broken in the next game but broke straight back only to lose her serve again – 2 1st serves in 2 games wasn’t helping and that’s why it’s so important for players to think about what’s happening when it’s happening and not just reflect on it later. That 5th game was massive and Cheng gained a lot of confidence from it. The rest of the set went with serve until Mia was broken at *3-5 to lose the match 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Mia was understandably very disappointed at the end of the match but it’s good that losses hurt, if they don’t then the match is meaningless and at the end of the day if it hurts then you’ll remember it and hopefully it won’t happen again. She played a superb 1st set and if we can maintain that level throughout a match then there aren’t many girls at this level that are going to be able to get the better of her. Wins are important and we did come here to get singles wins but she’s learnt a huge amount over the last two weeks and has still a chance to pick up some points in the doubles.

After cooling down, showering and stretching out we met up with the others for a great dinner back at the hotel which included more Track and Field on the iphone as well as trying to solve Julia’s riddles – see if you can get this one:

“I am used to bat with, yet I never get a hit.
I am near a ball, yet it is never thrown.
What am I?

Answers on the Facebook page please – www.facebook.com/itctennis1

Training day tomorrow as doubles is not until Thursday.

Bac Lieu U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2

Monday 10th October 2011

It was our final day of preparation today before the main draw kicks off tomorrow with Mia taking on 8th seed Hsing-Ping Cheng from Chinese Taipei.

We decided to get to the club early today to get a feel for the place and to sign in for the doubles before we went off site to train. The main club has only got 4 courts but they are very nice and I think they were brand new last year. Each court has a stand on one side which gets packed out for every match as the locals love to come and watch (especially when the Vietnamese are playing!). As well as the main courts the tournament uses another 2 courts off site for matches early in the week and they also have 4 other sites where we can practise so there’s no shortage of courts to train on.

This morning Mia trained her doubles partner Angelina Skidanova from Russia who is the only other 1998 year of birth player in the draw. The both completed a very thorough warm up and then we went through some movement and speed work before they started hitting at 10am. Both girls trained well together for an hour and fifteen minutes going through everything they wanted to work on so that they were prepared for their singles matches tomorrow. When we were finished with the singles work the girls teamed up to take on Julia and Anais to work on some much needed doubles specifics. Doubles is a very important part of these level of events; it’s not only a great opportunity to work on your serve and return but develops a lot of other skills like movement at the net and volleys that you don’t always get a chance to work on when playing singles. By midday everyone was happy and we got the bus back to the hotel for lunch.

The afternoon session was much lighter than the morning; Mia and Julia played points for a solid 45 minutes until they were both feeling prepared for their singles matches. By the time you get to the day before competing all the hard work should have been done so it’s just a chance to get sharp and make sure you’re in the right mindset to compete. Just as we were walking off the court a huge thunderstorm started so we all went back to the hotel to do some core work and then have a thorough stretch out to end a fantastic day’s preparation.

We had a couple of hours before dinner so I managed to get some work done and Mia was able to get stuck into her school work before we met back up with the other guys. We girls wanted to try somewhere different tonight (always an error!!) so we managed to find somewhere that did some pizza and pasta – everyone went for the spaghetti bolognaise apart from Pierre and Stephanie who made a huge unforced error in going for a very dodgy looking pizza!

After a stroll around the local market, meeting the locals and the girls trying to find some fake designer bags we headed back to the hotel for an early night.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Mia Smith (GBR) (UNR) vs (8) Hsing-Ping Cheng (TPE) (1047) – 5th match on, not before 1pm

Bac Lieu U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 1

Sunday 9th October 2011

The start of a new week today which means new opportunities, new experiences, the chance to pick up some points in a new event and lots more things to learn for both Mia and I.

We had breakfast this morning at 8am and I was very happy to have cereal rather than the eggs and bread I’ve had for the past 8 mornings. Our solid team of Mia, Anais, Julia, Pierre (Anais’ coach), Stephanie (Julia’s mum) and I have been getting on great for the past week and now we’re doing everything together. It’s great to form a strong bond with players and coaches when you’re on the road, both for the players and for the support team as travelling 1 on 1 can often become very intense. The girls have been getting on very well and Pierre, Stephanie and I have really enjoyed each others company.

We all trained together today and had a good 2 hours on court before me and Pierre tried to show the girls how it’s done! We were hitting well and sweating buckets but after 20 minutes and an exhausting up to 7 off the ground we decided to call it a day!!! We were back to the hotel at 12.45pm for a shower and lunch after which Julia and Mia wanted to do a bit of shopping. I was definitely up for that as I love to have a haggle with some locals and soon I found myself in a huge battle to try and get Julia a traditional Vietnamese hat for less than $1. To the shock of the locals I managed to walk away with one for 10,000 dong (about 20p or $0.50) and Julia was over the moon with it! Here’s Mia and Julia (proudly wearing her hat!) with one of the locals:

As I said yesterday this is one of the best Grade 5 tournaments I’ve ever been to; not only is the organisation fantastic – we get our own personal translator per team, but the courts, transportation, hotel and food are superb. We also get to be part of an amazing Opening Ceremony which is live on local TV and the coaches get some great gifts! At 2.30pm we were all taken off to the Town Hall for the Opening Ceremony which ran from 3.30 – 4.30pm. We all watched some local music and dance acts before each country’s coach or player representative was taken up to the stage to be presented with a scroll and flowers whilst wearing their own Adidas jacket with the tournament logo on it. It was brilliant and something that much, much wealthier federations can learn from. We were then taken to a brand new hotel and restaurant were we all had a 5 course meal laid on for us for free.

The Opening Ceremony in Bac Lieu

The draw was completed at the restaurant at 6.15pm and then afterwards we were taken back to the hotel for an early night. Mia has a bye in the first round and so will not play until Tuesday when she will face 8th seed Hsin-Ping Cheng from Chinese Taipei.

 

ABOUT I.t.c.

Since 2010 my aim has been to make it more affordable to travel to international tournaments with a coach. Over the past 20 years I have coached players at over 250 international tournaments ranging from U12 Tennis Europe events to a semi-finalist at a Grand Slam.

 

For more information please click here.

contact

Rob Smith

Tel: +44 (0) 7866 362251

Email: rob@itc-tennis.com

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