Champions at heart…

With only two Americans left in the tourney, it was down to Olivia F. and Amanda to keep the USA flag waving proudly. With some breakfast in our stomach’s and a light hit in the morning, we all dispersed to do our own thing before the matches. Some of the girls went into Harvard Square to do a little shopping while Liv F. and Amanda stayed at the hotel to rest up before their match. Unfortunately the rest at the hotel did not do the trick as both Liv F. and Amanda fell to their opponents in three close games. It was especially hard for Amanda to lose to Nour el Sherbini from Egypt in three close games after having a huge support crew in the stands filled with family, friends, and teammates. It happens… At least there is the team event next week, so we can avenge our losses!

In order to cheer the team up, we decided to get dolled up in dresses and our team wedges and were treated to a delicious dinner of seafood towers and massive steaks. Even though it was some of the best meat that we’ve ever tasted, we were unable to finish it due to it amount (one of the girls recalls that the amount of food left over could feed an African village for a year). Just as we were getting to the point of being over stuffed, a platter of desserts were brought out containing cookies, chocolate cake, Crème Brule, cheesecake, ice cream, key lime pie, and chocolate covered strawberries. Amanda’s loss was soon forgotten with every bite that she took from the platter of desserts. Team USA’s loss today was now replaced with giant food babies in everyone’s stomach. As we left the restaurant, we decided to do a walk off in the middle of the street with our wedges on only to see taxicabs stop and cars pass by us asking if we needed a ride.

With our energy high due to the amount of sugar consumed from the desserts, we had a dance party outside the hotel, which consisted of music blasting from the van, Maria Elena sliding on poles, and Jack dancing on top of the van (As Jack recalls, it seemed like the right thing to do at the time). We definitely got everyone’s attention as hotel guests started to watch from their windows wondering who was creating such a ruckus. Only Team USA would make such a grand entrance to the hotel. Team USA headed to their beds having lost today, but still able to bounce right back learning in the process and ready to dominate in the team event!

Amanda Sobhy

The Beasts are Unleashed

With day two of the tournament beginning, team USA was fired up for the tough matches to come! With some breakfast, (or in Haley’s case, chicken tenders) in our stomach’s, and a light hit on court, we were all ready to take on our opponents for the day. Fiechter and Chu both started the day off well with comfortable wins against their opponents. Next up was Sobhs who wasted no time in her match, easily beating her Hong Kong opponent in less than fifteen minutes. The afternoon matches were tougher with Liv B, Maria Elena, and Beans all playing at the same time. While Liv kept the 3-0 winning streak alive against her Hong Kong opponent, Beans and Maria Elena unfortunately fell to their higher seeded players in three. Last USA player on court for the day was Haley who was playing against 5/8 seed Tamika Saxby from Australia. With the crowd behind Haley’s back each point of the match, Haley played like a beast, cracking hard low drives into the back and moving around the court like a gazelle, managing a well deserved 3-0 win! Only did Haley realize a few minutes after the match, with an ice pack on her neck to cool her down and an ecstatic coach congratulating her, that she was the third USA player to make it to the round of sixteen.

With some of us showered and some of us sweaty and smelly (coaches included), we decided to head out for a huge team family dinner at Wagamama’s… yummm. While we ordered heaps of energizing carbohydrates and muscle refueling protein, a showered Haley met up with us, only to walk in with bright neon blue tights and a white shirt. Since she won, we decided not to poke fun of her outfit too much. After a fun dinner with some of the families, we all headed back in the USA van only to continue with our nightly rituals of ice baths, showers, and poor attempts at school summer reading. As the team headed off into a deep sleep, or an odd dream, we were only looking forward to unleashing the beasts that Nat and Jack have created inside us in tomorrow’s set of matches.

Amanda Sobhy

Opening Ceremony

Wed. Today was the first official day of the tournament. After a healthy dinner and a good nights sleep, we were ready to kick some foreign butt. We had an early hit to prepare mentally and physically for our afternoon matches. With Julianne as the first match on, she fought hard, but sadly fell in a tough five gamer. Maria Elena was the next match on and she used her sneaky front shots to take out a French player in 3 games. Ubina then went back to the hotel to rest up for her next match which was later that day. After that, Haley went on against an Ecuadorian girl and took her out in three. Olivia F. had a tough match against the number one Indian player, losing in four tight sets. (9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9). Olivia B and Amanda also had easy wins against their opponents, only giving up a few points each game. The evening matches consisted of a USA vs south African match up with both Maria Elena and Sabrina beating the south Africans and finishing up a solid first day for Team USA.

After a positive team meeting, we all headed to collect our laundry and stuff our hungry faces with massive portions of pizza, pasta, and salad at a small pizzeria next to the laundry mat. Haley bought two meals, planning for her breakfast the following morning. With mounds of food on the table, Haley tested out Jack's catching skills as she threw pieces of chicken and fries across the table with Jack making the perfect catch in his mouth. If catching food with your mouth was an olympic sport, Jack would have gotten the gold medal. As we headed back to the hotel with our tummies full and laundry clean, team USA was looking forward to doing some more damage the following day.

Sabrina Sobhy

Team USA started off Tuesday with a great new addition to our table. Kevin Klipstein joined us for breakfast and was quickly immersed in the nature of our girl talks. As the eight girls talked about very personal matters, Kevin sat with us, quietly laughing to himself about our honest and straightforward conversation. A big congratulations goes out to Kevin, as we learned that he will soon be having a baby girl!

After breakfast, we headed off to the Murr center and had a productive last session before the individual competition began the next day. We fine tuned our skills and took advantage of the glass court time, and wrapped up the team practice with a quick dance party to "Give Me Everything" by Pitbull. After speedy showers back at the hotel, we hit the town for some lunch and the seven girls found the best little eatery called Cafe Luna. We met up with Jack and Natalie and were going to visit the local aquarium, but because of the 90+ degree heat, Haley, Amanda, Sabrina and I were feeling a bit drained and retired to the hotel.

A short while later, we greeted the Chu and Sobhy parents in the Hyatt lobby, retrieving valuables they had transported such as spandex shorts, window markers and money. Following their brief visit, Haley introduced Sabrina and me to "A Very Potter Musical" and by Part 5 of Act 1, we were all exhausted and laid down for a power nap. Meanwhile, Maria Elena, Natalie, Olivia F and B were shopping at Lululemon, Club Monaco, and Barnes and Noble. Fiechter got her first pair of Lululemon spandex while Nat found the perfect white dress for the closing ceremony.

Then everyone met at 6:30pm for the opening ceremony decked out in full USA attire. We all received a dog tag necklace from Natalie inscribed with TEAM USA 2011 BOSTON. Now she's figuratively and physically got us collared! Wearing our new keepsakes, we rolled into the Charles View Ballroom and felt for the first time the competitive atmosphere that had been building up over time. Then nineteen countries sat down to listen to Kevin's moving speech with included slideshows and National Coach Paul Assaiante's inspirational "champions one and all" speech. Then came a presentation with the flag of each country and Olivia B walked in proudly carrying the much-taller-than-her American flag pole. After much mingling and many group pictures, Team USA retreated to Zephyr Lounge for an early dinner. Amanda, Sabrina, Haley and I ordered quickly and ran off to find our van that already bore multiple US Squash magnets. We made new additions and further decorated the van with window paints. Returning to dinner, Sabrina was surprised to find some extra protein in her Caesar salad; three minuscule worms crawled in the lettuce, and once they were shown to the hostess, Sabrina got a free dinner and we were afforded two free desserts, which the team jumped at.

Jack laid out the plan for the following day and we discussed the importance of everyone putting themselves first in order to optimize our performance during the event. It quickly set in that the tournament was finally starting after all the anticipation. We hit the hay early and looked forward to the upcoming matches. Join us at the Murr center and cheer on Team USA!

Julianne Chu

Long Day 2

After a quick “brekkie” at 8am, of steak for Haley, as her preference is leftovers rather than breakfast food, and another cheese blintz for Sabrina we headed over tothe courts for a little training. With a solid team warm up we were ready topick up our rackets and partner off to do drills, games and feeding. Even Jack jumped in for a couple tight games with Olivia F. and B. Olivia B. was able to demolish him, and Olivia F was able to steal one game.

After a good longstretch we piled in the van and headed back to the hotel for a quick shower. Again piling us all in the USA van we drove over to Newbury St for someshopping and lunch. We stopped at a deli for some sandwiches and Nat was rocking salt and vinegar chips for the third day in a row. We turned the corner and strolled into anthropology, just to find some long dresses with widestripes that did not quite fit Maria Elena, but she humoured us with a modelling session. We then went to Lord and Taylor still on our quest to find the perfect white dresses for each of us to match with our killer red suede wedges. We all congregated in the fitting rooms and each one of us tried on a couple dresses but could not find theright one. Olivia B., Amanda and Sabrina headed over to the courts for anafternoon hit, while Julianne, Maria Elena, Olivia F and Haley stayed at the mall for dark blue pedicures and pinkberry frozen yogurts, yummmm! After some investigating they found 344- three forty four a great store but lacking white dresses.

When we came back to the hotel we all got massages from Colleen who shredded our tight legs with her elbows. Sabrina almost lost the “no crying game” as she teared up on the table. Colleen was great and we all feel like wehad been under the meat cleaver. She suggested that we get some ice for an icebath… ouch! Haley braved the bath for a solid eleven minutes, impressive! Wethen all gathered for a quiet team dinner on the second floor of our hotel.Some of the dinner we spent talking about tacos the other half we spent talking about top ten “players”.

We finished off the night with a team movie and shirt decorating. Haley told us all to bring white t-shirts so that we could decoratethem with fabric paint in USA red white and blue, when we got to the tournament. Its great to have team bonding time at night we are all gettingalong so well. As the tournament gets closer the team is getting closer,because we have all given our everything to be prepared to compete, we respecteach other in what we have achieved thus far.

First Full Day in Boston

The morning began with a wake up call and a frightening mob of star trek fanatics crowding the elevator. We all assembled on the second floor to fuel and energize our bodies for the long day ahead. Once we were sated with cheese blitz, berries, and eggs, we made our way over to the Murr center in our glamorized van. Thanks to Jack Wyant’s notorious charm, we managed to park without our parking pass or paying the parking fee. We started our session with a team warm-up. During the warm up we made sure to synchronize our movement perfectly in order to intimidate our opponents whom were peeking from afar. With Olivia B., and the Sobhys resting for the morning, the four of us drilled, ghosted, and rallied for the next two hours, in determination to polish our skills, movement, and mindset. Following the morning session, we quickly made the trip to Trader Joe’s that we had all been longing for, and got food to devour while watching our fellow USA teammates battle with Japan. Amanda was kindly supplying the team with back massages throughout the game to relieve the thick tension in the room from the tight game. Of course as the clock struck overtime, we were expected in the lobby to depart for our afternoon session. Flying through the streets in our van, we just manage to catch the penalty kicks at the squash courts. Although the US soccer team lost, it left the US squash team with a new sense of determination to redeem our nation from the upsetting loss. After a good tuning session, we hit the showers and cleaned up for a nice dinner at the Barking Crab. Right off the river, the team had a beautiful sunset view as we all ate our seafood dinners. With our wonderful view of the harbor, we all seriously considered stealing a motorboat to take us back to the Hyatt in style. But we all concluded that if arrested, our chances at the championship might be jeopardized. So we returned to the hotel in the van and went our separate ways for a good night sleep. Our first day certainly kicked us off on a great path towards success.

1 White Van, a Few burgers and a Helluva Motley Crew

With a squad session under our belt and lactic acid in our muscles, Olivia and her 'hornet' lead the way to the Blatchford house for a very necessary bite before the long(ish) journey to Boston. Though it was clear Mrs.
Blatchford had essentially bought out the entirety of Walmart's American flag collection, an aura of eagerness and pride was undoubtedly tangible as the team devoured burgers, or in Bean's case the cheese plate.
As we finished up dinner and managed to maneuver approximately 21 bags, 9 people and 1 megaphone into the dimensions of a white van ( in essence our batmobile) we waived goodbye and began our drive.

Now I've been on a few of these, well maybe a few more than a few and mind you we've always been traveling by plane so team mingling or journey experiencing is a foreign feeling to me, but we had the most wonderful and truly incredible thing flowing throughout the van. An air of ease, of comfortableness, of acceptance, of closeness that can only be described in one word TEAM penetrated through the entire vehicle.

Yes we had managed to take 7 completely different girls and become an entity where we could push each other and laugh with each other.

As we arrived at the Hyatt, and were eagerly greeted by offensive ten year old, Darien lacrosse boys we headed to the coaches room for an ''in the clouds' talk where we threw around ideas of team and country representation and then more important things like breakfast and Jack's addiction to team uniformity.

Though we risk things such as 'bodily injury, paralysis, and dismemberment' ( direct quotation from the liability waiver US Squash gave us to sign...) we are ready, ready to fight, ready to enjoy and ready to win.

Olivia Blatchford

Prep

After trials all six of us began the long journey that eventually led us here to Boston. Despite our busy school schedules, various graduations, and family obligations we were all hard at work with our personal coaches and trainers working on speed, explosiveness to the front, and of course, fitness. And even with all of that going on we all managed to make our way to our team training squads once or twice a week in Rye.

Peter Briggs (the head pro at the Apawamis club) generously allowed Team USA to use their facilities whenever we needed. At Apo Nat always pushed us to the limit on court and then sent us upstairs to the gym to work some more with Max (the gentle giant – Hulk man of a trainer.) Over the four months we could really see all of our work paying off.

One of Nat’s favorite exercises…the deathly 2,000 meter row was one example. Don’t try this at home people (in fact, I had my Dad try in the basement gym at the Heights Casino and he didn’t make it.) The goal is to row your butt off (literally) and get 2,000 meters in eights minutes or under. The first time we did this Nat said it will be hard but all of you will definitely be able to do it. We – as big-time, hot-shot athletes – strolled upstairs to the rowing machine and thought this would be easy. Bean’s first go took her upwards of 10:45…we had a long way to go and Natalie was not impressed. I still don’t know how she does it – but Liv (B) just keeps improving her time. She started at 9:30, worked her way down to 8:30, and two weeks ago got the best team time of 8:06! Go Liv (B)!

In my case I came to my first squad barely able to do three push-ups in a row…Nat had me doing push-ups every day (I liked to do them when I brushed my teeth every night so I always remembered.) Long story short – I’m now cranking out sets of 25. My shoulders don’t quite look like Amanda’s yet, but we can now do the same amount of push-ups!

Along with our weekly training squads in Rye, we have done a few overnight squads together as a team as well. We did an all American team squad in Hartford for a couple nights, a month ago, where we got some good sessions in with Gilly Lane, Julian Illingsworth and the entire American crew. It was a lot of fun to be able to all play together. We also did an overnight in Philly (we figured it was fair to Liv (F) and Jack that we all came down to them for once,) and the Fietcher’s were nice enough to host us all for the trip.

And throughout this whole intense training schedule the US Team was also doing various exhibition matches along to East Coast as good practice and to try and promote the World Juniors. We started off the matches when we lost 5-0 to the Heights Casino team out in Brooklyn Heights – the good news was we could only do better. Then the Apowamis team barely escaped with a win beating us 3-1 but Beans and I both lost in five-gamers that could have gone either way. We were happy, we had at least gotten one win under our belt as Amanda wiped the court with Manak Mathur securing our first match win. Next we went to Philly where we lost again 5-0 at the Germantown Club… Going into our last match at he New York Athletic Club we were looking for a win. Showing our teams depth, Sabrina, Liv (F), Julianne, and I won our matches and we ultimately beat them 4-2.

Early in July when the US found out that someone had pulled out of the individual draw and someone could enter to fill the gap – the team welcomed Julianne and she was able to join us for our last few squads and helped to secure our win at NYAC.

As you can see – we have put a lot of hard work in the past four months and we are so excited see it all pay off up in Boston! Thank you to all our personal coaches, all the players that helped get us ready and served as sparring partners, and to all the clubs that welcomed us and let us use their facilities to prepare. Hopefully we will see you all in Boston! Go Team USA!

Haley Mendez