Barbados U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 8

Thursday 4^th April 2013

It was a very disappointing day for Alex today as, for the second time in two weeks, his doubles partner has had to pull out due to not being able to change their flights.

We arrived at the tennis centre today just after 9am to be told by the referee that Christian had pulled out of the doubles semi-final due to not being able to change his original flight booking. Alex knew from the start of the event that Christian had a flight booked today but we both hoped that he would have been able to change it last night so that he could have at least played the semi-final. Alex was very disappointed but the good news was that as long as Alex turned up for the match when it was called then he would still keep the points that he has earned whereas Christian would not. I was very disappointed also and I’m sure Christian would have made the flight change if he had been in the ¼ finals of the singles today!

Following that news we headed straight down to the on-site practice courts where we warmed up and then went into some practice sets to work on all of the player’s goals from this week.  For just under 2 hours we all played each other in either a short set up to 4 games or, if one court was going faster than the other, we played a full set to 6 games. The deal was that if everyone played under match conditions then the overall winner (or runner up if I won!) would get a Chilly Moos (ice cream mix-in – similar to the Coldstones last week) bought by me.

All three players competed well and after Georgie won a close set 5-4 against Alex it was only left for her to beat me to become the overall winner. Fortunately I managed to take our set 6-2 so the final standings were: Me, Georgie, Alex and Mia – I’ll be sure to post a picture of Georgie with her ice cream!!

After the session I took the players through a surprise fitness circuit – they were all a bit worried about what I was going to come up with but were quite relieved when they found out we were going to follow the 20 station “Fit Trail” that is posted around the tournament site! I think the trail is mainly for the local adults but, after starting with a few stretching stations, it actually ended up with a few tough exercises. Here are the team in action:

By the time we had finished it was just after 1pm so there was just time for some lunch and to watch some of either the Davis Cup practice or the tournament matches before we got the 2.30pm bus back to the hotel. The rest of the afternoon was then spent taking washing to the local laundrette and visiting the supermarket to get food and money. We then had a quick visit to the beach across the road from the hotel for our first swim in the sea before changing for dinner.

Tonight we finally got to eat at the Surfer’s Café in Oistins and the food and views were definitely worth the wait.

Tomorrow will be a day off and I’ve got something special planned for the players – tune in tomorrow to find out what it is!!