TEAM USA: Mark Froot reaches Plate Finals

Mark Froot in Plate competition action in New Zealand. Photo 2006 © Chris Smith .

Palmerston Time- Thurs July 21 5:40PM

Mark Froot today, in the Plate competition semi finals, faced his second member of the deep South Africa Team. After taking down a non-team player yesterday, Mark faced their #2 Jason Cole Niven. Today's match was on the stadium show court in the huge Arena Manawatu. Mark had an early morning practice session on the court to help adjust to the court. The glass court takes a lot to get used to in general but like all the courts here in NZ, this glass court is very cold. Mark couldn't get his depth down in his practice session and this continued in the start of his match.

Being a little off his game and depth while facing a strong foe, Mark went down early in the first game and had little control of the ball.

He started to get things back to form at the end of the game but it wasn't enough and he dropped the game 10-9. Hoping to get his length figured out in game two, Mark still couldn't put things together and dropped the next game 9-0. Mark was complaining of some shin splints and didn't feel confident in his game. He went back out to what the crowd that had gathered assumed was the last game. Mark showed his toughness and after falling behind 5-1 in the third, something clicked.

The American captain never looked back. He took the third 9-6 despite his shins being in obvious pain. During the break, I rolled out the pain with our "massage stick" while Mark got his breath. Mark's depth continued working for him and he took the match momentum stayed with him. He won the next two games 9-4, 9-2. This was a huge win for Mark and for Team USA. By showing the seeding committee that our #2 took down South Africa's #2, Mark made the case that Team USA should be seeded higher. Its up to the seeding committee now.

Mark is into the Finals tomorrow at 1:30 against Australia's #1 Zach Alexander.

The team is about to head over to watch the semi finals and learn of our seeding for the team event. [ED Note: USA received a final seeding of #14 see pools]

In other news today- our #1 Trevor McGuinness was asked by tournament management to travel to three local radio stations to be interviewed on air. Trevor gave the USA team some good visibility and publicity.

July 21st USA Results   [All results]
Plate - Semi Final Round
Mark Froot (USA) def Jason Cole Niven (RSA) 9/10, 0/9, 9/6, 9/4, 9/2

Trevor McGuinness interviewed at the local radio station. Photo 2006 © Chris Smith .