Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Mexico Trip Wrap Up!

The Team in San Luis


The girls courtside


Supporting the team


Team Doubles


Our opponents


Nayelly's Family and our Hosts
Last Night in Mexico

We are back at Trinity and adjusting to the courts and the frigid weather. The trip was perfect in everyway - the girls had intense training and very competitive matches. We are ready for the season! The benefits have already shown in the girls games and in their court fitness over the last few training sessions and matches. But we miss the sunny warm weather of Mexico and the friendly people.
I just wanted to thank everyone for following our trip and a big thanks to all the supporters of Trinity Women’s Squash for making this trip possible.
Looking forward to seeing all of you this season at our matches!
Coach







Wednesday, January 14, 2009


The team at the Festival of Lights, San Luis Potosi

We are back in the states!!!!! Thank you for reading and continue to check back as we update the blog and keep you informed about our season. More pictures will be added soon. Our next match is tomorrow at 12 pm at Brown. Come support us if you can!

Monday, January 12, 2009

Day 10: (TBN (to be named))

The girls were excited to enjoy a morning in the sun. For the first time on their trip it is cloudy. More later..... 
Day 9: California here we come!

After a day off, the girls were ready to wake up and get back on the court. The girls arrived at Deportivo and played with the San Luis Potosi womens' again. The girls were finally not sore warming up and only had one photo shoot the whole practice! The owner of the club gave the girls Mexican candy, again confirming their maturity level. Unfortunately, nothing else really interesting happened. 

The girls returned to La Loma for their sprinting and strengthening session. The girls were terrified of another sprinting session, but surprised themselves with their speed. Finishing the sprints and ending strong with the strengthening, the girls retired to the pool to catch the last rays of the day. 

La Loma offers massages and other spa treatments in the afternoons and the girls have been taking advantage of this luxury. One bantam though found the spa treatments a little difficult with the language barrier... Katie Sammis thought she was getting a relaxing massage and was surprised to find herself in a steam room and could not see anything. It started out fine, a normal massage until they covered her in salt and started scrubbing her body. Now this would have been a nice exfoliation treatment except that Sammis was covered in sunburns...

After a day of sun and sauna, the girls retired to their rooms to enjoy their new favorite pastime, the OC. The girls have been watching three to four episodes a night of the OC and are almost finished with the 2nd season. The girls sing along with the opening credits (Californiaaaaaaaaa, Californiaaaaaaaaaaa) and watch in awe at the soap-opera like twists. Some of the girls have already seen the show, but are enjoying watching it again with the new viewers. After about four episodes the girls went to bed to get a good nights rest before the play the San Luis Potosi Mens' Team. 

Buenas Noches! 


Day 8: Ohhh Freshmen 

The Bantams arouse early to depart on their site seeing trip in San Miguel. The girls were excited for their first day off and much needed break from their rigorous training schedule. The girls climbed on to the bus to depart  for San Miguel which would be a 2 hour trip. Paco, our ironman/engineer car driver turned friend, picked out a movie for the trip, Beverly Hills Chihuahua. The movie is possibly the worst movie ever, it features talking chihuahuas, the only redeeming part of the movie is that it takes place in Mexico. The movie made the bus ride that much longer. 

Finally arriving in San Miguel, the girls were famished and excited to eat at the famed San Miguel restaurant, Mamma Mia. After the first round of guacamole the girls realized that they had over ordered and would not be able to finish their main courses. Emily and Emery ordered ceasar salads for their first course, and were surprised to find small fish on top. The girls were unaware that sometimes caeser salads are served with anchovies... The meal was absolutely fantastic though besides some minor bumps in the road like anchovies and hair in Tehani's food. Mamma Mia had both Mexican and Italian cuisine so the girls ate a wide varied of food. The meal was quite a lengthy procedure, taking almost two and a half hours. After lunch the girls walked around San Miguel to shop and take in the sites. That is when we lost the freshmen.....

San Miguel is beautiful old city that is full of small artisan shops and gorgeous cathedrals. In one of the cathedrals a couple was getting married and there was dancing and life size puppets of the bride and groom parading in the street. The boutique little shops had fun little trinkets and jewelry which we eagerly spent our pesos on. San Miguel had old cobblestone streets and beautiful architecture so it was just as fun to walk around as it was to shop. After walking around for an hour, the girls returned to the square to meet up and return to San Luis Potosi. 

The Bantams were supposed to meet back in the square at exactly 4 o clock, however, four of the girls did not return at the agreed upon time. Having told Wendy that they would be gone for five more minutes to go back to a jewelry store, forty five minutes later everyone was pissed off and worried. Turns out that the girls needed to get a ring refitted and rather than sending someone up to tell the group decided to just wait... We don't think they will ever be late for a squash meeting again......

The girls were absolutely exhausted after a long day of eating and shopping and were eager to return to San Luis Potosi. The bus ride back featured a more tolerable movie, Kung Fu Panda. Paco must have noted our maturity level when he chose the movies... Arriving back to La Loma, the girls retired to the apartments to retire for the night. 

Buenas Noches! 

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Hola!

Lo siento por no escribir! (sorry for not writing!) We have had two back to back fun-filled days and have had no time to write. 

Day 7: Dos Mil Doce (2012)

Seven days into the training trip, the girls woke up to a hot morning in San Luis Potosi. After breakfast at La Loma, the girls departed to play another round of matches with their team mates and the female squash players of San Luis Potosi. The girls took to the courts to sharpen their racket skills and improve their fitness. The girls were lucky enough to play with the world's number 108th (former top 60) female squash player, Karina Herrera. Our very own Tehani Guruge defeated her in two games--Tehani claims Karina was not warmed up yet, but we like to think differently. 

The girls returned to La Loma for their favorite activity--tanning (Don't worry those of us who are sun challenged use SPF). During their pool session Tehani and Chauncey were approached by a photographer of El Heraldo for a picture. The girls who were in their bikinis, quickly covered up being sketched out by the strange reporter. The picture has yet to be printed in El Heraldo....

That afternoon the girls returned to the La Lomas country club to watch Tehani and Nayelly play Samantha Tehran. Both matches were very exciting. Tehani, who won five points in the first game, shouted after her match "Woooo FIVE POINTS" just as Samantha walked on the court....The spectators were very excited to watch the match between Nayelly and Samantha. Old rivals and good friends, Nayelly and Samantha had a great match. The Bantams were again surprised by their celebrity status. You may think that we are joking about the autographs, but all the little girls who watched the match begged for our pictures and signatures. After a long day of squash, the girls were ready to go out to dinner and out on the town. 

That evening the girls enjoyed the fine dining of Pueblo Bonito which was only a hop skip and a jump away from La Loma. Desperate for guacamole and salsa, the girls devoured all food in sight. The Bantams treated the Hernandez family to dinner to thank them for their amazing hospitality. The Hernandez family has taken such great care of us and we are so thankful. 

After dinner is when the real fun started. Our friendly driver, Paco, who is an engineer by day and ironman by night, took the girls to the swanky night club Dos Mil Doce. The club is named 2012 because that is supposed to be the year the world ends according to Mexican lore. Strange name aside, the girls entered the night club much earlier than the other revelers. Lucky for the Bantams, that the early hours of the club are devoted to  karaoke. Not so lucky for the club goers, the girls entertained the crowd with renditions of Madonna's "Like a Prayer", Cher "Believe", "Summer Nights" from Grease, and "Man I feel like a Woman" by Shania Twain. An eclectic playlist one might think but the Bantams managed to pool it off. Well most of us, Emery may have been a little tone deaf due to the loud music.... With some spirited dancing before anyone actually got to the club, the girls departed by 12 and were snuggling in bed to get a good night sleep before their day off and day trip to San Miguel!



  

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Day 6: Baby Come Back

The Bantams arouse to a warm and sunny morning in San Luis Potosi. The women's team ate a lovely breakfast at the La Loma cafeteria. Tehani, who was served too much yogurt in her fruit, deposited half of the contents in a neighboring plant in her efforts to further save the environment. Go green Tee. The morning also consisted of a cut throat race between the boyfriends of the girls on the team to become followers of the blog, with Stephen Simchak in the lead, Perrin close behind and Brendon bringing up the rear. We are still waiting on you Zach, Chris and Chiley. Shout out to Chauncey's Mom, Anne, for also joining the race.

The girls arrived at the courts eager to hit with the newest member of the team, Pamela! We were also joined by Nayelly's younger sister, Rosita, to bring the Bantams to an even fourteen for a morning round robin. The girls played three different opponents to mix up the training regiment. The Bantams learned a new trick today while playing at the Deportivo courts. The floors of the courts at Deportivo have been worn smooth and slippery from countless hours of play. A way to combat the slipperiness was to soak a rag in Coke-a -Cola and step on the rag to make the soles of the shoes sticky. This trick proved effective; the girls were much more agile and did not slip all over the place. 

Rushing back to La Loma, to get in a quick sun session, the girls scarfed down their lunch and hit the pool for one precious hour. The girls were very excited for the afternoon to meet and watch Samantha Terhan, the number 16 ranked squash player in the world, and for her to play our number one, Nour!!!!!!

The match was epic. Nour stepped up her game to world class level and had long and exciting rallies with Samantha. The girls cheered on their teammate as she dove and reached every ball with grace and speed. Though, Nour did not beat Samantha, she played an amazing game and impressed us all. Following the match, the girls listened to Samantha give advice about the game of squash--in both English and Spanish. We were all surprised at the club to see our very own Nayelly Hernandez featured in a Mexican Squash calendar as Miss October. Thats right we have centerfolds on our team. At the conclusion of Samantha's talk, the club presented Wendy with a box of medical supplies. An odd gift one might think, but incredibly useful for our group of accident prone hooligans. 

On the drive home from the club, the girls learned something new about Mexican culture. The girls have noticed that it is not uncommon to see public displays of affection along the roadways. A young couple, who could have not been older than 15, were showing their affection for one another while the girls were stopped at a traffic light. The mature group in the car started whistling and hollering to the couples dismay, who quickly ended their embrace. One rowdy bantam yelled "Baby come back" just as the girl's mother rounded the corner. Timing is everything. 

The girls are settling in now for a night of saunas and a group viewing of Sex and the City, the movie, after all the movie partly takes place in Mexico. Today was a day of intense match play and incredible exhibition games from some of the world's best. We can't believe that the trip is half over, but have had such an amazing time thus far training in high altitude. We are thinking of continuing the blog throughout our season to let you keep up with our training and triumphs in our matches to come :) 

Tomorrow Nayelly and Tehani will take on Samantha Tehran in more exhibition games! Good luck girls!

Buenas Noches

Xo Xo

Alison and Chauncey 

(Chauncey is on the injured reserve list and thus has been named self-appointed head blogger, but will be mixing up with different partners in crime to report to you the latest on the Trinity Women's Squash Team)