Friday 4th February 2011
At a nice early 7am breakfast this morning I was greeted by 3 very tired and unhappy players! According to them the air conditioning in the room wasn’t working so the room was roasting all night and they hardly got any sleep. On checking the air conditioning it was working fine, the girls just forgot to put their key in the switch which operates the air con and just thought it would work on its own!
We got to the club at 8.30am and met Felix Taube who is the 4th member of our team for the week. Felix had already been in Mombasa since Wednesday but was unwell and unable to train yesterday so today was his first session on the courts. It took him a while to get used to them and even though the girls struggled yesterday with tiredness and travel the session we had meant that today was much better. We warmed up for 20 minutes and did some ladder and medicine ball work for another 20 mins which really got the players sharp and ready for the tennis session. We then trained for an hour and a half, again getting used to the courts, drilling 100’s of balls and getting used to the heat.
It’s was very hot this morning and the players went through almost 3 litres of water each. It was also so hot that the plastic Wilson ball cans were too hot to hold to put the balls in at the end of the session! We finished the morning with some core work and a run around the cricket field before stretching out and getting some lunch back at the hotel.
At lunch the girls had a chance to catch up with some sleep in a cold air conditioned room and I had a chance to go and buy a modem to connect to the internet as there is no WiFi at the club or the hotel (and I really struggle to go more than a day or two without internet!!).
The sun was out in full force this afternoon so everyone was pilling on the sunscreen, especially Beth who went a bit over the top with my Zinc Oxide:
We joined up with Jim Edgar and the Team Bath players for the afternoon session and we managed to get a great afternoon’s point play banked which made the players more aware of areas they need to focus on to get ready for their matches on Monday. Drilling is always very beneficial but it’s points where things are really highlighted so drilling in the morning followed by points in the afternoon is a great combination.
It’s great to have another British team out here and especially Bath. Barry Scollo is doing a great job down there and with Dave Sammel and Jim Edgar on board it’s one of the most experienced teams in the country.
ITC Team of Me, Farah, Beth, Devan and Felix with Jim and Team Bath
We finished the day with a cool down and a long stretch out on the cricket pitch whilst we watched Jim try and bowl the Kenyan players out in the nets! We then all met up in the evening for dinner and some good old banter!
Aims for tomorrow:
- apply more sunscreen especially to shoulders and back of knees (girls!)
- get through another 6/7 litres of water
- survive the first tournament lunch and dinner buffet!
