Carrie Chandler European Tour Diary

2005 World Team member Carrie Chandler (Scotia, N.Y./NYAC/Jason Morris Judo Center/52kg) is back on the road with a diary from the European Tour for www.usjudo.org.  This past weekend Chandler won a bronze medal at the Level B Belgian Ladies Open.  She and her U.S. teammates are gearing up for the Paris Open, Feb. 11-12 with a camp in Belgium…

February 6, 2006

Greetings from Belgium! 

We are in Spa, Belgium right now at their National Sports Centre.  The Men and Women's tournaments were held in two different cities (about 2 hours apart) over the weekend but now we are all together in Spa doing a joint training camp.  The training centre is definitely a step up from the place we were staying at in Hydrion which resembled a YMCA type place and we roomed in little huts (I think they are technically referred to as chalets)!  There were 5 people per chalet so it was pretty hectic. 

We worried a bit at the tournament because we weren't able to check our weight on the official scales until the official weigh in started...This was a little stressful because although some of the team brought their own personal scales we had nothing to compare it to.  No one had any trouble however and we were all just extra careful.  It was a personal best for myself as I was 6-1 winning the bronze.  I am especially proud of my performance because the morning of the tournament I woke up with awful stomach pains.  I couldn't even warm up because I felt so bad but "nurse Katie" force fed me pepto bismal and I managed to string together a really successful day! 

Ronda was awesome going 7-0 to win gold.  She was the talk of the tournament and everyone crowded around her mat for the 63kg final. 

Val put in a gutsy performance fighting with an injured back.  She would tough it out through her matches and then come off to the side where we would be waiting to bundle her up in a winter coat to help her keep warm and try to rub her back as best we could to help her function.  She wound up barely losing the bronze medal match finishing 5th.

The camp started today and our team looked sharp.  The morning practice was from 10-12 and it consisted of 4 x newaza and 6 tachiwaza and the afternoon was from 4-6 and it was 2 x newaza 8x tachiwaza.  It is a good sized camp and there are a lot of players gearing up for the Super A next week in Paris. 

Nothing more to tell really except the food here is great!  Meals are set at a certain time and we have a kitchen full of chefs and wait staff preparing and serving our meals to us.  We eat our meals and then there is a "dessert room" upstairs in the rec hall where they usually have coffee and pie waiting for the athletes who wish to indulge.  This room is sort of the hangout room and their is a big TV, foosball and pool tables.

Training is bright and early tomorrow so I need to get some sleep!!

Carrie

Greetings from Belgium!