ICTA Live Journal presents…

Hello there!  This is Scott Paschal, President of International Christian Tennis Association, letting you know that…

ICTA Pro Team Outreach is invading Lexington, Kentucky for Christ during an awesome $100,000 ITF Pro tournament!  We are hosting a pro player outreach and a tennis fan outreach.

Additionally,  ICTA Academy’s Anastasia Kharchenko is playing in the tournament’s qualifying draw and is keeping a daily journal for you to read!  ICTA’s Pro Team Co-Captain, formerly WTA ranked Melody Snelen, and myself will also contribute! (scroll down)

Many of you have asked about what we do during ICTA Pro Team outreaches.  Well, we want you to come along with us and see the awesome opportunity for ministry at pro tennis events.

You asked for it… and now you’ve got it!!

Will add pics and video, too, as time and internet access allows!

God bless,

Scott Paschal

Founder, International Christian Tennis Association

Basic tournament info…

What: $100,000 professional USTA tennis tournament with equal prize money for both men and women participants. This is one of only three tournaments in the world that holds this distinction.

What is the USTA Pro Circuit?

The USTA has 94 tournaments throughout the country and prize money ranging from $10,000 to $100,000, the USTA Pro Circuit is the pathway to the US Open and tour-level competition for aspiring tennis players and a frequent battleground for established professionals. On average, more than 1,100 men and women from 79 countries compete on the USTA Pro Circuit annually for more than $3 million in prize money and valuable ATP and WTA Tour ranking points.

Supplemental Events include: Junior Pro-Am presented by Lexington Tennis Club, Commerce Lexington Business Link, Wheelchair Clinic and Exhibition, Tops in Lex Pro-Am, and free Hispanic Youth Clinic.

When: July 21-27, 2008

Where: Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex – University of Kentucky – Lexington, KY

Daily ICTA Pro Tennis Team Live Journal Entries:

Day 9-10… Anastasia Kharchenko: July 25-26-

I almost cannot believe that it has been such a short time here in Lexington and so much has happened!!! Our mission trip has been AMAZING here.

Girls and guys from all over the world has been reached by our Pro Tennis Team.

And my tennis is sky rocketing. I hit with 8-9 different players from England, Korea, Czech, Brazil, Slovenia, Australia and USA. Wow! And their WTA rankings are: #202, #247, #390, #333, #250…

And some of those girls have been playing Grand Slam qualifiers! How exciting that is. I mean I’ve been watching them play here, studying their styles and their strategies, and then hit with them and practice.

I feel I can beat any of them now!!

Where can you find better opportunities to meet so many internationals? I’ve never hit with that many good players at one tournament before. Tennis brings everybody to one place, so good.

God has been doing so much in my life here and in other players’ lives too. We gave away Bibles, talked to players, coaches, tournament volunteers and audience. We swap with emails, Facebook… people we meet.

I had a great host home, transportation anywhere I needed to go, nice weather, practice with different players, my team, and my coach. I don’t think I have enough words to describe how great God is and how much He is blessing me.

Because I had my team here, my coach would study me play and other players and then teach me things that I had no clue about.

This tennis is much harder than any junior’s tournament.  And he help me to improve my game in tremendous ways because he is one of few coaches who really understands this level.

My coach usually spends much time with his guy players who are young helping them be men and strong players and bold Christian, and does not often able to travel often with me or our Pro Team, so I really appreciate every minute when he is with me on tour.

I had my teammate Melody here with me, too, and she will always make sure that I’ve everything I need or if that is time when me and Scott were on the court and we need something she will get it.

When by yourself you can’t really do as much as when you have your team with you. That’s also why I know that I’m blessed! Big time.

Right now I’m at the Lexington airport and our flight to St. Joseph has been delayed for 2 hours.  Our Pro Team is flying to Atlanta, the Missouri for our last city in our Pro Team Outreach Tour.  First was Atlanta, then Lexington, next St. Joseph.  This is a lot of traveling and much work.

Yesterday, I had my last practice in Lexington with the girl from Brazil. Her name is Maria-Fernanda Alves and she is ranked now 245, and has been ranked as high as 132!!! She played Wimbledon this year.  She is a lefty so I had a good practice set against her. I lost 6/4 and it was very close.

After workout, we were all so hungry so we went straight to our host home to clean up and went to do our routine with little picnic for dinner with great food from Kroger, our favorite grocery store. The weather has been so good the whole entire week and our picnic at Whole Foods was so nice.

Later that day we went to watch men’s quarterfinal match where Amer Delic was playing against Dudi Sela who is # 70 in ATP. The match was great. Dudi Sela won 2/6 7/6 7/5 and he was down 1/5 and 4/6 in tie-breaker and still fought back and won.

Lexington’s Challenger $100,000 men’s and women’s combined tournament is awesome. I had much fun and want to come back next year. This is last journal entry for me here. Thank you for reading and I have hope you can see how much God can do through all of us if we just let Him. God bless you.

Hugs n kisses, Anastasia.

Day 8… Anastasia Kharchenko: July 24 @ 11:47pm-

Another beautiful day! The weather was so good. Just a little bit of sun, mostly cloudy, and no wind at all. I hit today with Petra Rampre, WTA # 380, from Slovenia. I also had my footwork and have been studying some matches.

When I was playing today my practice set I felt like I really finding my game, my style of play. I am learning really who I am as player. That made me so happy and it also builds up the confidence that I was missing lately as I have been ill and had neck injury.

I’m so glad that I have my coach and my teammates here, especially the one like Scotty and Melody. This tournament have really taught me a lot, but a lot of those things I’ve learned because of my team being here, supporting me, and pointing out the things that I cannot see myself from my view. It is so important to have a team and accountability. So many girls traveling alone.

We left the courts sometimes around 3 o’clock and went to eat lunch. Me and Scott were starving! But after lunch we felt so much better;) Later we went back to the house all had our showers and a little nap time.

Sometimes around 5:30pm we have decided to go to T.J. Maxx which is a discount clothing store and just look around while Scott worked on emails at Panera.

So while Scott was working me and Mel were looking around stores. At 7:30pm we were ready for dinner and surely we followed our fun routine of driving to Kroger grocery store, and we had our picnic as we usually do.

I felt pretty sleepy afterwards, but still when we got home I had my strengthening workout for my arms. Right now I’m all ready to go to bed because tomorrow I will have two hittings and one them will be

with Petra and 2^nd one will be with girl from Brazil. Her name is Maria-Fernanda Alves. And she is #6 seed in Main Draw.

My list of hitting partners keeps growing;)

The more girls I get to know the more chances for me to become their friends and share my faith with them!:) Good night.

Hugs n kisses, Anastasia

Day 7… Anastasia Kharchenko: July 23 @ 10:05pm-

Today was such a beautiful day! We slept in because it was raining really hard. But by the 9 o’clock you couldn’t really see that it actually had been raining.

I went to do my footwork and other stuff that I usually have on my workout list. By the time I’ve finished we all were ready to go to have some lunch.

Melody had her practice at 1 o’clock and I had mine at 2. We got there just on time, and my main draw doubles match was scheduled for 3:30, so we had plenty of time to get ready and warm up. I think my doubles match had started little bit later than scheduled time but it still was very nice and beautiful weather! So sunny and little breeze. Me and Lee Ye-ra were playing against two really good players and our match was very close and fun to play. Even thought we lost, I still had a lot of fun.

After the match my coach, Scott, showed me some stuff that I really needed to hear and see to help me play better. I’m typically never was a doubles player but doubles are so good for singles or even just by itself! So today Scott pointed at my court positioning and it hasn’t been right for doubles at all but now I know what to do and I’m gonna work on it in my next matches!

During my match Melody met her old friend who does line judging and they haven’t seen each other in last 2 years! Scotty got to talk to her to and I really think that God had placed her there on purpose because she had some troubles in her life and didn’t know what to do. But after talking to Scott and Mel she looked very inspired and happy!!! That was a meeting God set up for her!!. That’s why He is God of all creations!!

After we finished at the courts,  we purchased our dinner at Kroger and enjoyed eating together at Whole Foods on the outdoor tables!  And then we went to walk around the new mall to check out some stores. But mostly me and Mel shopped, Scotty had a really good nap on the comfy mall couches;)  He doesn’t like shopping like we do.

And right now we are about to get ready for bed because me and Mel have our workouts set up at 11 o’clock tomorrow with great players. Good night! Hugs and kisses, Anastasia

Day 6… Anastasia Kharchenko: July 22 @ 11:50pm-

Hello! We have had a really fun day today;) I got up at 8:30 and did my footwork. After I finished had some stomach and back exercises done. I cleaned up and we went to have some breakfast. Around 11:30 I was at the courts because I had to sign in for doubles before 12. I hang around the courts, watched some matches, talked to some girls…just had fun with it.

As I’ve find out later I’m playing tomorrow in Main Draw!! My partner is from Korea. The girl that I hit with on Friday. Her name is Ye-ra Lee, WTA #202. We are playing tomorrow against two American girls: Lauren Albanes and Allen Will. Because I have been hitting for several days in the row I had my day off from hitting today resting my shoulder.

Sometime around 3 o’clock my coach, Scotty, picked me and Melody up from tournament and we went straight to our favorite grocery store, Kroger, and I had my sushi for lunch;) After we ate we went to see the movie-“Journey to the center of the Earth”. And it was very fun show. We were laughing a lot!

When we finished we went to the courts to watch some matches..I also needed my racquet to be restrung because the strong did so bad job, so I gave my racquet for stringing and I told the stringer how bad was the stringing job that he has done for me earlier before. He didn’t believe me at 1^st but then in little bit he finally admitted that he actually dropped 5 lbs from the tension that I ask him for. I was very upset and wonder why he didn’t tell everyone he would do that!!!

But as we finished with teaching stringer to stop changing tensions of strings, we went to watch matches. And Xavier Malisse was playing against Scoville Jenkins today! Me and Mel had the closest seats you can get! Right there almost on the court! That was so cool to see them play that close. Xavier won today in straight sets 7/5 6/1. During match, Mel went to talk to a top guy pro player who she knows, but I won’t mention his name, but maybe tomorrow she gives him a Bible!!!

After they finished we left because it was getting late and we didn’t have anything for dinner yet. And guess where did we go to for dinner? Kroger? That’s right! We had some turkey and salad tonight outside at tables on beautiful night. As we finished we talked about how beautiful the day was and the sky was gorgeous! It had different colors. Later we got back and right now we are about to go to bed. I am excited about doubles tomorrow. Good night, Anastasia

Day 5… Anastasia Kharchenko: July 21@ 10:02pm-

I felt I have slept like a rock last night I got up at 10 o’clock today, started moving a little bit and then had my breakfast. At 11am I went outside and started doing my footwork and some jumps on jump rope. After I’ve finished I cleaned up and sometimes around 1 o’clock I had my lunch.

At 2:30 we all went to the courts because I had a practice set up with Nikola Frankova, the girl from Czech Mel gave the Bible. I also had recognized that I had played her in quarterfinals of 16U European Championships in 2004!! We have picture from then and now new one!! At this tournament I got to hit with 6 different players already!

We had a really good practice and Scotty was coaching me and pointing out at things that I need to work on. It was really good and I am glad when he can come to tournaments which is not a lot as he spends most of his time with his junior guys developing them on and off court.

After we finished Scotty and me went to watch some men’s matches. Amer Delic (#145 ATP) was playing against a guy from Brazil. And also Brendon Evans ( #177 ATP) was playing Brian Koniecko, a wild card. So I got a chance to watch them and study their strategies and strokes motions. And Scotty was there to show me more stuff because he can see much more then I do.

I was also amazed at all the people Scotty knows here, the players and coaches. After that we went to clean up and around 6:30 we went to our grocery store with Melody and got some food. That has became like our little routine here.

As we finished we went to sporting goods store to look for some shoes but didn’t find any that would work for us. And after that

we just went back to the host home and getting ready to go to bed cause we are so tried and all days so fullJ God is AWESOME. Kisses n Hugs, Anastasia

Day 4… Anastasia Kharchenko: July 20@ 11pm-

Today I slept in because my match was later in the day. Sometimes around 9:30am I started moving around. Had my breakfast and in little bit we left. At noon I called to the tournament site and asked how’s the matches are doing on my court. At 1 o’clock we already were there.I started my warm up. Jogging and then stretching. After, I hit with Melody for about 15 minutes.

And around 2:30pm  I have started my match. I played Kristy Miller and she was playing today a very good game. I lost 6/3 6/2.  The match was very close and she played better than me today.

During my match Scott and Mel met a girl from Czech Republic and her name is Nikola Frankova about WTA #340. Scott really felt that God was telling him that she needs a Bible. So Melody got one for her. Usually people from her country getting very angry when they see the Bible but she took it. And was very grateful. That was really cool. She also talked with Melody for about 30 minutes!!!  So cool!!!

After my match, Scott have decided to work on my serve. As we were serving a girl from Australia came up to us and asked if I wanted to hit?  Her was Nancy Ferguson.  She is beginner pro level.  While were playing some guys were hitting on the next court to us.

One of them came up to Melody and started talking.  Then Scotty came up there as well and gave him a Bible. He introduced himself and his name was Dudi Sela.  He is from Israel and he ranked #70 in ATP ranking!

What a great opportunity to reach the guy that high ranked and he is Jewish!!!

God is great about timing and setting up things!:)

We were there for awhile and in little bit we had to start getting ready to leave because the club was about to be closed. As we left we went back to our host home. Had our showers and went to eat.  In the last couple of days we have been going to this grocery store called Kroger and they have some really good stuff.  Like fried chicken, sushi… So I had my sushi for dinner and it was so good!:)

After we ate we drove to the movie theatre to see if they had any tickets left for new Batman.And they did!!! YEAH! So we got to watch this really good movie! If you haven’t watched that yet –you got to see!It’s so good. As we finished we went straight home and we went to bed as soon as we got a chance.

God has done some really incredible works through us today and so special.  Hugs n kisses, Anastasia

Day 3… Anastasia Kharchenko: July 19 @ 9:10pm-

Today, I got up at 8:15am and started getting ready. I Had a really BIG breakfast, definitely was getting ready for a long day. Me and Melody had our 1st workouts at 10 o’clock today and so we called our transportation in and they picked us up just at right time for us to be there to warm up and start hitting.

I was hitting today with WTA #390, Petra Rampre, as I’ve mentioned it yesterday. We had a really good workout, our score was 3 all and we ran out of our time. Wanted to continue but didn’t have any courts available. Still it was a good hour hitting and getting to spend time with her.  She is so funny.

Afterwords, Melody and I went to the players lounge. We had our lunch and some relaxing time there. Sometimes around 2 o’clock my coach Scott got in and the minute he saw me he knew that I hadn’t been drinking enough fluids. I also mentioned that I didn’t have much energy. So he made me drink 4 full 16 oz cups of semi-sweet tea at Chick Fil A and eat lunch and in little I started feeling better .

I went to my court at 3 o’clock to train with Jennifer Elie, WTA #460. We’ve played before a year ago in Mexico and she beat me pretty bad, 6-1, 6-1. But today I our finishing score was 6/3 1/1 and I was very excited about how much I’ve improved since the last time I played her.

And I think I played really bad today from my injury, too.  I can’t wait to be 100% healthy!!!

The men’s tournament has already started today so there is a lot of matches was going on. I saw a lot of players from USTA tennis magazines, and Amer Delic has been hitting today twice. Also a lot of girls were coming in today. Some like Uberoi sisters, Gaby Paz, Lauren Albanese… All of the courts were packed with great players.

When my coach came in he rented a car so we went to the mall today and had our dinner at nice burrito place. Yumee:) Also me and Melody has gotten some Dipping Dots for dessert:) We wanted to see the movie that just came out- “Batman. The Dark Knight” but all the tickets were sold out:( So we just walked around a sport store, and then went home.

I’m playing tomorrow 4th match after 10 o’clock so it is going to be later in the day. My opponent is Kristi Miller. She got the wild card and is a great player. I think I could normally beat her, but now I am recovering from injury so she has strong advantage. I think I might play doubles with Lee, who I said before is about 200 WTA.

I will keep you updated about tomorrow;) Good night! Hugs and kisses, Anastasia

Day 2… Anastasia Kharchenko:  July 18 @ 11:20pm-

Today, I didn’t want to wake up at all!!! My bed is so soft and cushioning and I have been so tired from travel… But I had to because I had my 1st workout at 10am and I needed to start walking around at least at 8, so my body will start waking up…

Had my breakfast even though didn’t feel very hungry, but I knew that I had to eat a lot since I had a big day coming up!!! I got to the courts and from very early in the morning I saw all those amazing players warming up and stuff, and all of those players were from all over the world!!! Couldn’t wait for Melody and Scott to get here, so we can start to give away all the Christian materials!!!!:))) COME ON!!!

I was hitting with the girl from Korea I mentioned yesterday. Her name is Lee and she is ranked 201 WTA!!! She is #4 in main draw at this tournament!!! I had so much fun hitting because what a great opportunity to hit with such a good player!!! I really enjoyed our hitting and I had a chance to compare myself to her When we had to leave the court, she was winning in our match 6-2, 3-2 and I felt great about my game as it was close but she has more experience which I am getting now.

As we finished, I started looking for another girl to hit with and I’ve found a girl named Georgi Stoop. She is from Great Britain and ranked WTA 254… . We had an awesome workout!!! Just today I got to hit with two girls that are ranked in 200s!!! As I finished my workout I saw Amer Delic walking on the court for practice, and there is lots of other players here that are ranked high!!!

After workout, I felt very hungry, as usual, and was so excited for Melody to come, because she was supposed to fly in today As I was doing my stretches, the girl named Petra Rampre who is ranked 390 and is #1 qualy player came to to me and asked if I wanted to hit tomorrow morning, so tomorrow I will hit with another great player!!!WOOHOO!!! Because I felt so good today during hitting it makes me more and more excited to play all these players!!! So cool;)

In little bit my host mom picked me up and I went back to the house for showers and stuff. We were getting ready to go have something for dinner. We ate at the very nice place, and then we drove straight to the airport to pick up Melody!!! And yes,we got her and so now our Christian team has gotten stronger )))

Tomorrow it’s gonna be even more strong because my coach, Scott, is coming in! And so I will be able to see more things and learn more because he sees more. And he will point out a lot of things for me to be able to see then as well;)))) So we got Melody and right now we are about to go to our extremely comfy beds. We will have another fun day tomorrow, so we need a lot of energy!!! Hugs and kisses, Anastasia

Day 1… Anastasia Kharchenko; July 17 @ 9:21pm-

I got up at 5 in the morning. And it was pretty tough because for the last couple days I haven’t really slept much because of travel, so i just took a nap and got ready to go the next tournament/mission trip.

Melody drove me to the airport and she also hasn’t been sleeping much lately, too. But we are very flexible and really like to keep going on and on,plus it’s such a big tournament,so that really gave me a lot of extra energy!!! 50.000$ tournament plus with Men’s tournament in the same time!!! Very excited!!!

As we were driving to Daytona airport it was raining very hard, so we were thinking about some delays on the flight, but as we got to the airport it stopped raining and the sky had gotten very light and blue! My check in went very fast and easy, so I just sat at the gate for awhile, got to read couple of chapters from acts (one of the books in the Bible) and in little bit I got on the plane.

It wasn’t very big one, so it didn’t take much time for it to fill up. But as were getting ready to take off our flight attendant made an announcement about our short delay for 30 minutes… I was fine with it because I was ready to take a nap, and the longer my flight is the more time I have for my nap ))

As the plane got to Atlanta,GA,  we actually weren’t that much behind our schedule, maybe only 10-15 minutes… And as usual, I went to the concourse “A” to have my breakfast at Chick-Fil-A!! I love Chickin Biscuits ))) I had to eat my chicken biscuit on the plane to Lexington, but still I had my biscuit!

The lady next to me was very nice, and also she wasn’t sleeping, so i got a chance to talk to her, and to share my faith in Jesus. Her name was Julia and she was from Lexington. When we got off the plane. she gave me business card and said that I can call her if I need anything.

As I got to the luggage claim I started making calls to the tournament people and in just 10 minutes I already was picked up and girl named Blair got me to the courts. There I met tournament director and she gave me more phone numbers to host home people.

I got pretty hungry because when you are tennis player you usually hungry 24/7!!! And there was only one place that I could go to, but as I went there it was closed… So, I had to be hungry for a while, but I’ve learned my lesson and I know that next time I wil definitely bring something with me! I wanted to go take a nap so bad, but I couldn’t because there wasn’t really place to lay your head at. But at 3 o’clock I had my practice with Kristy Frilling and it was pretty good. Felt sleepy at first, but as i got to to baseline there was no thoughts about sleep anymore! Just give me more tennis balls !:)

As we were hitting, I saw some Korean girls, so I asked one of them if she wanted to hit tomorrow morning and she said yes!!! Great, new girl to hit with!!!:)))  After our hitting we decided to go somewhere to eat, and because Kristy drove here from Ohio we actually could go and EAT!!!! We went to some place close by, and had dinner there!!! To me it was more like lunch:)))

As we got back my host mom got there to pick me up. Took me to the grocery store, so I could show her what I like to eat and stuff. When we got home I was so exhausted that my 1st priority was shower and then bed….

My host family is great, and my bed is so comfy! Good night! Hugs and kisses, Anastasia

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Melody Snelen:  July 21-28

Monday the 21^st. I really wanted to hit today, but since my body has to build back up to handle intense workouts, I had to rest. I did get to watch some pro men’s matches and learn! They hit the ball so HARD and

try for everything!! More junior players need to watch how these pros don’t quit!

Ana hit with Nikola Frankova. They had a good practice. Scott was there to help Ana’s game improve more. I watched and helped my teammate and coach when needed.

Teams are so important! Much more can be accomplished when supporting each other. Later on in the day I was able to do a stomach workout to help strengthen my body back up. I really enjoy exercising!!

On Wednesday Ana played her main draw doubles match. I’m really glad Ana and her doubles partner Ye-Ra Lee got in! They were alternates and made it =) Yea! They played their opponents close but lost 6-3, 6-3.

Immediately following the match, Scott went over court positioning and strategies with Ana for her to use next time she plays doubles.

After Ana’s match I ran into a friend I hadn’t seen in about 2 years! It was really good seeing her and catching up. She’s now a line umpire and working her way up. We had talked about a lot of different issues. Something we talked about was how there is SOOO much sexual abuse in tennis (especially towards girls).

This abuse is running ramped through the sport at all levels! Nowadays if you want to be a school teacher or child-care worker you have to have a back round check

… but you can be a tennis teaching professional and you are free and clear from that requirement. Let’s just say things are gonna have to change to see the innocent protected. My friend wants to do more, as do I, regarding this issue. I feel God had us run into each other for a reason.

On Friday I joined Ana in the morning for her footwork workout. Though intense, it’s actually really fun! As long as exercises aren’t boring I could go all day =) Went to the courts and Scott took Ana and I through a specialty workout with the sponge ball!

I watched the evening mens match between Amer Delic vs. Dudi Sela with Ana and Scott. It was a great match!

Dudi was down a set and about 3 or more match points and fought till he won that set and the whole match! It shows how in tennis you can never ease up, even if you have match points! And you can never be too far behind to come back and win! It’s so important to stay focused all the way through until the last ball is hit! Tennis is such an exciting and intense sport =)

Saturday morning we started packing up to make it the airport in time for our flight. We have been really blessed with the hosts we’ve had, and their wonderful hospitality. Not to mention I’m really going to miss those cute little doggies! =)

We made it to the airport in time but our flight was delayed. That gave Ana and I time to play cards, read, meet another player also leaving today on our flight and to eat =)

Now we are off to St. Joseph, MO on an another awesome mission trip adventure…. St Joseph is the place where the wild west got started! =)

Melody Snelen: July 18-20:

I flew out of Daytona Beach, Florida on Friday the 18^th headed for Lexington, Kentucky to met up with my teammate, Anastasia Kharchenko.

Sco

tt and Rach took me to the airport. I had a 4 hour layover in Atlanta. The layover gave me plenty of time to make some phone calls I’ve been wanting to make and to read.

On my flight to LEX I was reading my Bible and the man sitting next to me was curious as to what I was underlining. That gave me the opportunity to share Jesus with him! I gave him a gospel of John book. He was thankful.

When I got to LEX, Ana and our host, Stephanie, were already there to pick me up! It was good to see them! When went to the house and got settled in. Our host family has 2 precious little doggies!! I don’t know how people live without pets…God’s creations =)

On the 19^th I was able to practice twice to get back into the swing of hitting. I’ve been doing a lot of bookkeeping (and other “stuff”) which has kept me at a desk and inside more than on a court so it’s GREAT to be here!

My coach, Scott Paschal, arrived today and rented a car which will help a lot!

At 3pm I signed in for the tournament as an alternate (I hadn’t entered the tournament because I wasn’t sure I would be coming).

Went to the mall and to eat! I love eating =) We were going to see a the new Batman movie but it was sold out for the whole night!

The 20^th Ana didn’t play till 4^th match on after 10am so we got to have a slow morning. I hit with Ana before she played to warm her up. Scott was there to give her the last bit of coaching advice before she played!

While Ana was playing things got exciting for me, not because Ana was playing tough a strong player, although that was cool, but because I was able to give a Bible to a girl from Czech who’s playing the tournament.

I got to tell her how the Bible is about Jesus, and how the Bible is archaeologically accurate therefore what it says is also accurate! =) She seemed receptive. I love being able to share the INCREDIBLE news of Jesus and what he did to save mankind. His love for us and his saving GRACE is something I DO NOT want to just keep to myself!

Ana ended up coming up short in her match, Scott took her out to a court to start working on some things that needed attention. I was watching and observing. Some guys playing the tournament were on the adjacent court.

One of the guys who’s from Israel started talking with me. Scott was on the court coaching and said I should give him a Bible.

The player accepted it, I sure hope he reads it because he’ll get to learn of the Jewish Messiah the Old Testament  (Torah) predicted (prophesied) would come to save us all! This has been a successful day!

We went to a grocery store for our dinner then ate at some outdoor tables. The evenings are beautiful here! I enjoyed feeding bread crumbs to some little sparrows nearby =)

Next we went to see Batman! It was a really interesting movie! I just had a hard time watching it as the actor Heath Ledger who played the Joker, recently killed himself =( It gets me wondering whether or not he accepted Jesus as his Savior.

That’s all for now! Nite, Melody

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Scott Paschal; July 19@ 10pm-

I’m here in Bluegrass Country!

The flight this morning was good. Daytona Beach to Atlanta to Lexington. Rented a car from Hertz and met Anastasia and Melody at the University of Kentucky’s fantastic tennis complex.

Ana looked wiped out. I couldn’t tell if she was nervous about the tournament, dehydrated, or what. As she had another practice match coming up and hadn’t eaten in a few hours, we drove to Chick Fil A to get chicken sandwiches.  She guzzled four 16oz sweet teas… so I guess she was dehydrated!

I think she was getting nervous nervous about her match tomorrow, too, because she was really tight during her workout with Jennifer Elie.

Elie had beaten Ana pretty easily in Mexico about a year ago. I think the score was 6-1, 6-1. Today was much different as it was 6-3, 1-1 when they had to stop. Ana played pretty poorly and still competed well, so that was positive.

Mel had a great workout with Mcall Jones, one of America’s top juniors. I spent my time watching them both and visiting with people, some of whom I’ve know for around 6-7 years.

Several of the umpire are ICTA members. It was good to see them. Neha Uberoi and Marcus Fugate are two of the players I’ve known for a long time. It was good to speak with them. Marcus is really maturing and is impressive on and off court.

I also scouted the facility to see the best places to give away Bibles and Christian tracts. I have full access to just about everywhere here, so all should go well. So many players at these tournaments simply don’t have a Bible. And not a church in sight even thinks to offer any! Lots of church people are so excited to go to Africa or China, but are basically idiots about local missions. So annoying….

Tomorrow, Anastasia plays Kristi Miller, who was given a Wild Card. Kristi is a great player and is tearing up the circuit right now. She and Ana are close in ability level. Ana has been ill lately, and has also had a neck injury she suffered during a match to Rossi in Hilton Head, SC… so I’d have to give a definite edge to Miller tomorrow.

Ana is still swinging the racket very tentatively compared to normal. I think she has another month or so until she is healthy and strong and confident. That said, she has already done very, very well this year and has exceeded all expectations.

For those of you asking, I’m doing well. Had some heart problems, again, recently. Stuff I inherited that is manageable, but not particularly fun and predictable. I could probably stand to drop 20 lbs or so, but that wouldn’t necessarily help my situation too much. My Grampa has the same heart problem… and he’s going to be 90 in March.

Time for bed. Our host home is very nice and comfortable. I am really looking forward to talking with players and coaches tomorrow!! Keep us in your prayers!!  God bless!  Scotty

Scott Paschal:  July 18 @ 8:25pm- Anastasia left yesterday from Daytona Beach to Lexington.  She was wiped out after our long drive back from Atlanta the evening before.  She took a nap at night and then caught a 6am flight!  I slept in, since Melody took Anastasia to the airport.  Melody Snelen left this morning to Lexington.  She is on the plane from Atlanta to Lexington as I write.

The host home family we are staying with will pick her up and she can get some much needed rest.  I’m packing tonite and will leave in the morning.  Should arrive early afternoon at the tournament site.  Anastasia has already been able to hit with two of the top 6 women entered in the tournament.  I’m excited to coach Ana in Lexington.  She has grown so much in so many ways.  Mel and I will offer Christian books and tracks to players and fans.  Hope to begin this tomorrow afternoon.  That’s it for now.  Will write more tomorrow.  Look for Ana’s updates to be posted tonight or tomorrow morning.  Ciao,  Coach Scotty