Sunday 17th July 2022 It’s Final’s Day! After a long week of training, competing, learning, fun, a few tears but lots of improvement from the whole team it’s always nice to be involved in the event on Final’s Day (even if it is to play a semi-final first!). We had a bit more of a lie-in this morning as the finals didn’t start until 9:30am which meant that we could practise for an hour beforehand. With that in mind we left our bags all packed up in the apartment and got down to the courts for just after 8am to make sure we secured a practice court. Isla had a really good session this morning ..read more

Saturday 16th July 2022 We had another good, although rather long, day at the Dubrovnik Dub Bowl today but, like with most tournament trips, when you get towards semi-final’s and final’s day there’s always a few curve balls that get thrown at you! Normally when you get towards the end of a tournament week courts open up for practice as there are less players involved in the event. However, today there were 43 matches scheduled with the first ones starting as normal at 8am. That meant that, even though Isla was scheduled in the 9th round of matches, she still needed to practise at 7am if she wa ..read more

Friday 15th July 2022 It was a busy day for the team today as both Isla and Taylor had a singles and a doubles match and we’re now at the stage of the event where if you lose you are eliminated! For the first time in 5 days of competition we didn’t have to be up at 5:30am … instead we had a lie-in until 6:30am! This was because Taylor was in the first round of matches at Tenis Klub Dubrovnik (which is the second venue they are using for the tournament) and they start at 9am whereas the main site has been starting at 8am each day. We got all got a taxi over together at 7:30am and then Isla and ..read more

Thursday 14th July 2022 It was another glorious day here in Dubrovnik and after another two matches for Isla today it brings the total for the team to 8 matches in 4 days. The day started early as per usual with a 6:45am meet at the Dubrovnik Tennis Centre and after a very good 15 minute physical warm-up, Isla and Taylor took to the court at 7am. We spent the first 30 minutes going through a standard match warm-up which roughly includes 10 minutes trading from the back of the court, 5 minutes each of volleys, smashes and drive-volleys and then 10 minutes of serve and return. This can vary depe ..read more

Wednesday 13th July 2022 It was another great day here in Dubrovnik which saw Isla and Taylor play their last group matches, an excellent post-match training session and a brilliant evening in the Old Town which marks the start of the main draw tomorrow. It never gets easier when the alarm goes off at 5:30am and, as the week goes on at any international event, the fatigue starts to show for both the players and me! However, the effort and commitment levels remain high each day and we push each other to continue to improve and develop. We were down at the main tournament site at 6:45am this mor ..read more

Tuesday 12th July 2022 It was another good day of training and competition in Dubrovnik today and despite it being quite a long one, we did still manage to celebrate my birthday a little bit! It was another bright and early start for the team as we were at the main tournament site by 6:45am but everything seems to be a little easier at that time in the morning when the sun is shining and it’s already 22°C! Isla and Taylor went through their individual physical warm-ups and then we did some movement drills in the speed ladder before they got on court at 7am to start hitting. Both of their level ..read more

Monday 11th July 2022 We had a really good first day at the Dubrovnik Dub Bowl today which started with an early morning practice, ended with the Opening Ceremony and had a couple of matches in-between! We woke up this morning at 5:45am to the sound of very strong winds but once we walked down to the courts at 6:30am the wind had died down and was replaced by a beautifully clear and calm morning. Isla and Taylor went through their own physical warm up together and then just before 7am we started our practice. At most international tournaments there is a booking system for practice but here it ..read more

Sunday 10th July 2022 I quite like to be up early as it gives you a chance to maximise the time in your day but I must admit when the alarm went off this morning at 2am I did wonder what was going on! Isla and I left home just before 3am to meet Taylor Daniel and his dad, Lex, at Gatwick airport ready for our 5:55am flight to Dubrovnik for the U11 Dubrovnik Dub Bowl. The event has been running for many years and we were recommended it by one of the players who played in it last year so both Isla and Taylor have been looking forward to it for some time. After arriving at Dubrovnik airport at 10 ..read more

Sunday 22nd May 2022 It’s Final’s Day! The goal of any player at the start of a tournament is to be involved in Final’s Day and, as this was Rhys’s first international event abroad, it was a big achievement for him. I was up early at 5:30am to string rackets for Isla and Rhys and then get the car packed up so we could check out of the house we’d been renting this week. Everyone else joined me around 6:30am and by 7:15am we were ready to go. Once we arrived at the club we warmed up outside and then hit from 8-8:45am. Everyone was in good spirits and hitting the ball well when we finished so all ..read more

Saturday 21st May 2022 We had a slightly more civilised start to the day today with our first match going on at 10:30am but a rather late finish with Isla’s match not going on until 6:45pm! After 5 consecutive 5:30am starts I was rather pleased to be able to sleep in until 7am this morning! We were all up and out by 8:15am and on the practice court warming up by 8:45am for our pre-match training session. Throughout the week the players have all trained really well and, rather than just do a standard 30 minute pre-match warm-up, they’ve tended to want to make more of a training session of it wh ..read more