Day 12 - The last evening 🌎🌙

Today it starts at 6:50 am ⏰.

I wake up feeling extremely happy and positive today because I am really looking forward to enjoying the last day here to the fullest 😍.

And in case anyone is wondering whether I am not sad to leave tomorrow, I can honestly answer that question with no 🤗.

However, I am not not sad because I didn't like it here, but because I know that I had an amazing time here 😇 and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would ☺️. Moreover, I was so attentive and fully present the whole time that the time I spent here feels much longer than 2 weeks ✔️😊.

And that makes me really happy because I was initially afraid that it would just fly by ☺️.

I would probably be sad to leave if I didn't know how much I learned here. And in the second week, as the basic program repeats, I realized that I have already improved a lot, but it just needs more time 😊.

Also, I have to say that I am really excited to go home again and I can feel physically that I am doing so much sports here.

There are people who stay here for 5 or 6 weeks 😳. I wouldn't physically be able to handle that with the effort and the heat 🙆🏼.

But of course, I also notice that when I do things here for the last time, I feel a certain sadness that it will be over tomorrow 💧😧.

But the gratitude and all the positive experiences outweigh that 😊.

So I wake up feeling totally happy and get ready. Breakfast is at 7:30. Normally with João. But he can't make it on time again 😂.

So I sit outside with my breakfast 😇🌞.

I have my mini rye roll with cream cheese from last night 🍞🧀, a hard-boiled egg 🍳, and a bowl of fruit salad 🍓🍌🍏 with oatmeal and cinnamon 😋.

After that, I sat in the sun for a short while 🌞 and then went upstairs to get my things 🎾.

We start at 9:00 am with the last physical conditioning on the hill 🏌💪🏽⛳️.

After warming up, we don't do the stations like last time, but play a game instead 😻.

The game is called Kick-Ball and is basically a type of baseball. We have dodgeball here. Kick-Ball is similar to dodgeball, but with additional rules and variations 😊.

After 45 minutes, we're done. Natasha and I then go to the courts 😇🎾.

Today, in our group, we have another modified warm-up training. Again, with a partner. Today, my partner is Polina 😸.

We start with balls within a service box because we share the courts with 4 people 😊. Then we move on to baseline shots and finish with volleys 🙃.

Next, we do a kind of recap of everything 🙂.

The coach first hits a ball for the forehand, then for the backhand, both played cross, then an approach shot for the forehand, played longline. After that, we do a forehand and a backhand volley, and finally an overhead 🎗.

If someone manages to hit all the balls to the right position in the court in one round, they don't have to pick up balls for that round 😊. Very tempting 😂.

I played 6 rounds.

I didn't have to pick up balls in 4 of those rounds 😋.

The others continued playing, but I was called by a coach who showed me the results of my video analysis ☺️.

I did the video analysis on Wednesday morning, but I didn't mention it because I didn't have the results yet 🙂.

The coach tossed me two balls for the forehand and two balls for the backhand. Then I got to serve two more times.

The whole thing was recorded on video 📱.

Today, when he talked to me, he recorded the conversation and showed me specific parts of the video.

So I have the chance to listen to the conversation with the corresponding parts of the video at home. In addition, he could make markings in the video while it was playing, which were meant to highlight improved leg positioning, for example.

He praised my forehand a lot, but I should pay a little more attention to the arm movement. My hips and legs are slightly in the wrong position after hitting the backhand. He said that adjusting the relationship between the elbow and the wrist would give the serve more power.

After watching the video, he showed me the things he noticed again in practice.

I have to say, this kind of feedback is really helpful because often you don't realize if you're doing something right or wrong 😂😅.

Since today is Friday, we will meet again later with all the groups for the big skill challenge. So all the winners of the week from our group had to participate. They were Polina, Lauren, Jacob, and Juan. Their task was to hit a ball into the service box. The ball that bounces on the box the most times wins 🤓.

After repeating the challenge and having multiple tiebreakers, Juan from Mexico 🇲🇽 wins.

Before meeting up with the others, we play a game among ourselves.

The game is called Dingles.

A combination of doubles and sINGLES 😂.

Each player has a partner. In each game, two teams play against each other cross-court. When a ball goes out, you call 'Dingles'. Then the game continues as doubles. You can move freely on the court, and the doubles court is used. You can only score a point if you win the singles game and then win the doubles game. The game continues in an up-and-down mode ☺️🔝.

At 11:30, we go over to the other groups, who gather on Court 11 😇.

We start again with a big round of 'Ring-Ring'. Julia and I are doing really well in the game this time and end up on the second-to-last court before the top court 😊👑.

After that, it's time for the big skill challenge. Like last time, the challenge is to win a mini-week, 3 days, here at IMG in September or October 🙃.

Today's challenge: serving.

In the service box, there are cones. Hitting a cone earns 2 points, hitting the service box without hitting a cone earns 1 point. Hitting the net or going out of bounds results in the deduction of 1 point and hitting a cone results in 0 points.

And Juan actually wins with 5 points 👏🏽😊. So he will be coming back soon 😼.

You can watch the video on Instagram under @IMGaTennis 😋🎾.

After picking up the balls, it's time for lunch 🍴.

Today, we squeezed 11 people at one table and ate together. Well, when I say ate 😂 we were more focused on not getting our arms in someone else's food and getting the fork to our mouth without being bumped into 😂. But it was definitely worth it because it was fun. It was funny to see Polina hitting Jay, who is lying on the bench on the right as the second from the top, because he was spreading out so much 😂.

This is what my meal looked like at the beginning. Later, my poor tray had to be taken away because we kept adding more people and no one had enough space 😂.

After a relatively quick meal, because it was really uncomfortable there, João, his friend Enzo, and I went to Smoothie King, probably for the last time, since João won't be here all day tomorrow as he is going to Universal Studios at 8:00 am 🎡🚌🎢 ( https://www.universalorlando.com/Theme-Parks/Universal-Studios-Florida.aspx ).

But we will have breakfast together tomorrow 😊☕️.

At 2:00 pm, it's time for mental coaching again. With Coach Pat ☺️. Before it starts, I have the chance to have an inspiring conversation with him 😸.

We're discussing the same topic as last time, but it's still very interesting because it's a very broad topic and he has told completely different stories this time 😊.

At the end, the G-Award, the award from Gatorade for a successful week, is presented to a girl and a boy. The winners can also be seen on Instagram 😺.

As a final surprise 💫, we were able to meet Sofya Zhuk from Russia, the winner of the Wimbledon Girls' Championship in 2015, and ask her questions 😍. She also told us a bit about herself and took photos with us afterwards.

She started playing tennis at the age of 5 and now lives here in the USA. I think she was a full-time student at the academy for 10 months and one year 😊. When she's here, she often trains with one of the coaches 😼.

Then it's time for match play 🎾. Normally, it's Doubles Friday, but since we couldn't play much due to weather safety 🚨, Artem gives us the chance to play singles or doubles 😊. I choose to play singles 😼.

I'm playing against Jacob from Panama. And the first, and also the only set due to time constraints 😂, is incredibly exciting 🙀. I think I took a 1-0 lead. Then he equalizes to 1-1 and takes a 2-1 lead. I catch up to 2-2 before he leads 4-2 and I catch up again to 4-4 💪🏽😊. Then it gets really nerve-wracking. Jacob takes a 5-4 lead, but I equalize again to 5-5 😇. We continue. With Jacob leading 6-5. But I don't give up easily and equalize again to 6-6 😂. So we have a tiebreak. I don't remember exactly how the points went in the tiebreak. I just know that it was 6-6 at some point 😂. A tiebreak goes up to 7, so it's extended until someone wins with a one-point advantage.

In the end, Jacob wins with 9-7 😅. But that's how it goes. On the road to success, there are always failures. And as they say, 'Only those who never try, never fail. Nor do they ever achieve anything great...'

By the way, Coach Pat gave me this quote to take with me ☺️.

It also fits nicely with a quote from Rafael Nadal:

'As a tennis player you can win and you can lose, and you have to be ready for both. I practiced self-control as a kid. But as you get older, they both - winning and losing - get easier.'

As a conclusion to the matches, everyone who was here for the past week received an envelope with applause ☺️💫...

With a certificate of successful participation 😍💪🏽.

After a nice shower 🚿, João, Enzo, and I went to dinner. Unfortunately, I didn't have my phone with me to take a picture of the 'menu', but I think there were pasta and brown rice with tomato sauce 🍝, black beans, fish burger 🐡, vegetables 🍆, meat 🍖, and mac'n'cheese 🧀. And of course, as always, salad from the salad bar.

I made myself a pasta salad with dry pasta and fresh salad. I also had some cooked vegetables and an orange 🍊😋.

João and Enzo then went to Best Buy. But for me, 1. it was too stressful because we went to dinner at a little past 6:00 and the bus was already leaving at 6:30 🚌. 2. I'm really tired and prefer to enjoy my last evening in a cozy way ☺️🌟.

Lastly, here are some photos of campus that I took today ☺️📸.

And not to forget, the quote of the day ☺️:

'Tennis doesn't owe me anything. Tennis is one of the fairest sports. It's given me so many extraordinary feelings.' - David Ferrer

That's actually my opinion, Mr. Ferrer 😊🎾....