"I have just returned from a 7 week trip to North America; which was not only amazingly enjoyable but also profitable in terms of strength of matches and points gained. Whenever you schedule tournaments in America, you always know the trip will be demanding, every match competitive, against highly ranked players or even worse, up and coming juniors.

I returned from my trip, happy with the progress I made, content with the way I successfully transferred the new techniques and tactics into a match environment, excited at my new ranking of 215, happy with the wins, thoughtful of the losses and full of funny stories to tell my family and friends. Playing in America is always enjoyable and relatively easy when it comes to housing and travel. Unlike any other country the Americans really make an effort in making the tournaments both fun and affordable for the players. They know we make no money, they know our life is fairly monotonous when it comes to traveling and staying in hotels and they know that we love free gifts. Unlike England, where its difficult to even get water during a match, or for the club to contain more than one fan and his dog, the American tournaments seem to generate vast numbers of fans.

 I played a tournament in Midland, once again set up with an amazing family (housing is the biggest benefit) but this tournament really tried hard. Yes it’s a $75, but I have seen this done time and time again from $10s upwards. They had stands which were full everyday, good food and drink for spectators, a daily pro am for school children and adults, a free gift helping to keep us warm in the minus 30 temperatures, local team mascots (a huge hen and a ****y ****erel) trading blows across the night as the officials prepared the crowd for the next match. The most important difference are the players traveling to the American tournaments and the atmosphere they generate I have heard time and time again from different players or people that the women’s tour is so cut throat and everyone hates each other. Yes I think you find at the lower events in Europe a slightly more distant atmosphere, but in America everyone chats with everyone and god forbid players are even known to go to dinner with each other and hang out during the day laughing. I love the atmosphere of the tournaments in America and because of this I have made a lot of good friends, who I can rely on whenever needed. From ice fishing in Canada, free jeans in palm dessert, spotting whales in Hawaii, 4 in a room in Tampa, thinking you were going to die on a 10 sitter plane caught in a blizzard without a toilet on board in Cleveland, to hanging out with random English guys in Midland whilst watching the sorry excuse for the England football team, I had the most enjoyable, fun ladened, laid back, points filled trip for a long time......"

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