Sunday - Happy Easter Everyone!

Well - It's Sunday and I am sitting in Miami airport right now waiting to get home. Team USA kicked butt yesterday, and ended up winning the overall title by one point!!!!! We were in three finals yesterday and won all three finals. Cheryl Gudinas beat Carola from Bolivia. Jackie and myself beat Mexico in the doubles 6 and 8, and Ben and Mitch beat Bolivia in the doubles in two straight. The ladies ended up winning the women's title and the boys ended up taking 3rd the mens title.

The party last night was a fun time and a lot of people just stayed up the whole night as they had to catch their flight early the next morning.

I just want to personally thank some people for helping me get to Colombia: Jason Frank, Ed Arias, Joe Brennan, LaTell Clark and everyone from NJ State Singles who also donated $$. It is greatly appreciated by me!! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

More pictures to be posted soon within the next day or two!

Finals Today!

Well - I have a 1/2 hour before we catch the 9:45 shuttle and go and cheer Cheryl's 10 am final. Cheryl pulled off a great win yesterday against Paola 11-8 tiebreaker. We are all so proud of her, because she really dug deep for this win. Today she plays against a girl from Bolivia in the final.

Andy lost a tough tiebreaker to Alvaro Beltran. Da Boys, Mitch and Ben beat Mexico in the finals in two straight. This was also a really good win for them as well and today they either play Argentina or Bolivia, I'm not sure which.

Jackie and I beat Canada in two straight 5, 10. We play a tough Mexican team today (Paola Longorio and Samantha Salas), but I am up for this match. I heard some things, that have given me some motivation, so plan to see Jackie and I step up our game for this match today!!

Well, I need to go get ready. Be sure to cheer Team USA on today, it will be a close finish on who wins the overall.

Friday - March 10th

Today will be a quick one, as I need to leave and catch the 9:45 am shuttle to go and watch Cheryl play. As I posted earlier Rhonda went to go and appeal her match from the night before, and she had lost the appeal so her match remains as an injury forfeit.

Yesterday, Jackie and I played two Cubans lefties. Wow, these women are feisty!! They were screaming when they were winning 1-0 in the first game. It was sort of difficult playing them because sometimes they switched sides and they seemed to be all over the court which in turn would end up getting in our way, but in the end we won 15-5, 15-6...They really are a promising team though.

The rest of team all won their matches yesterday with the exception of Chris who lost to Kris Odegard in a tiebreaker. Cheryl beat Jen Saunders in two and Andy played great and came back and beat Vincent Gagnon in a tie-breaker..The boys won both their matches in two straight..(I won the bet against Mitch by the way)...

Today will be some GREAT matches. Cheryl plays Paola at 10am so thats why am heading over to the club and get attacked by mosquitos so early! But I guess that's taking one for the team! Andy plays Alvaro Beltran today while Da Boys play Mexico..Jackie and I play Canada as well at 2pm..I would tell you to watch us live, but we haven't been on the live streaming on week..I guess we don't rate.

Wish us luck!!! Go USA!~

Recap from Last Night

So - I'm sure a lot of you are wondering what happened in last nights match up with Rhonda vs. Paola. Well, the outcome was not what anyone expected, that's for sure. The match started with both ladies playing really well, and everyone was excited because they knew it was going to be a great match. But, at about 2-2 in the first game, it looked like Rhonda lost her footing and went down. She went down hard and stayed down...People rushed on the court to help and it turns out there were two doctors (Shai Manzuri and his wife) that were right there to help..The original diagnosis was that she broke her rib, and they wanted her to go to the hopital to get everything checked out. Rhonda wanted to keep playing but Usher made the decision and called the match. Rhonda was put on a stretcher and taken to the hospital for xrays and to get completely checked out, I think they were worried about a collasped lung. We went to bed about 1am last night and Rhonda was not back yet, but she ended up coming in late last night and the final word that we were told this morning that she tore a muscle. I know Rhonda got up early this morning and had went to the club and was trying to appeal the match and be allowed to replay the match, becuase technically Rhonda wanted to get up and try and play but Usher had called the match. I just don't see that whole part going well and Mexico wanting to have Paola come back and replay the match, but you never know. Stranger things have happened.

Anyway...The rest of the team did awesome yesterday! Andy played great and was really hitting good drive serves and forehand splats against Puerto Rico...Chris played Andres Herrera and beat him in two straight and Cheryl played Venezuala and won in two straight as well.

Well, Jackie and I get to play today! I feel like we haven't played in forever. We play against Cuba tonight which is really special for me because Felix was born in Havana, Cuba so I'm hoping they wil be streaming that match tonight so he can watch.

I am off to the club. All the singles players are playing around 2-3pm today adn we need to be there to cheer everyone on.

So - I'm Going to Try This Again

So - As you all can see, I've had to change blog sites. Let's hope this site stays up! I am hoping most of you have all read my prior blogs so I don't really need to go into detail but I will give a tiny recap of what happened with the matches leading up to today.

Today is the first day of Single Elimination competition. Leading up to this everyone had won their round robin matches with the exception of Rhonda who ended up taking third in her flight (there was a three way tie for 1st), which now puts her as the 16th seed in the draw..Which in turn puts her up against Paola Longoria. The two of them have had some battles this past season on the WPRO Tour, so I'm sure this will be a very exciting match to watch, which will happen tonight at 8pm. So be sure to tune in and watch the live streaming and cheer on Team USA. All the singles players play today with the exception of the doubles have the day off and start play tomorrow. I'm not sure what Jackie and I are going to do today until we head over for Rhonda's match. Maybe layout by the pool and go to my favorite new restaurant, Crepes and Waffles..It's the bomb.

Will write after Rhonda's win tonight!! Don't forget to check out:

http://blogs.emcali.net.co:8080/blogs/racquetball/