Training Day 3/Opening ceremonies

Today was our last training day. We got up early and went to the club around 10am. Our coaches thought our courts were booked at 10:30 but turns out Columbia had them till 11:30. So we sat around and waited. Richard found a meditation recording and we listened to it before we went on court. We just did a few light drills because the competition starts tomorrow.

After we hit, we went back to the hotel and relaxed for a few hours. We had 6 or 7 hours to kill before opening ceremonies at 5pm.  Dinner was from 5-7 and the official ceremony started at 7pm. We were all supposed to get on the 5pm bus (an old coach bus). All the teams were waiting outside and as soon as the bus came everyone raced to the bus. The bus driver managed to squeeze everyone into the bus, he could hardly see out the front windows it was so full. But the bus broke down before we could even get to the end of the parking lot because it was so overloaded so, we were forced off. We had to wait another 30 minutes before a shuttle came. Once we got to the club, most of the food was eaten and it was pouring rain so we just went inside and waited for the ceremony to start. The WSF vice-president spoke and a dance squad performed. After the ceremony we took a few pictures and headed back to the hotel. 

Team photo at opening ceremonies 

Tomorrow is our first day of individual competition:  

- I play at 10:40am against a girl from France called Julie Rossignol, she plays the #2 position on the French team. If I win I'll play again at 4 o'clock against the 13/16 seed Reeham Sedky. 

- Tara plays first at 10 am against a girl from South Africa called Faith Sithole. 

- Maddie also plays at 10:40 against a girl from New Zealand called Juee Bhide. 

- Sophie plays at 11:20 against a Swiss girl named Marija Shpakova. 

- Chloe gets a bye first round. So she doesn't play until 4 o'clock against the winner of someone from the U.S. or Hong Kong.