Hello all!

Yesterday I traveled through the night on a flight to Frankfurt Germany.  I was picked up at the airport by my friend Alex who is the captain of the team I will be playing on based out of Wiesbaden Germany,  Wiesbaden is a beautiful city about 20 minutes west of Frankfurt.  I was a little tired because I didn't sleep at all on the plane but was excited to be here.  Alex drove me to a bakery for breakfast and it was great catching up with him. 

The main goal on the first day when you travel to Europe to compete is to try to stay up all day and get acclimated to the time change.  The other goal is to practice for about an hour and a half and make sure your legs arrived from the trip as well.
After breakfast, Alex drove me to my hotel and I got unpacked.  Since I didn't sleep at all on the plane and was starting to get delusional, I decided to take a 1 hour cat nap thinking that might help a little.  After I got up, I took a 1 hour walk through a beautiful park that's near the tennis club.  Temperature was about 72 degrees so it was perfect.  We had a practice scheduled for 3:00 so the walk woke me up and I felt good and ready to hit some balls on the "red" clay that I  love so much!

We arrived at the club and met up with some of the other guys and went through an hour and a half practice.  To my surprise, I actually felt pretty good and moved pretty well.  My team mates were great and seemed so appreciative that I was there to play in the match Monday.  It's the biggest match of the year for them against their biggest rivals. 

One of the great things about playing on clay is that the courts can take a lot of rain and still be playable.  I have played many matches over the years in a light rain and the courts have been fine.  After a large rainstorm, the courts can be ready for action much quicker than a hard court because the water just soaks in.  After spending over 7 hours drying hard courts over the past 2 weeks I often think of how nice it would be for Hallbrook to have a few clay courts!  The ball also bounces higher on clay courts allowing for longer points.  It also teaches patience and how to set up points with a little more creativity.   Another benefit is that it's much easier on the legs and joints because you slide into your shots. 

After practice I walked back to the hotel and took a quick shower before dinner.  Alex and his wife took me to a very old and traditional German restaurant for dinner.  This place was very famous for making their own Apple wine.   The food was great and I tried a few things that looked a little sketchy but tasted great! I also had some "Hefeweizen" beer which is one of my favorite things to partake in when I'm over here.

At home, I am a really healthy eater.  We do a lot of organic and farm fresh food at the Clark house so it's always dangerous when I'm playing abroad trying to find the right foods to eat so by body stays healthy enough to compete.  The good thing in Germany is that you can easily get fresh vegetables, fruit and farm fresh meats at the local markets.  They are big into organic food as well.  I also always bring my portable blender with all of my protein powders and superfoods!  Don't know what I would do without that!  In Germany right now it is the season for "Spargel" which is white asparagus and strawberries.  Awesome!

Hoping for a fantastic long night of sleep to catch up.  Hope all is well back in KC!  Talk to you tomorrow.


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