Thursday, November 15, 2012

One CCC to Another

Wow is the least I can say right now. Everything here has been awesome so far and I think it's only going to get better! For those of you who don't know, my brother Pun and I are currently in the capital city of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. We've been gone from the states since the 9th of November and will be leaving on the 9th of December. Pun and I will be playing in three Futures (lower-level professional tennis tournaments) events during our month long stay in my father's home country. Our flight was absolute torture on my back. After a 2 hour delay from Seattle to Seoul that set us back for the rest of our flights, a few good movies and many trips to the lavatory (mostly to get up and move around, but I was pretty hydrated :) we arrived in Phnom Penh at 1:00 in the morning here! We are 15 hours ahead of all you West coasters out there. So back home it was 10:00am on Saturday when we arrived in Phnom Penh, about 27 hours of being inside an airport or up in the Ayer, but much to my surprise we survived the overseas flight. Waiting for us once we arrived were 2 of Rithi's (Tep Rithivit: Secretary General of the Cambodian Tennis Federation) staff, Yuri and his driver who has a long name. From there it was to the Dragon Hotel.

After Yuri and his driver dropped us off at the hotel and we settled in it was 2pm. Bed by 2:30 and ready for practice the next morning at 8:30! The national training centre for the national team is at the Cambodian Country Club (CCC), where Pun and I will stay from the 15th on. When we got to CCC there were tons of kids on court huddled around our head national team coach, Braen Aneiros. The ball kids were there prepping for the tournament, and we were going to play practice matches. At first I thought to myself, "just 2 sets, this won't be too bad." I could not have been more wrong. 3 games in and we were huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf. Even though we might not have brought our best that day I can assure you we did a lot better than the ball kids, who responded with big smiles and some empty looks when I would signal hand motions for balls or my towel :) That night Rithi treated us to dinner at a pretty fancy sports bar where we enjoyed the semifinal match between Delpo and Djokovic. At 11pm we were back at the hotel wishing for a long undisrupted night of sleep.

I was up at 4am face-booking it up because I could not sleep one bit. Even without the sleep Chub and I managed to get through 2 tough practices in 90+ degree heat that seems to beam down right onto my forehead just to fry my brains. During lunch on Monday we attempted to eat a healthier meal and both ordered salads...or so we thought. Somehow I managed to order papaya salad, called tham som in Lao, a dish I'm actually familiar with. As our waiter sat my plate down I jokingly thought, "I hope Lomsack's not working back there in the kitchen" (Although very good, she makes a very spicy tham som). Chub ordered Larb, another Lao/Thai dish, and got owned. It actually wasn't bad until we ate the little red peppers they sliced up and probably strategically placed just to own us. At one point, somewhere near the peak of spiciness we were dripping with sweat, chugging our water, laughing uncontrollably and crying all at the same time. Although we got our butts kicked by spice we left the restaurant with our heads held high and a good story to tell everyone! The next day I would "meet the stadium," as Braen put it with a smile on his face.

I never look forward to running, but Tuesday morning at the Olympic Stadium I felt like I had something to prove since Chub kept telling Braen how fast I was, note the past tense. On GO! Chub sped ahead of us all like there was no tomorrow and was at least a good 25m ahead of the next person, which was not me at that point. Sitting in last place but with what I thought was a good starting pace I slowly crept past Kenny in the first lap and Demon in the 2nd (Kenny and Demon are two other national team members). With Pun still ahead I started to kick a little in the 3rd and was finally able to pass him on the last turn for a 5:09 mile finish, Chub right behind at 5:11. The reason I'm telling you this is not just to brag :) but more to share how happy I am that I'm still able to perform at such a high level of training even at the tender age of 27! I may be losing my hair but hopefully my legs are here for a little longer!

It doesn't seem like so long ago, but what started at CCC (Chemeketa Community College: I would call Chemeketa our home courts, the courts where we grew up playing and training for years and years) has made almost everything I've done up until now possible. From playing college tennis, becoming an assistant coach, and now having the opportunity to keep the game in me alive! Being out there with my family day in and day out, and also with friends and coaches was such a great environment and looking back at it all I would not change a single thing (except for a few smashed racquets here and there, it's what happens when you idolize Marat). Now at my current CCC, the Cambodian Country Club, I hope I can spread the disease of my love for the game, and love of being out there with family, friends and coaches as I once did before. Thanks for reading! The first tournament begins in a couple of days, until then, reet trey suor sdey.

P









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