The first 2 days of training

Since I am a couple of days behind with the blog. I figured to compile the first 2 days of training into one post. On the first day I got up and had a breakfast buffet at the hotel. Aaron and I boarded the bus with other athletes to the training site. We had a 10:30am practice at the University about 15 minutes from our hotel. The sports facility is old but still in great shape. The practice lasted about 1 1/2 hours. I was a little rusty at first because I had to adjust to the court surface and the heat/humidity. With the heat and humidity that day, it was 117 degrees outside!!! Argh! Too hot and sticky for a Wisconsin girl like me! Of course Aaron would keep saying it's not too hot for me because I am from Texas. haha! After practice, we headed back to the hotel. I decided to try some Taiwan food at food court mall for lunch. Aaron and I ordered the same meal. Some noodle thing with cooked vegetables. I used chopsticks for the first time.


Me eating lunch using chopsticks

Tennis courts at the training site


After lunch, we would rest up for another practice session in the afternoon. Unfortunately, it rained so Aaron and I did some cardio workouts and some volleys indoors at the gym. I had dinner at the hotel again and went to bed early.

Today, I was up again for tennis practice in the morning. It was a lot better. Aaron and I fed drills so we were able to get some good hitting in. The weather was 10 times better today which was good. I didn't feel like dying on the court. Thank goodness! Instead of getting Taiwan food, Aaron and I ordered a large cheese pizza from Pizza Hut for lunch. It was delicious! For the afternoon practice it rained again for the 2nd day in a row. We did some more running and volleys. It is a bummer because we are the only sport that can't do anything if it rains because we don't have indoor courts at the training site. All the other sports are either indoors or can play in the rain. Hopefully the next 5 days we will be able to get an afternoon practice in. We headed back for dinner at the hotel and hung out with the athletes. Now, it is time for me to go to bed. Goodnight!

Finally in Taiwan!

It's been a couple of days since I posted anything. A lot has happened and I am excited to share as much as I can to you. My flight to Los Angeles went great. I made it on time and was able to meet up with Aaron at the baggage claim. The two of us took a shuttle bus to Westin Hotel where we got our massive duffel bag and our team USA outfits. We hung out for a few hours and met other deaf athletes especially the wrestling team. There was a team dinner and meeting at 6pm that evening then we were off to the airport to get ready for our flight to Taiwan.


My duffel bag, tennis bag and backpack

Aaron and me with Coach Howard in our USA warmups

The guys from the Wrestling Team and me

We waited around for about 5 hours at the LAX airport. To pass time, I played some cards and chatted with the other athletes. It was fun to get to know more people. Finally after the long wait, we boarded Malaysia Airlines about 1:10am. We were off to Taiwan!


Malaysia Airlines welcomes USA Deaf Olympics


We arrived in Taiwan at 5:30am after a 12 hour flight. The good news was we actually arrived an hour earlier than expected which made me happy. I don't think I could stay on the plane any longer than that since I sat in the middle 4 seat section. It was a little uncomfortable but I got some sleep which was good.

After we arrived, the security guards directed us throughout the airport where we went through the customs center and got our luggage. One of the coolest things that I got to experience happened next. We were leaving the baggage claim to the bus station and there were a bunch of people from Taiwan waving American flags and waving at us all lined up. They all seem excited to see us and some had signs that said welcome USA Deaflympics! I actually got a video of this which was awesome. As I was walking pass the people a bunch of reporters for the Taiwan news came up to many of the coaches asking for me. Supposedly, the reporters knew a lot about me and they wanted to ask me some questions. That was quite an experience. I was shocked that they knew about me before I arrived in Taiwan. The whole experience was surreal. Below is a picture of the interview.


Interview for the Taiwan News

Some of the USA Deaf Athletes and the Taiwan fans

Me with my passport in front of the Customs Center


We finally boarded the bus for a 3 hour drive south to Chiayi City where our training site and hotel is located. There were 6 buses that carried all the athletes and coaches. We had extra security since there was a police car in front of the buses and one in the back of the buses. It is pretty cool to have special security like that. After about an hour on the bus, we had a restroom stop. To much of my surprise, I came upon a very strange looking toilet. I wasn't sure what I was suppose to do. The good news, there was other types of toilets that we were familiar with at the restroom stop so I was able to go to the bathroom.

The strange looking toilet


We arrived at the Nice Prince Hotel in Chiayi around 12pm. The hotel is very beautiful. The hotel has 17 floors with a 8 floor mall attached to it. I met my roomate Colleen from the Women's Vollyball team and get settled into my room. Aaron and I got some lunch at KFC across from the hotel with the Wrestling team. I could barely eat the chicken because it was extremely spicy. We were able to walk around town as well. It's a crazy city because there are so many mopeds driving around. Here are some more pictures.

Our hotel with the mall. I am on the 13th floor

The view from my hotel room


We had dinner at the hotel and then a team meeting afterwards. I was in bed by 8:30pm that night since I was exhausted from traveling. Up early the next day for me and Aaron's first day of training.


Until next time...

Off to Taiwan

I am off to Taiwan today! :) I will be leaving Milwaukee Airport at 6am arriving to Los Angeles at 10:17am with a layover in Memphis. At LAX, I will meet with one of the USA committees and take a shuttle bus to Westin Hotel. At the hotel, I will receive a USA duffle bag with my USA outfits and meet with all the USA athletes and coaches. There will be a team dinner at 6pm with pizza then we will go back to the airport as a team and leave for TAIPEI, TAIWAN at 1:40am on September 27th. I am very excited! I will let everyone know when I arrive in Taiwan as soon as possible.

Until next time...

Last day of Personal Training with Karina

Today was my last day of personal training with my trainer Karina. Over the past 3 months, I have been working extremely hard to improve my strength and conditioning to prepare myself physically for Taiwan. I had a 1 hour session with Karina 3 days a week. She had me do a variety of different workouts including lunges, pushups, stairs, hills, bosu ball workouts, sprints, and many more. I did a lot of running on the side to increase my endurance when I was not with Karina for my personal training session. My running length would vary day to day anywhere from 1 1/2 miles to 4 miles. I enjoyed running on my own. The past 3 months have been awesome! I lost a total of 14 pounds and have slimmed in my waist and thighs. I feel so much better about my body and am ready physically for my tennis matches. Knowing that I can be out there for long matches because of my fitness really helps my mental part of the game. I am physically and mentally strong and am ready to play some tennis! :)

Below are some pictures of my workouts! Enjoy!

Pullups on bosu ball

Lunges on bosu ball

Overhead squats

Medicine ball toss, one leg on bosu ball

Medicine ball toss, one leg on bosu ball

Medicine ball circled around both legs

Medicine ball figure 8 between legs

Medicine ball toss on stomach

Medicine ball toss on stomach

30 seconds mountain climbers

Side shuffle 30 sec. each side

One leg on side, one leg on ball shuffle

I'm off to Taiwan in 2 days!

Until next time...

Countdown to Taiwan: 10 DAYS!

I remember last September when I received an email from my Coach Frank Barnes about the Deaflympics. I never heard of the Deaflympics and thought that it was quite interesting. I researched more about it and saw it was going to be in Taiwan the following year. I talked to my family about this opportunity to represent the USA at the Deaflympics and they encouraged me to tryout. There were 2 tryouts for the USA team. One was in October in Maryland and the other was in December in Arizona. I wasn't able to attend the 1st tryout in Maryland because I was finishing my fall season of college tennis at Whitewater. However, the 2nd tryout in Arizona was over winter break and my mom and I were able to attend the tryout. The tryout went fabulous! I had a great time meeting other deaf and hard of hearing tennis athletes. Some I still talk/text to as of today. Unfortunately not everyone that made the USA tennis team was able to come to Taiwan. Aaron from Texas and I are the only 2 people that are going for the USA team. It's too bad but we will have a great time nevertheless.

Aaron and me in Texas when I visited him. We are sporting matching tennis outfits...trust me, this wasn't planned. I happened to bring this outfit for the mixed doubles tournament we were playing.

The group at the USA Deaflympics Tryout in Tucson, Arizona

After the tryout, in January, I received an email from the United States Deaf Sports Federation that I was selected on the USA Deaf Tennis Team for the 2009 Summer Deaflympics in Taiwan! I was thrilled to hear the news.

A lot of things happened since I found out I was selected on the Team. First, I finished my college tennis career at Whitewater in which our team was able to go to Nationals for the 2nd year in a row. Secondly, I graduated college in May. Lastly, I trained hard with my Personal Trainer, Karina and played lots of tennis over the summer!

Karina was such a positive influence on me. She motivated me and made me believe that I could do great with my fitness level at Taiwan. I wasn't in the best shape physically at the start of summer but Karina pushed me to be the best I can be for Taiwan. Over the past summer, I lost a total of 14 pounds and I feel so much better physically and am so ready to rock my matches! Thanks Karina!!! :)

It is hard to believe that 8 months have passed and in 10 days I am off to Taiwan. A lot of hard work has been put in to prepare myself for the Deaflympics but I know it will be worth it in the end. It has been a long journey to get to where I am now and I am happy that it is finally here. Only 10 more days!

I wanted to thank everybody for your support and encouragement as I march on to Taiwan. Thanks Again!

Until next time...

Typhoon Morakot

In case you haven't heard, recently there was a typhoon in Taiwan last weekend. It was a pretty fatal typhoon in which it dumped over 80 inches of rain and killed at least 63 people. The good news is that the olympics will go on. The regions south of Taipei got hit the hardest and one of the regions is where our training site is located. Members of the USA committee are searching for a new training site and waiting to hear word about the conditions of the original site. We start training in 18 days. Hopefully the conditions will be better by then. I wanted to inform you that there is no need to worry since we will continue to have the Deaflympics in Taipei, Taiwan.

Here is the link of an article about Typhoon Morakot: http://www.usdeaflympics.org/articles/article/2009/aug/12/despite-typhoon-morakot-games-go/

UPDATE: US Deaflympics Tweets
Fri Aug 14
All is well with Team U.S.A. training camp center -- no serious damage from Typhoon Morakot. Our team hotel and training facilities are ok!

On a side note, I thought it would be good to provide some background information about the Deaflympics and my travel to Taiwan.

-I will be flying from Milwaukee to Los Angeles on August 26th and then from Los Angeles to Taipei, Taiwan. I will be arriving in Taiwan on August 28th. Training begins on August 28th-September 4th. Opening Ceremonies will be on September 5th and then the Games begin! :) Tennis will start the next day on September 6th with mixed doubles and women singles start on September 7th. The olympics will conclude on September 15th with the closing ceremonies. I will depart from Taipei, Taiwan on September 16th.

Here are some facts about the Deaflympics:

• 77 countries participating


• Over 2,500 athletes


• 144 USA athletes


• 17 sports

Here is the USA Deaflympics website: http://www.usdeaflympics.org/

-Please feel free to check out the website. It will have all the information about the USA athletes participating at the Deaflympics.

Until next time...

Marching on to Taiwan

Hey Everyone:

I decided to create a blog for everyone to read and get updates. In a couple of weeks I will be traveling to Taipei, Taiwan for the 2009 Summer Deaflympics. I will be representing the USA in women's tennis. In order to keep in touch with all of you, I will be blogging throughout the entire trip I am gone to keep you updated on my tennis matches, sightseeing, and many other things. I am excited to share this opportunity with you and I hope you enjoy reading the blog as much as I enjoy the experience in Taiwan!

-Jenny