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