Today marks day four of the programme--I'm sorry I've not thrown as quick an update as I know some of you have been hoping for. I can just about hear the voices popping up: "What's the training like?" "How are the coaches?" "What do you do for physical training?" "And the coach student ratio?" "The academy's facilities?" The voices and the questions just keep going on and on, and trust me, they're like a bad cloud looming at the back of my head each time I have time to sit down and... rest.

Truth be told, I'm just so knackered after training, I hardly have time enough to sleep, much less blog. Time to do the bare essentials is also sparse, and I'm just so tired (or rather, paranoid about optimizing recovery) that I don't think or do anything that's not an essential. Read: Eat well and slowly, see to laundry and water, and writing notes notes notes about what I learnt for the day. Even my formerly-freakish obsession with checking my inbox has been pushed into the margins of low-priority. It's a real change of pace, but I'm enjoying it, no doubt.

In many ways, I finally have the time to concentrate on my game. And it feels wonderfully liberating. I am amazed—despite the aches and pains—to see how fast my body is responding to the training—in the most minute ways. My cross-courts and down the lines are getting more consistent. Thanks to the coaches, I've found myself effortlessly hitting the ball much harder, much faster. I get surprised hearing the clear "phark!" sound off my strings now. And only three days, at that! So much, and yet still so much to learn.

One thing for sure, is that I've managed to move up the groups some, so far. In the first few days, I was asked to hit with the 10-12 year olds. Very humbling :P…  ! But I just kept at it--so what if they're 10-12? Some of them hit the ball really hard and cleanly, and I could still learn things from them (by observing), and more importantly with the coach overseeing us. So I gave the drills my all, and kept on asking questions. I moved up to train with the 14-16 year olds about two days ago, and in the past two afternoon sessions, moved up again to hit with the older 15-17 year old boys who are with the Academy for at least a year. I notice more kids here go through the motions, than critically think and dissect their game. I'm not sure if it's an age/maturity thing, but then again, there are the few rare gems who do have a lot of talent and grit.

Today over dinner, I was most surprised when Kapi--the head fitness director came up to me and said "Tomorrow after tennis training, you come and do fitness with me and my girls." Me being a blur sotong, wasn't quite sure what exactly he meant by "his girls". I found out later from Kiko that they're the WTA girls. In one of the first days after practice, I stayed behind in the gym to see him train Marina—a WTA girl who’s currently ranked 50-60 in the world (I think). It was incredible seeing the type of stretches he made her do—and how he followed it up with a series of dynamic explosive exercises with weights, bands, etc—systematically stretching and strengthening different muscle groups. This stout, pony-tailed man has an incredibly creative, focussed, athlete-centric mind. While I sat on a fitness ball and felt shy watching them train, he attended Marina as any true professional trainer would—attentively and with great care and detail. “Nope, don’t bend your back, keep it straight, push your hips down.” “Push your foot slightly back, yes keep it in position as you reach for your shin.” Some of the stretches he made her do would’ve been impossible alone—and I’m certainly not doing him justice merely describing this man in action. Such an eye-opener.

Tomorrow's actually a half-day for the Academy--it's a Catalan holiday so there's only to be 2 hours of tennis and 1 hour of fitness, instead of the usual 6. But with Kapi, we're going to the beach after tennis, to run on the sand and climb steps. Let's see how it goes. Exciting lah 

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Rhema for the day: "For by You I can run against a troop, By my God I can leap over a wall." -- Psalms 18:29