Hi Everyone-

Well I didn't get to blog everyday like I wanted to, but I am here now and that's what matters! It's Sunday night, 7:15 Arizona time and our plane doesntt leave till 10:30. Our plane is scheduled to get into Newark around 5:20 in the morning and then it's home for a quick shower and then off to work! It really stinks as my husband has the day off tomorrow for Presidents day and he can sleep all day, and I will be walking around like a zombie at the office.

SOOOO. About National Doubles, it was a great weekend for me. Two GOLD medals. Let me give you a brief run down of each division I played.

Women's US Team Qualifying Division. Jackie and I won our semi-final match against Shannon Inglesby and Cheryl Gudenas in two straight 15-5, 15-6. It was a pretty straight forward match, nothing to exciting going on. Our finals we played the #1 player in the world Rhonda Rajsich and Janel Tisinger. We won 15-11, 15-7. It was a great feeling to win and now this gives us the opportunity to go to the World Championships in Ireland in August. It really is an honor to be able to go to these International competitions and play for our country. I also want to congratulate Janel and Rhonda for getting to the finals, and they are two great girls.

Mixed Open Doubles. Jason Thoerner and I were scheduled to play on Saturday at 11:20 am. I got up that morning, showered and started packing my gym bag. I turn my phone on and there is a message from Jason Thoerner telling me that he can't play and is backing out of the mixed because he is a sick as a dog. What do I do? I didn't want to just forfeit because I wanted to play. So I called Dave Ellis (US Team Coach) and said Dave, Jason just bailed on me, do you know of anyone that is looking for a partner? And he was at the club, and said let me see what I can do I'll call you back. So about not even ten minutes later he calls me back and says I got someone for you and he is a right side player, and can hit the ball a ton, and he said it's Mike Dennison. And I was like sure! Does he know that we are playing Cliff Swain in about an hour? And Dave was like yep, he knows and I was like let's do this. So I get to the gym, talk to Mike we warm up and we smoked Cliff Swain and his partner, 15-4, 15-5. Let me tell you how great that felt. Cliff even joked with me after the match asking me if I would want to play him in a game of singles or something. I heard from other people how after I would roll the ball out Cliff would walk to the back of the court with a surprised look on his face. Mike and I just played really well together and clicked. Besides the fact that he is a super nice guy. Onto the finals, we played Andy Hawthorne and Diane Moore. Andy and Diane won this last year That was the first time in 7 years I didn't win the mixed, so I really wanted to get back my title. After beating them the first game I think 15-2, we lost the second game 15-11, we made a comeback and almost pulled it out, but it just wasn't enough. In the tiebreaker we just couldn't miss and won the breaker 11-4. Mike just didn't miss and was making great gets up front, and I just did my best to hold my own on the left side with Andy and put the ball away when I had the chance. It was a great match and I just want to thank Mike for playing with me! He was truly so NICE to play with. Besides the fact that he is an awesome player and was hitting BOMBS on the court. And also for changing his flight around to play with me.

So, that is really all. It's back home and back to work. I am beat and am hoping to sleep most of the plane ride going home.

Thanks to everyone for their support this weekend. Thanks to my trainer Terrance at Parisi Speed School for driving me nuts and pushing me hard even though I bitched and whined the whole time, and thanks to FELIX for being the best coach/best friend/husband EVER.

My next blog will be from Costa Rica in March for the Pan American Championships. The US Team is still looking donations to pay for our expenses for our trip. If there is anyone out there that is interested, please feel free to email me, or check out www.usaracquetball.com and look for the Team USA Sponsorship Package.

Look forward to blogging again next month.

Aimee~