Thursday, September 17, 2026

12:38 p.m. CST

We landed in Kansas two days ago! We came from Vietnam after playing D-Joy, it was 30 hours of travel, it was insane! We did Vietnam to Korea, Korea to Chicago, and then here. We made sure that we got in a little bit earlier because the jet lag has been pretty brutal. I've been going to bed at like 7 p.m. and waking up at 3 a.m. Today I slept a little bit longer, to 6 a.m. but not that big of a deal because I usually don't play singles.

I had a back injury two years ago, and since then I stopped playing singles. Honestly, especially this week, I don't really care that much! I generally don't care that much, but it's a good extra day of rest. So I'm on camera duty! I travel with Brandon and Kat and Domi. We've been together for the past eight weeks of this craziness of touring, and I'm on camera duty and mom duty. That's what they call me! So anything that they need, I'm around for. I'll take pictures of them, and then when my mixed partner gets done playing, he's in the backdraw, I'm playing with Drake this week, I'll get some practice in. Then I'll pick up Brandon and go get some dinner.

We did a year of travel in a van, Brandon and I, when we started playing pickleball. That's how we drove through Kansas, aside from that this is my first time here, the weather is nice! The venue is pretty cool, AdventHealth Sports Park at Bluhawk, I'll definitely be playing some arcade games or something later today!

This week I need to try and stay mentally locked in. I'm playing with Amber, who is a first-time partnership for me this tournament. Drake is a second-time partnership. I feel like we've been on the road for so long that you kind of start feeling a little bit burnt out. So I just want to make sure that I'm giving my partners 100% even though I've been on the road for a lot longer than they have.

I feel like sometimes when we're traveling so much, first of all, it's really nice to be with a group because if it was just me and Brandon, we would probably be going crazy. But traveling with Domi and Kat, especially for me, makes a big difference because we're really good friends, and I feel like when we are all just tired, we like to go to do random things. Kat is into escape rooms, so we do that sometimes. Yesterday, we were driving to get coffee, and we saw this place that said, "coffee and ceramics." And we're like, "Oh, this looks interesting!" So we went in there, and it was like a place where they made the pottery, and you get to pick whatever you want and then paint it, and it was actually pretty cute. We realized who's artsy and who's not in the group. I'm not gonna say any names, but I'll post my pictures! It was fun. It's just really good for all of us to get our minds off and do something that's not pickleball-related at all. And painting was actually like pretty calming and nice. I think it's something that I might take on and do another time.

So just staying locked in and and giving my best for the last push of this long travel is my goal for the week.