Australian Open Day 3

Today is the first day of the tournament. It takes place in Albert Reserve Park. All play will take place here until the finals, which will be played in Melbourne Park. A little history on the tournament. Tennis Australia is the organization that oversees sporting events in Australia. This includes the Australian Open. Within the Open there are several tournaments. The Grand Slam event, the juniors, wheelchair and Australian Championships. The latter is what our team is in. The tournament began small and has steadily grown with more international players each year. The top or elite players (their words) play a round robin format with the finals being played in Melbourne Park. As former tennis great Wally Masur said, "It is only a matter of time before you will be playing your entire tournament in Melbourne Park." Albert Reserve was the starting point for wheelchair tennis for the AO. Team USA looked great and we were ready to play! Singles were played first, then doubles. This round everyone plays 1 set with a 7 point tie break at 6 all. Katherine played the #1 seed first. Kelly Wren has won this tournament since it's inception in 1998!! She is a wonderful player and Katherine did manage to get one game off her. Then Katherine's second match was the #3 seed........4/6. Both were tough opponents to have on the first day, but as everyone began to settle down the afternoon was much better for Team USA. Katherine and Brittany won their doubles and so did the boys. Our new favorite place to eat is right across the street. It has really good food and the owner is very nice and seems thrilled to have us there. It was the place to be after the first day of competition. If you are wondering if we tried Kangaroo, we did. No it doesn't taste like chicken. It taste a lot like beef cooked medium rare. We sat with a group of Aussie's and they wanted to know all about jerky. They don't have it here and they are just dying to try it. Luckily, I brought some!

Australian Open Day 2 1/21/14

After a good night's sleep and a fantastic breakfast at our host hotel, Team USA boarded our bus for some sightseeing. Our Australia host, Robin, has arranged a private tour of the MCG, a multi use stadium and the National Sports Museum. This is also the home of the Melbourne Cricket Club, the oldest cricket club in the world. Everyone is excited, but Don is beyond thrilled because this is a very impressive stadium which seats 100,000 people. I hope he can stay with the group and not wander off or up to the top! Peta Phillips is our guide. She is with The Lord's Taverners Australia Branch, a sponsor of the tournament. They have raised over 10 million since their inception in 1982 The museum is amazing and beautiful. Every exhibit has such detail about the history of the specific sport in Australia. There is an interactive section and booklet with questions to answer as you go through the museum. Katherine completed the booklet and really enjoyed the hunt! Her gift, a rugby bank. The museum is inside the MCG, so out we went and down to the field. It's hard to believe you could fit up to 100,000 in here. That has only happened once....when Billy Graham came. Don examined as much as he could and our host will be sending him more information about the structure. Do I see some future work here? Our next stop, to spend the afternoon at The Open! Barry Holman, Founder and Pres of Athletes without Limits and Ben Hadden, our player from Ohio, joined us. The weather is perfect with beautiful blue skies. At this point, I think pictures tell the story better. Our highlights of the day: It took Katherine and Ben 4.5 minutes to get their first interview for a radio station, the Legend's match was awesome and Djokovic looks good warming up. Enjoy the photos!

We've made it to the Australian Open!!! Day 1 1/20/14

We arrived in Melbourne at 7:00 am on Monday morning. Customs was a breeze and we headed up to meet our host for the week.  I love the way your enter Australia.  After a long walk up a path, you stand in front of a frosted, glass door.  Picture "what's behind door #3".  Then it opens and you are being stared at by 50 or so people waiting for someone. They are all looking at you so be sure you look your best.  You only have one chance to make a first impression, my mother once told me!

 Robyn Smith, CEO of Ausrapid,  along with Michael Thompson, met us at the airport.  Our bus for the next few days had the appropriate and impressive signage for players in The Open.  Thank goodness because we wouldn't want to get it mixed up with Nadal's bus!

Construction in Melbourne is everywhere.  A lot of cranes can be seen throughout the city.  There is growing revitalization along the waterway or port called the docklands on Victoria harbor.  There is a very tall building with gold windows along the top.  Aprox 88 stories, you can go to the top and step out onto a see through floor and look down.  Katherine is all about this one!!!  There is also the Melbourne Star which was designed by the same company that did the London Eye.  It looks just the same and we plan to do that as well.   Traffic similar to Houston, but not as much honking.  I would call it respectful driving.

Our hotel is called Melbourne Parkview and is located across the street from the practice courts.  Perfect walking distance.  Since our room wasn't  ready, we decided to go for a walk and see what is located around us.

Map in hand, we walked about two miles to the Shrine of Remembrance.  This is a park setting which has several memorials of the role Australians played in war and peacekeeping.  The largest and first building is dedicated to WWI.  The photo doesn't do it justice.  Katherine was kind enough to befriend a gentleman who gave us a private look at the building and a great history lesson.  In the end, he gave her a poppy and told her to do her best in the tournament and enjoy Australia.

                      At 12:00 we head back to the hotel and meet up with the rest of the team.


Before anyone can play you need your CREDENTIALS!!!!  Our bus took us in a back entrance, you know, the kind for PLAYERS ONLY!   We checked in and got some pre-credentials and walked through another entrance and into Melbourne Park. That was when it finally became real.  we were at the Australian Open. All you could hear from our group was "wow" and "look at that" and "wow".  When you finally get to there and you are standing in the middle of it, it is hard to find the right words to describe it.

 

No matter what level you play, everyone checks in at the same place to get your credentials.  There is some paperwork that tells you what you can and can't do with them.  So, no Ebay folks, but why would you want to.

 

 

Don't they look great and ready to hit the courts.

 

 

Albert Reserve Park serves as practice courts until our matches begin.  Our coaches worked on basics and loosening up after the long plane ride.  Don and I hated sitting on the side!

 

By 5:00pm people were fading.  Katherine and I went back to the room to unpack.  Don was in charge of getting dinner and bringing it back to the room.  There is a wonderful place right across the street.  Poor Katherine was so tired, she ate her entire meal with her eyes closed.  It was hard not to laugh.

 

I thought I would be able to write these blogs each day at a certain time.  Well, there is a lot going on here, but I will do my best to get one out each day.

 

 Until tomorrow

 

 

 

We are almost ready to head Down Under

Just a few more days until the USA team heads for Melbourne, Australia!  Everyone is very excited.  Email are flying back and forth trying to make sure we have packed everything we need.  Our bedroom is covered in several piles of what goes where, but don't forget to put this there. The trick is to get it into 3 suitcases and still meet the weight limit.  I will address this is my next blog.

The uniforms have arrived and Katherine has put on every single piece.  Right down to the socks, Athletes Without Limits Team USA will look like the stars that they are. Thanks to Champion designed the uniforms and is a sponsor.  Katherine says they feel like wearing pajamas, so they definitely pass the test! There are several shirts, but this gives you a sneak peak.

What do we know so far.....It will be hot.  This week the temperature is expected to be in the high 90's to 105!  I doubt we will be wearing the warm up around, but it will be our outfit on the plane. The temps expected to down about 10 degrees during our tournament. It will be a welcome change to most of us and more like July in Texas without the humidity!

The history of this tournament is quite interesting.  I contacted the CEO of Ausrapid.  This organization does not put on events but works with the National Sporting Organizations in Australian to develop pathways for people with intellectual disabilities "with the focus on ability and ensuring that the athlete becomes a swimmer, track athlete, tennis player, etc."  The focus is on the sport.  They do not think of themselves as a disability organization but instead "using sport to showcase the skills and the ease which a sport can expand to include all people wanting to play." (They said it better than I ever could.)

Tennis Australia manages The Australian Open.  Each year, the tournament the USA players will be playing in has gained a bit more recognition from The Open.  While the prelims are played outside Melbourne Park, the finals will be!  So, for all of you who have so kindly asked when Katherine will be on TV, I am sorry to say we are not quite there yet.  However, the steady recognition has put these players in the right direction. I have no doubt it will happen.  Maybe next year there will even be a tab on the Open website!

There will be 43 players in the tournament.  The event has attracted players from Japan, Czech Republic, Poland and other countries.  It is an internationally sanctioned tournament.

We will be leaving on Friday, the 17th and arriving in Melbourne on the 19th.  While the flights are long ones, the experience is going to be fantastic.  The hospitality has already been incredible with so many activities for us to enjoy when the players are not playing their own matches.  Being able to watch some of The Open matches and "cheering on their teammates" as Katherine says, will be so much fun.  I love the way she puts herself on the same team as the ones you WILL see on TV! 

Back to packing!

Getting to the Australian Open 2014

                                                             Happy New Year !!!

 

This is a test of upcoming blogs from Australia.  Please respond to let me know if you got it.  On my end, it looks fine, but you never know...................

 

Here we go.....

 

                                                      

 Don, Katherine and I are counting down the days until we go "down under" for the Australian Open 2014! We still have to remind ourselves we are really going AND watching Katherine and her teammates PLAY in the Adaptive section of the tournament. What an honor for the players and for the future players! Many of you have known we were going, but may not know the how and why.  I thought I would take a few minutes to explain the background.

In the Fall of 2012, we made contact with a group out of Washington, DC called Athletes Without Limits.  A wonderful organization which allows athletes with intellectual disabilities to compete at a higher level at international competitions.  After several phone calls and much family discussion, it was decided this would be a great opportunity for Katherine.  In the same thought, we felt it would be an incredible opportunity to show how much adaptive tennis has grown and grown in a big way!

Currently, Katherine and her teammates are practicing under the guidance of their coach, Diane Fishburne Barker.  We are so excited to have her and her wonderful husband, Jack.  They have plenty of experience in the tennis world.  Google Diane and see what I mean.  She inspires the team via email with regular tips on the game, nutrition and motivation.

Who has been selected to represent the USA?  Below is an article that featured the team.

URL: http://www.usta.com/Adult-Tennis/Adaptive-Tennis/team_usa_to_compete_at_australian_championships/


The packing has begun and we are counting the days until we leave.  I hope to get everything in just 3 suitcases and under the weight limit!  It's summer there, so that should help a bit.
Although Katherine keeps needing just a few more things!