Friday 11th January 2013
It was an early start today for the whole team as we began the first ITC trip of 2013 to the Grade 4 U18 ITF just outside of Salzburg in Austria.
I arrived at the British Airways check-in desk at the Gatwick North Terminal at7.30am this morning and was delighted to see Holly Hutchinson, Holly Horsfall and Alex Hagon already there and raring to get going! It had been an eventful 24 hours for Holly Horsfall as she’d had to return home just after leaving Yorkshire yesterday due to forgetting her passport and then thought that we were flying from Heathrow instead of Gatwick!! Holly Hutchinson also thought that we were going from Heathrow too so luckily I’ve got Alex here to keep me sane – saying that though I’ve got a funning feeling there could be a few classic quotes coming from all three of them this week!
After checking in and clearing security the players had an hour to themselves before we headed to the gate and boarded at about 9.30am. It was all going very smoothly until we left the gate and then the Captain came over the tannoy to tell us all that the plane had broken so we had to go back to the gate!! It took an hour to fix (which gave me a chance to catch up on some sleep) and at around 10.40am we took off for the 1 hour and 40 minute flight to Salzburg.
When we arrived it was snowing heavily but the Alps behind the airport made a spectacular sight. As we were waiting in the queue for passport control I thought I’d throw a question at the players to see how awake they were so I went for the name of the person whose statue was in the waiting area. Alex went for Abraham Lincoln, Holly Horsfall went for Nelson Mandela and Hutchie’s answer was so bizarre that I can’t even remember it but it was in fact Mozart – not surprising really as the airport is named after him!! Like I said classic quotes a-plenty this week!
We were met at arrivals by Michael Andreasson who is the Head Coach of the Piding Tennis Academy which is situated just outside of Salzburg. Michael has been a huge help in arranging this trip and has already saved the whole team a lot of money by arranging a cheaper hotel as well as agreeing to drive us around for the week. From the airport we went to Michael’s tennis club where he’d already arranged an amazing lunch for us but I think my reputation took a bit of a hit as I declined a beer and a coffee – apparently it’s unheard of out here for a coach not to have a beer or a coffee with lunch!
Michael then took us to the hotel so we could check in and then we drove the 20 minute journey to the tournament site so that the whole team could practise and Alex could sign in for qualifying. We had 3 sessions in total on the match courts; I hit with Alex from 4.30-5pm then both Hollys and an Austrian girl hit for the next 30 minutes and finally Alex and I had a final session from 6-6.30pm to make sure he was happy with his playing level before his first match tomorrow. At 6.30pm we all met up in the badminton courts to have a cool down and stretch out – out here our warm ups and cool downs are going to be even more important as not only is it freezing cold outside but it’s also very cold on the indoor courts too.
Once everyone was finished Alex and I went to check the draw and order of play before booking a practice court for tomorrow morning. Michael then met us at just after 7.15pm to take us back to the hotel.
Boy’s Qualifying Draw
After a quick stop at the local Aldi supermarket to stock up on food and water we went to Valentina’s Italian restaurant for a well-deserved meal:
The Team at dinner this evening
One thing I forgot to mention is that Michael’s tennis academy and our hotel are just over the Austrian border in Germany so today’s timetable was:
Fly England to Austria – drive to Germany for lunch – drive back to Austria to train – drive back to Germany for dinner and bed!
Schedule for tomorrow:
Alex Hagon (GBR) (UNR) vs Serban Mucenic (ROU) (UNR) – 2nd match after 8.30am
Winner to play Laurin Mackner (AUT) (UNR) – 5th match after 8.30am
