Sour-kraut! We lost to Germany 2-1. Natalie played great as usual and posted our only win. Claire fought a tough one but ultimately lost in 4 games. I think Helga showed up to play, NOT me. It was not a pretty squash game for me and I was entirely unfocused for the short duration of my match, going down quickly in 3 games. My opponent hit great length and I couldnt get out of my own way. It was one of those days. I was playing their #4, too. Phooey!

Natalie, with her fabulous SA accent and that piercing look, commented on my match with the universal language (language I understand and use often) and said I was benched indefintely. I told her the first place I thought I would go is the airplane..for about 13 hrs of benching. We all had a tremendous laugh. She remarked that while my basic game didn't seem to be present the real problem was that I didn't find one thing to focus on while on court. I managed to stew in my own pot. My summary not hers. It's really good advice to be sure to use one thing that works when all else seems to have disappeared. I am usually pretty good at that but today all of me got sucked down the drain. And really fast. And while I am sorry I couldn't catch hold of something, perhaps turning the tides for USA, I know that we all have no-show days. Part of being a great athlete is making good use of those experiences and memories. That said, I remain awfully proud to wear red, white and blue and be connected to this fabulous network of squash addicts and resources.

So much for adding sour-kraut to the victory dinner. Perhaps a buffet of gluten free Italian and Chinese...