THE TOUR HITS EUROPE

After spending 20 hours flying from Seoul to Poland, there was not much time to recover. Plus with my lingering sickness it was a struggle to get back to normal. But you couldn't wipe the smile off our faces. We had a few days to rest up and train a little before the competition started, but it seemed to fly by.

The event started on Thursday and our win last week bumped up our seeding average dramatically, from 14 to 7! This meant we had an easier first round than the past few weeks. We drew the number 26 seeds from Canada, COOKE/MARTIN. We won comfortably in 2 sets advancing us to the next round against the Netherlands. This too was a 2 set win and put us through undefeated into the 3rd round.

This next match was going to be a huge test for us. A rematch with the world tour champions from 2006, Juliana and Larissa from Brasil, who we knew would be out to avenge their lost last week. In a match lasting over an hour we managed to dig our heals and win in a tight 3 set match 16-14. (after trailing 13-10 in the last set) It was a fierce battle and with some great blocking by Tam and defense by me we threw them in to the losers bracket and advanced to round 4. A 9 match winning streak.

A this point however we seemed to run out of gas. We lost our next 2 matches (to Brasil, Renata and Talita and China 2) to finish a respectable 5th place. We just didn't seem to have the dynamic acceleration and power when required. The last few weeks I think started to take its toll.

All that said, another great result to add to our Olympic bow and the team has decided to take next week off. THis will give us some much needed rest and time to recover, and work on a few things before the 2 Grand Slams in France and Norway. We have a few things to work on also, and being in competition you do not get a chance to break things down, so lots of massage, rest, food and fine tuning.

We had 1 night to visit the old town in Warsaw and have a nice Polish meal. It is always important to experience the culture, esepcially in a new city! (my first time in Poland)

Yours on the sand,