Yes, I know it's NOT Halloween....butttttt

Yes, I know it's NOT Halloween, buttttt this video always brings me a smile!  Hope it brings you a smile too!  Thought I would begin to share some of Natalie's college videos.....how far we have come!  What a great group of Lady Volunteers!  Thanks Andrew for doing such a great job as the PR person for the team!

ENJOY!

Florida Bound of Friday......

We will leave Friday for what we hope will be sunny Florida.   Our first stop will be in Jacksonville, for Natalie to train for a couple of days.  Then we will head to Jonesville Tennis Center for the 10K tourney.  Natalie's new ranking of 572 has lead her directly into the main draw of this tourney.  Exciting indeed.  Natalie was listed as the 13th biggest jump in ranking in the world, early in February because of her results in January.  She jumped about 60 spaces.....a gggggrreat thing!

Because Jackie is in her last semester of college.  Natalie will be playing with different partners for the next few tourneys.  Hopefully, finding someone she will click with and have more good results.  For the Jonesville tourney she will pair up with Emily Harmon, who played for Syracuse....for one of my fav college coaches....Luke Jensen.  I think this pair up is going to be very good, Em has good hands at the net, so she should do well closing on Nat's serve and vice versa.  Will be good dubs for sure!

The following week we will be at the Orlando Tennis Center.  Natalie will only play dubs at that tourney.  So, she can rest and train for the three weeks to follow.  We will go from Orlando to Innisbrook and then to Osprey.  Make your calendars and make your plans to come out and see Natalie play and visit with us.  For all of our friends at the Tesoro Tennis Center....Nat will pair up with Allie for dubs in Innisbrook.   8)

As soon as the draw is made and the match schedule is posted I will update you on match times for Nat.      Until then, I have packing and driving to do....soooo....gotta gooooooooooooooo    
Love and Bleassings! Sherry

The Band Perry and Rascal Flatts.....video

The Band Perry and Rascal Flatts

We are so very lucky to have been invited to this concert.  

The Duncans, Karen, Gerry, Kayla, 

Hannah, Izzy and Marley the dog.....made our visit AWESOME!  

Thanks for the invite!

Sorry this video is soooo long ....but you know me.....love my pics!  Enjoy!

Video found on UTube....Rock Hill

Here is a lil footage found on UTube today......

25K at Rock Hill....a great tournament!

Natalie vs. Pia

2,000 Views....Thank You!

2,000 VIEWS........WOW.....THANK YOU!  

   

Don't forget to join our blog....top left of screen.  You don't need a Google account to join.

Thanks Again!

Love and Blessings.....Sherry

Midland Doubles and Cardio Tennis Video

Midland.....Doubles.....Natalie and Jackie!

Pro Am Cardio Tennis

Short and Sweet Video

Faces of Midland.......

Many thanks to the Frickey's for being the best host family in Midland, the Volunteers, Woody and Staff, Midland, Dow Corning and all the Sponsors!  What an awesome tournament and city.  We need all of you and your support to make this dream come true for Natalie and others like her.  THANK YOU!

The wonderful faces of Midland......

Midland via My Lens.....

Midland via My Lens..........

Midland Update

Well, we have been crazy busy. Natalie and Jackie lost to Rogers/Hsu. The score was 6-7, 6-7. We had several set points in the first prior to the breaker but just couldn't close the deal at the net. Were up 4-2 in the second and the errors got the best of us . Total frustration with a napping chair umpire lead to and unfortunate chain of events. Topped off with Natalie trying to "gently" let him know how "awesomely horrible" he really was.... Yikes! He some how missed five important calls for games against us. Including a "let" after which all four players stopped....for a brief moment before realizing he didn't call it. Horrible indeed! Too bad the match wasn't decided by four amazing tennis players doing their thing!

Natalie really has enjoyed the community outreach of this tourney. Guess they have enjoyed her as well for the requested her help several times a day for the entire week. Yesterday, she helped with Cardio Tennis and a Pro Am. A great way to give back to a sport that has given her so much!

We have been staying with the Frickey family. Darryl, Diane, Andrew and Mia have been an awesome host family. We look forward to their friendship despite their choice of hockey teams!

As I write, Nat's driving and we are passing Dundee, Michigan. We are on the way home with a stop tonight in orange country for a certain alumni to get a good dose of Rocky Top!

I many pictures to post once I get a chance.... Hopefully tonight or tomorrow...for now...."we are on the road again"! Love and Blessings..Sherry

Match time...

Well after two days of waiting around "our team" will play at 10 am. What a waste of two days time. Thank goodness we have moved into housing!

The opponents are Hsu/Rogers, tournament ranked 456. Our team is the 4th seeded team, ranked 393. Should be a great match of dubs! There will not be live streaming.

An update...

An update.... a long time coming update at that... Sorry! Natalie saw here singles tourney come to an end with a loss to one seed Hsu... 3-6, 2-6. We have been on a holding pattern since. They put off some of the doubles matches till tomorrow. The city of Midland loves this tourney and they come out in droves to watch. Which by the way is very awesome. Therefore Natalie and Jackie will play their first round of main draws dubs tomorrow. "Our team" is seeded 4 th for the first time in their careers. If they are lucky enough to be the featured match tomorrow night, it will be streaming live on the net. I will make a post when that info becomes available.

Currently, the ladies are playing a practice match with some local male players. The last two days Natalie has been involved with the tournament outreach program. She has visited a couple of school to speak with about 250 students. She spoke at the Kiawanis luncheon. As a result, will prolly have every single son and grandson of the members as spectators for her matches. Guess she happened to mention that she was looking for a boyfriend and several hands were raised. Too funny indeed!

This tournament is amazing. They do so much for the players. It is a well oiled machine run by Woody and his gang of crockpot bearing volunteers. I have never seen such a parade of crockpots in my life, everyday the excitement of finding out what delicious morsels await us.

The friendly staff and volunteers are working very hard to make sure the players and community are having the best experience possible. And the community.... We have never seen so many spectators from all walks of life enjoy a tournament ... It is awesome to see their support of tennis.

Awaiting tomorrow's schedule ... Once released ... I WILL post an update! Love and Blessing... Sherry

Little before three today...

Natalie took to the court a little before three today.  Her opponent was Breanne Bachini (USA), freshman on the  Syracuse tennis team.  Natalie won 6-0, 6-2 in about an hour.  If you know anything bout Luke Jensen at Syracuse it would be.....he runs a tight ship.  

He believes in discipline and routine, which I might add is missing in the sport of tennis.  I really appreciate how he coaches, it is way out of the norm (of today) which is precisely why he will have a National Championship team some day.  Let me give you some examples of things his players are required to do:

• when they take court, they may not walk....so when they go to pick up a "dead" ball they must run/jog.  
• When they go to the bench for a rest....they must run/jog.  
• At set break, the must take out their journal and write in it.  In the past, if they double faulted during the match they had to drop and do push ups, not sure if they still do this.

Of course, for some of our "lazy" players or "princess" players.....this would never fly.  But in my opinion....not the players he wants or recruits.  He wants the dedicated, hard working, athlete.  Precisely  why I believe he will have a championship ring(s) one day.

Natalie will take the court second on after 10.....code for noonish.  She will take on #1 seed of the qualifying draw, Chieh-Yu Hsu (USA), ranked 285 in the world.  The two have never faced each other on the singles court, however they did on the doubles court.  Our gal and partner were victorious that day.  

This match should be filled with great points and tennis.  Hus (Connie) and Natalie have a great relationship off the court so it will be a great match indeed.  Until tomorrow......Love and Blessings...Sherry

Awesome to see our Lady Vols.....video #2

Was awesome to see our Lady Vols!  The team of Kata, Jo, Sarah, Mimi, Jessi, Bryn,  and Tiffany are working hard to succeed.  Natalie was so very excited to be able to surprise the Ladies, and that they were.  We enjoyed our time with the team and Mike and Sonia!  We wish them luck for a great season!

Let the yellow ball commence to bounce...

Let the yellow ball commence to bounce. Here soon Natalie will play Breanne Bachini (USA) in the first round of the qualifying draw. We are in Midland, Michigan freezing our tootsies at the Dow Corning Tennis Classic. If you type the entire name of tourney and add dot com you will have the site with draws. I'll be watching .... that's right you guessed it the little yellow ball very soon and reporting back to you! Love and Blessings...Sherry

Surprissssse Video....

Last night we surprised some old friends...check out their reactions..

Cincinnati....

Good thing I left on Tuesday!  Between the tornadoes, snow and ice....I would have never made the drive safely otherwise.  Stopped in Cincinnati for dinner with Tom and Deb, we had a great time!  Hope we can do it again soon, maybe there friend Scott can join us next time,  apparently he doesn't get out much.  Till we meet again.......