Instead we headed to the Goal Post tailgate. The had a stage set up with RockBand. Scott's eyes lit up when he saw he had a chance to jam before a live tailgate audience. Here he is with other kids in a surprisingly good rendition of Mountain's Mississippi Queen:

The game itself was a yawner with Texas pile-driving Arkansas. It's a strange season so far... three home games all won by identical scores of 52-10. Here's a quick video of some scores on our side of the field:

Scott and I caught up with Deb and the girls after the game at the shootout. Deb organized a fantastic event that help raise funds for their players on scholarship.

Also, the girls are at the big scholarship shootout function today and tomorrow and will report back to you the total sum raised by your generous contributions along with all the matching funds that were added to the total of all contributions raised.

Last night at the Lake Travis / Killeen game, Meg's middle school band performed along with the other middle school and Lake Travis High School band before the game. Can you spot her?

Also, future Longhorn QB, Garrett Gilbert has a pretty good night, although he did not have to throw much since Killeen could not stop the Lake Travis running attack. Lake Travis won easily, 50-9. He's a few Gilbert highlights:

Now, Scott and I are headed to the Longhorn game today... Hook 'em!

Lake Travis won 35-21. Here's a YouTube highlight real of the Lake Travis offense, powered by future Texas Longhorn quarterback, Garrett Gilbert. The quality of the video is not too great. I discovered what went wrong and hopefully future ones will be a little better.

A Glimmer of Hope is inextricably tied to the Austin Tennis Academy. Their founders, Donna and Philip Berber supported the start up of the ATA with investment capital and with their children who've attended over the years. Coach Jack Newman, has pledged to raise a million dollars in donations over twenty years. This is part of the mission of the Austin Tennis Academy and part of the mission to develop life skills in those who attend.

Check out some of the photos I've uploaded on some wells already drilled in prior years.

100% of your donations will go to school construction or to new water wells since the Foundation established by Philip and Donna Berber cover all of their operational expenses.

Thanks again for your support!

As part of this mission, here's a letter that Claire and Kate have been sending to family and friends:

Kate and I are currently involved in a charity project raising money for A Glimmer Of Hope, an organization which helps provide water and other necessities to areas in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, and one of our tennis academies major sponsors. A Glimmer of Hope also does work in London as well as locally in Austin helping underprivileged kids. The Austin Tennis Academy, which you all know Kate and I spend most of our life at, has a goal of $150,000 for this year which will provide a school with 2 classroom buildings, a health post, and 8 water wells in Ethiopia. This project will benefit 3600 people from the health post, 560 primary school students, and 4710 beneficiaries of clean water.

The project was started by one of our teammates Josh Hagar who is only 13 years old. It is called Playing for Glimmer. Last year we were able to raise $40,000 and through this and other donations the Austin Tennis Academy has already built 28 operational wells, but have set our goal much higher for this year. The way it works is sort of like a Bike-a-thon, we are asking for donations per game that we play in a tournament with a maximum of 100 games. For example if you were to donate $1 per game that would be a pledge of $100. To try are reach our goal of $150,000 the academy students are split into 10 groups of 10 players each player trying to raise $1000. (A private donor promised a $50,000 matching donation which is how we plan to reach $150,000) Kate and I are team leaders of each of our groups and we have set our goal at $1000 each.

Any little bit helps us reach our goal to help provide a better life for children less fortunate than we are.

And remember, your donations are tax deductible.

For more on this project, check out this Youtube video:

Leave a comment or send me an email if you want to contribute to this cause.

Play Tennis. Save Lives.

Update: I didn't realize until this past weekend, that 100% of donations go to the intended recipients in Ethiopia. All operating expenses are paid by by the founders of A Glimmer of Hope though an endowment they've established.

Here's her path in the main draw in a field of 256:

Link to full draw

Cheer real loud and I'll update this post as I hear results!

Update and bump: Claire just finished her first singles match. Deb said she played and the scores don't reflect Claire's high level of play, 6-2, 6-1. She'll now be competing in the back draw. Go Claire!

Update 2: Deb found out Claire's first opponent reached the quarterfinals of clay court nationals. Today she played well but fell 6-2, 6-2. Welcome to a new latter to climb! Deb also mentioned that 2 two division 1 coaches watched some of the match. Claire was showing off a very strong serve.

Here's Scott enjoying the fruits of his labor with a cold Dr. Pepper in hand:

At Camp Longhorn, Scott learned how to make a Dakota Hole, where you dig two holes and connect them with a tunnel. This provides oxygen to the hole with the fire through the other hole and tunnel. Here's Scott and the finished Dakota Hole:

First order of business, cooking the burgers:

After dinner, it was time to get some coals going for the s'mores. We found some Like Oak branches, and built up the camp fire:

At last, time to enjoy the s'mores:

Kate was playing her first tournament in over a month. After shaking off a rusty start and dropping her first match, she advanced in the consolation bracket to the finals. Although she did not prevail in the finals, these competitive matches definitely help get her back as she prepares for the big Summer Grand Slam (a.k.a. Sectionals) tournament next weekend in College Station.

Claire had perhaps her best tournament to date. She and her partner, Brooke, won the doubles title. In singles, Claire won each round convincingly and lost only six games in four matches. Here's a picture of Claire with more hardware for her collection:

Congratulations and good luck in your preparations for Sectionals!

The first is a performance by Meg and the Hudson Bend Middle School Symphonic band at their spring concert earlier this week.

Part 1:

Part 2:

The second is a performance by Meg and Scott playing the song Helicopter on Guitar Hero 3. But, they raised the degree of difficulty by performing it watching the TV upside down... such talent!

Kate must have done a great job of warming Claire up, since she got off to a fast start in her match. She normally starts slowly and builds up speed as a match progresses.

She faced a girl who she's played several times all the way back to 10 years of age. This girl has become a top 20 player in the state.

After Claire jumped out 2-0, it became tied at 2-2, and then Claire jumped out 4-2. It continued to ebb and flow until Claire took the set 6-4.

In the second set, her opponent raised her game and prevailed 6-3.

In the final set, Claire again jumped out quickly and took an early 3-0 lead. The level of play rose as they battled to claim this decisive set. Claire put a punctuation on the fifth game by hitting a clean, cross-court, service-return winner to go up 4-1.

She ultimately prevailed either 6-2 or 6-3... I confess I was too excited and lost count.

She plays again in about 1/2 hour... Go Claire!

I'm thumbing this post in from my phone so I'll keep it brief.

Claire drew a seeded player in this National open. The player was from Washington DC. Claire slugged it out going toe-to-toe, but dropped it 6-3, 6-1.

In the consi draw she went up against a local area player and took the first set in a tiebreaker 7-6 (9-7).

After breaking serve, Claire jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second set. A brief sprinkle stopped play for 15 minutes.

After resuming play, Claire upped her play wiinning the set at love.

She's back on tomorrow morning against a highly ranked Texas player.

...and the rain continues.