CORY PARR: FINAL BLOG FROM JOPLIN

Hi everyone. This is my last night here in Joplin Missouri as we wil drive 4 and a half hours tomorrow to Godfrey Illinois. Yesterday my doubles partner Todd and I won the tournament. We played really well together throughout the week and will hopefully continue our success together for the next tournament in Godfrey.

Today was our first day off from the tournament, however we still had a productive day. We went to the club late this morning and had a good hit. We hit and did on court drills for about an hour with the instruction from Todd’s coach Gwinyai. We then played a practice match. I find it helpful to drill and play practice matches in between tournaments, because it gives me the opportunity to work on my game in a competitive situation. After our practice we went into the gym to lift and stretch. It is really important especially for me to work out while you are on the road because these tournaments are brutal on your body. There are a lot of hours of tennis played out here in really tough conditions, so lifting on the road is an important way to maintain strength. This in theory will help you stay in shape and prevent injuries because your body will be strong enough to take the abuse day in and out. I am also trying to put on weight so it is even more important for me to lift because when you are gone for weeks at a time playing tournaments you are out playing in the heat for atleast 2 hours at a time. If you don’t do anything except tennis during that time you are going to lose muscle and take away from all of the lifting and workouts that you have done for weeks leading up to the tournaments.

Anyways, I am pretty excited for the next tournament. I am still waiting to try and break through in singles, as it is clear that I have had more success in doubles. It is really tough out here playing these tournaments for weeks at a time. I will not play my match for a few days from now. I will try and use these next few days the best I can to get me ready and focus on this coming week. That is all for now.

CP