AAawwwwww

Going home from the years last tournament in Tenerife, I passed these little cuties dressing up as yummy little cakemen singing and marching for christmas :D cute little things...looking for the AAaaawww" effect here.

Merry Christmas and  Happy new year everyone...Feliz Navidad, Go Jul å Hæppi Skvett å alt d der. Snakkis på Nyåret ;)

XIII Canary Islands Open 2011 Santa Cruz, Tenerife, Spain

Day 0:
After 90 euros in Taxi bills because Island people can not speak English I arrive at my luxury appartment on the south side of Tenerife. Here I get my tan on by the pool, relax, sleep eat well and prepare for the tournament that starts tomorrow. I am 4th seed in the qualifying and I am playing a local player in my first match in qualifying. Preperation has not been 100% as I had some training arrangements that cancelled on me and I did not get a practice court when I arrived. But maybe a few extra days off will do me some good. Time will show. This will also be my first tournament with my new rackets Dunlop Biomimetic ultimate.

Day 1: After waiting 2 hours for a bus that does not arrive, I finally cross the island from south to north. In Santa Cruz another 30 minutes pass, and after some confusion as I do not speak a word Spanish, I take a chance and jump off the bus and locate the squash/swimming hall from google maps. I have a little hit and get a feel for the courts before I have 2 lunches of the local cuisine. Will begin my warm up in about 60 minutes, to take on the locals ;) I stay at the players hotel in Santa Cruz until my departure on the 20th of December.

Day 2:

Relaxing in the hotel after a nice breakfast on the top floor of our hotel with a terrific view. The player hotel is really nice and straight in the middle of centrum about 15 min. walk from the squash centre.

I won my match yesterday 3-0, playing the hardest hitter in Spain. It was not too big of a challenge and a good test in my first match. I could not ease through, as I had to step it up and move the ball well around the court to get my points. My length did not work too well, but I still kept it to the back and waited for the attack. With 2 personal errors in 3 games, I was pleased with this. I was 2-7 down in the last game before I stepped it up and took it 11-9. This was all about concentration, and I know now what to do in todays match against James Simpson from England. I do not know him or how he play but I know myself, and I will try my best to impose my game on him. This is this years most important match for me, so I am really looking forward to performing well in this one. Wish me luck ;)

Day 4:

Returning to the hotelroom after being on the beach and moping a whole day :P

Disappointed in losing my qualifying finals 1-3 yesterday. In a way its all fair, since I played close to my level, and I see improvement in a lot of things, but my game is not there at the moment. My opponent played well, and hit his targets so I cant take nothing away from him. The disappointment lies in not making the main draw for the ranking points that I really need, but I can not do anything but train now and return better next year. Now: punishment training and enjoying Tenerife. Then: Holiday in Norway which means training camp in my mums gym ;)

For more information comments and photos, see :http://www.squashsite.co.uk/2009/canaryislands2011.htm

New Sponsors!!

After a little period without sponsor, I now got offered a good deal with Wenaas sport, Dunlop sport and ASICS shoes. Wenaas sport is one of the biggest Norwegian suppliers of sportsgear and also sponsor some of the top athletes from Norway.
Dunlop speaks for itself as maybe the biggest squashbrand in the world, and are known for good quality rackets and gear.
I have been working with ASICS for months now in Netherlands developing their 2012/2013 model squash shoe. They along with ASICS Norway have agreed to supply me with top range shoes, and I am very glad for this as they have really marked themselves as leading in world squash. The shoes are very stable, with great grip, endurance and good cushioning.
To check out the gear more, see the Right hand menu.

League Dronten vs Den Haag

This wednesday I had to play league for Flevoparq Dronten as they had home advantage and took on Den Haag. Flevoparq has had a strike of bad luck since the beginning of the season and needed every point in every game of every match to have hope on keeping their spot in the top division in Holland. This round was no exeption as their streak of bad luck continued with our number one Mark Kraijcak having to stand this round out as his car broke down in Luxemburg. Because of this we rented in local hitman Niels Hoevenaars, and myself was moved up to the number 2 spot. Niels pulled off a magical performance saving gameballs and matchballs on one leg in what seemed to be bread and butter for Niels. he won 3-2 at last, and after Sebastian Weenink of Den Haag won 3-0 over Flevoparqs Glenn Keenan it was up to me in the last match against Neeraj Aggarwal.
I lost the first game, as I felt tense and not relaxed at all as Neeraj played much better length than me. He was patient, kept it tight and did not do too much wrong. As the match progressed, I relaxed a bit more, hit a bit better, and found some more juice in the tank to win the next 3 games, even though they were very close. My opponent did not move that well into the front in the last games and I took full advantage of this, even though I felt I did not play well this match at all. Loose or short lengths and TO!MANY!FKKIN!!BOASTS!! This as well as I am changing rackets 2 times a day at the moment makes me a fun opponent to play as half of the time I do not know where the ball is going myself.
But on a day like this it is the result that matters and not necessarily the way I played. The atmosphere was great and Thony and his crew is doing a great job at Flevoparq Dronten. It was enjoyable to play and in front of a lively crowd who seemed to enjoy the matches.

For TV and newspaper coverage see:
http://www.omroepflevoland.nl/Sport/85969/flevoparq-squash-boekt-tweede-winst

PSA McWil - Vitarade Gdansk Open 2011

My next tournament is in Gdansk in Poland and lasts from Thursday 27th of November until Saturday the 29th of November. I am in the main draw where I am facing a well known training compatriot Bart Ravelli. He is the fourth seed in this tournament and is ranked no132 in the world at the moment.
I have never beaten Bart in a tournament before, and since we are training partners we kow each others games quite well. His most dangerous aspect is his ability to come back no matter how many points you are ahead. he is a very lethal and physically strong player not to be taken as an easy task. However, I know he has been struggling with a hamstring tear over the last period, but I must not let this make me drop my shoulders.

Concerning myself I am now back in training after a pause after the World Open. I will be ready for the tournament in Gdansk, even though the matchform is not 100% at the moment. Along with myself and Bart Ravelli, also Sebastian Weenink will be travelling from the Netherlands with us. He is also a good training partner with me here in the Netherlands, and it is always good for the atmosphere travelling with good friends.

It is important for me at the moment to improve my ranking as I have dropped from 173 to 233!!!!! during the last months. This due to lack of funds which leads to lack of tournaments, money and points. A big reason is also that my world ranking points from my first national win came off as well as good performances in smaller PSA tournament, this time last year.