National Championships all over...PVAC players bring home 10 medals

PVAC players and Coach

PVAC players in order of age...Heather Mahoney, James D'Ambrogia, Ben Jenkel, Dima Wert, and Sawyer Lloyd take home a total of 10 medals from the Junior National Racquetball Championships in Des Moines, Iowa...

The Medal Count - 

Sawyer - 18 and under doubles champion and on Team USA representing US at World championships in Bolivia

Dima - 4th 16 and under Doubles...4th 18 and under Blue division

Ben - 2nd 16 and under Red division

James - 1st 10 and under Blue division, 2nd 10 and under Doubles, 1st 10 and under Mixed Doubles

Heather - 1st 8 and under singles, 1st 10 and under Doubles, 1st 10 and under Mixed Doubles with James

Heather was the big winner with 3 Gold medals and National Championships! Sawyer, Heather and James were named to the All American team. In perspective, PVAC took more medals than the state of Colorado, actually many other states for that matter..

The All American team are players in the Gold Division who have made the semis in singles and finals in doubles...They were honored at the Saturday night banquet...Also at the banquet, Iowa announced that they are donating $3,000 to Team USA to assist in expenses to Bolivia, which are expected to be around $73,000...Also it was announced that the next Junior Nationals will be held in Denver, CO next year...That is only a day and a half on a train...BTW

It was a fun event and great experience for the kids...New friends were made and good life experiences were had...I aged a few years, but that is OK...I experienced a 43 hour train ride and saw some sights that I had not seen before and who knows if I will again...

Congratulations to all of the kids for representing Petaluma Valley Athletic Club

National Champions from Petaluma?

Heather and James...10 and under Mixed doubles National Champions

Petaluma has a few National Championship medals at the Junior National Racquetball Championships...The final day is tomorrow, but many divisions have been completed...

To qualify for Team USA, you must be in the top two singles players or the top doubles team...

Sawyer Lloyd has qualified for Team USA in the 12 and unders, 14 and unders, 16 and unders...and drum roll...He and partner Adam Manilla today won the 18 and under doubles championship! They will be part of Team USA in Bolivia later this year..

The younger players from PVAC also represented...

Heather Mahoney -

Gold Medal for Girls 8 and under
Gold Medal for Girls 10 and under doubles
Gold Medal for Mixed 10 and under with PVAC partner James D'Ambrogia

James D'Ambrogia -

Gold Medal in the Boys 10 and under Blue Division
Silver Medal in Boys 10 and under doubles
Gold Medal in Mixed 10 and under with PVAC partner Heather Mahoney

Not bad for our little 3 court club in Petaluma!!!!!

Tomorrow -

Ben Jenkel will be playing for the championship of the 16 and under Red Division

Dima Wert will be playing for third place in the 18 and under Blue division


(Divisions - Everyone starts in Gold...If you lose in round 1, you go to Red...If you lose in Red you go to White...If in Gold, you win round one, and lose in the second round, you go to the Blue Division...Clear as mud?)

Last minute coaching for James

Team PVAC represents!!!

Day 3 of Junior Nationals....

Great Deal...Two pieces of chocolate covered bacon for $3

Another day of a lot of play.....

The picture to the right is the restaurant next to the hotel we were staying (well, at least where Dima and I were)...It is called Daytonas Bar and Grill with the whole car racing theme... Have not been there yet, but very tempted to do the special - Chocolate covered bacon - Two strips for $3!!


Well...How our day went....All five of the PVAC players are still in the tournament with Heather, James and Sawyer still in the running for Team USA (Top two singles and number one doubles)..

How we did...

Heather - Won her singles and is now 3-0 in the round robin with 2 more matches to go...Her and Julia had a tough, but entertaining match with older girls in doubles...They almost took it to a tie breaker, but lost...In Mixed doubles, her and James made it very "interesting". They lost game one as the way of playing Mixed doubles took a little getting used to.. There is some moving of players as the girls can serve to anybody and boys have to serve to boys. They lost game one and with some strategy changes in place, took game two...The tie breaker went a little back and forth, but Heather and James finally settled in and won 11-9...Very stressful...With a win tomorrow they will be National Champions...

James - James started the morning with the right energy and attitude. He played fellow Norther Californian and doubles partner, Vedant, in the semi-finals of the 10 and under Blue division...Both of them were flying around the court...James was a little more consistent with his serves and shots and won in two games..He will play in the final of the Blue division Saturday..In Doubles  he and his partner, Vedant, won their semi final match pretty easily and will play for the championship Saturday...As far as Mixed Doubles...see Heather

Ben - Ben had a battle in the quarter finals of the 16 and under Red Division...He got it all together to win 11-0 in the tie breaker, He will play in the semi final Saturday...In the 14 and under Blue Division he had a tough loss..

Dima - Dima had singles matches in the 16 and 18 and under Blue divisions...He won the 18 and under match and had a tough loss in the 16 and under...He will play in the Blue semi final Saturday....In Doubles, he and partner, Luis Avila, played a very tough match, going to a tie breaker. The other team pulled out the win...On Saturday, Dima and Luis will play for third place..

Sawyer - Sawyer had another upsetting day in Singles. ...He lost to Troy Warigon of Maryland...On the Doubles side there was a better time as he and his partner won their semi final match. They will compete in the finals Saturday...A win puts them on Team USA and a trip to the Worlds!!

Heather and James prepare for their big match with Hadley

Heather and James after tie breaker win

Heather and Julia serving it up

Heather and Julia playing the older girls

Gas prices in Des Moines

End of day hangout - Tiki Bar at the Ramada

Thursday play at Junior Nationals...

Heather Mahoney - Warming up

Thursday was a busy day for PVAC juniors at the Junior Nationals...First matches began at 9AM and the last ones were on at 8PM...Here is a little recap...

Heather - Heather played two singles matches in the girls combined 8 and under/10 and under division(She is in the 8 and under). She won both matches with the second one going to a tie breaker and her winning by an extremely slim 11-10. On Friday she will have a full day with Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles with a chance of National Championship in all three!

James - James played singles and doubles today. He and his partner, Vedant, easily won their doubles match. Unfortunately in singles he did not have the same result. He played Akul from New York who was in "The Zone" from the moment they started. It was a tough loss, but James held his head high and took it very well...He will move to the Blue division Thursday.

Ben - In 14 and under singles, Ben played against the #3 seed Wayne Antone. He played tough, but lost the match. He will play in the Blue division Friday. On Friday he will also compete in the 16 and under Red division. .He and doubles partner, Dane Elkins, lost their doubles match and are done for the tournament.

Dima - Dima had tough singles matches in both the 16 and 18 and under divisions. In the 16's it was a tough match against the #3 seed..He fought hard, but lost in the end...In the 18's he had to play against #2 seed Nick Riffel. Dima had his moments, but lost this match as well. He will compete in Blue divisions of both. He and partner, Luis Avila, had an easy Doubles match and move on to the semis Friday...

Sawyer serving

Sawyer - Sawyer and doubles partner, Adam Manilla, won their match and move on Friday...In Singles, Sawyer had a veyu tough match with Mitchell Hardin. Mitchell won game one and in game two, Sawyer was making a come back, but ended up being a little too late and he lost the match. A very tough loss as Sawyer was hoping to be facing his partner, Adam, in the singles final.. He will now compete in the Blue division.

Play continues through Sunday... I will keep this updated....  

Wednesday happenings...

Downtown Des Moines with James D'Ambrogia

Play began today in Des Moines, IA at the Junior National Racquetball Championships...

HOW PVAC players did...

Heather Mahoney - Heather played a girls doubles match today. Her and partner Julia Stein are in the 10 and under division, which has been combined with the 12 and under division. On Wednesday, they played a team that is in the 12 and under group. It was a tough match, but they were overpowered..This division is Round Robin, so they will have a few more chances...On Thursday, she plays singles , then more doubles and singles Friday and the start of play in 10 and under Mixed Doubles with PVAC partner, James D'Ambrogia..

James D'Ambrogia -James  is the 3rd seed in the Boys 10 and under...He played his first singles match today, winning easily...On Thursday he will play singles and doubles. A win in either will put him in the semi-finals..He and Heather finished second last year in 10 and under Mixed and hope to go for Gold starting Friday night.

Ben Jenkel - Ben had a long day with two singles matches and a doubles match... He started with singles in the 14 and under division..It was a very close match, but Ben avoided going to tie breaker by winning game two 15-14...In the 16 and under division he lost in a tough match and will head to the Red division...He and partner, Dane Elkins, won soundly in 14 and under doubles, putting them in the Quarter Finals..

Dima Wert - Dima is playing in the 16 and 18 and under singles events and also in the 16 and under doubles. ..He played singles matches today..He is playing up, in the 18 and under division mostly for experience and to get some additional play in...That said, he decided to go ahead and win his first 18 and under match..He will get to play #2 seed, Nick Riffel, on Thursday. In his 16 and under singles, he won pretty easily and gets to play the #3 seed on Thursday...He and doubles partner, Luis Avila, play their first doubles Thursday...

Sawyer Lloyd - Sawyer was able to rest today as he has Bi's in the first round of doubles and singles for the 18 and under division.. He and partner, Adam Manilla, are the number 1 seed in doubles and Sawyer is the number 6 seed in singles  


Go Team PVAC

Waking up in Omaha

The title of this says 'Waking up in Omaha'... That should be 'Woken up in Omaha'....

I would say the number one challenge of the train is sleep,  especially if you do not have a sleeper car.. which I do not. To maximize my attempt at sleep I brought earplugs and for lack of a better word.. a blindfold... Put these on last night and sat semi reclined to sleep.  I dosed off and upon waking checked the time expecting it to be 5 or 6 am after a long sleep.. Well it was 11:30 after 30 minutes of nap... During that nap the person next to me found a couple empty seats so I now had two seats to utilize.. I took advantage and stretched out.. OK curled up in the fetal position...  and with blindfold and earplugs in place I laid my head down on the hard arm of the seat (which by the way amplifies all the sounds of the train!)

This did the trick and I slept for a few hours... I could have used a few more,  but there was a tap on my shoulder.. My first response was to fumble to take the blindfold off.. I was then staring into a flashlight and someone holding a wallet.. I still have the earplugs in.... The wallet looked just like mine so figured it must have fell out during that 'sound' sleep.. Then I wondered why my wallet had a Silver badge on it.. This was a good time to remove the earplugs... The wallet was not mine.  Seems it belonged a very large plain clothes police officer.. I am now thinking with a drug specialty.. He and his fellow officers quizzed me pretty extensively as the blindfold, earplugs,  and fetal position must have been a red flag of a drug smuggler.. I waited for the cavity search,  but no luck..

Turns out I was not the guy they were looking for and they moved on.. So that is why I was woken this morning...

As we ride through Nebraska there are non stop fields of corn.  When people said there would be a lot of corn here they were not kidding.. Also.. Lots of football fields

Play starts today with Heather,  Ben,  and Dima playing at 1:00.. Will do some updating tonight..

Colorado mountains

Glenwood Springs was amazing.. Then onward through the Colorado mountains..

At Glenwood Springs there is the combination of the river,  red rock mountains,  and Green plants.. Looks like a popular spot for river rafting etc..

Mountains are incredible and I understand why they are called the Rockies........