Junior Olympics (aka Nationals) 2019 - Team AH HA

Most of the California players.... Good Day...Bad Day... A little of both.. On the 4th day the event was well into semi finals and finals...Ava played the the semi final of the 12 and unders...Heater was in the finals of both 14 and unders and 16 and unders. Heather and Julia had a doubles match witch would determine the winner of the 16 and under doubles.  Ava had the final match of 12 and under mixed doubles, which would determine the champ. Ava had a battle in the semi final of the 12 and unders. She played fellow NorCal player, Andrea Picon Perez...The two challenged each other back and forth splitting the first two games, taking it to a tie breaker. They continued to go back and forth. Tie breakers are to 11 and the score got to 10-10. Each had their chances for the final point, and eventually Andrea got it and the win. Ava will play Sunday for third place. Heather played in probably the two most exciting matches of the day. First was the 14 and under final with Ava Kaiser f...

Team AH-HA Dads (John Mahoney and Matt Naworski) along with some guy in the middle at Team HEAD Bowling Party For the Second Day, Heather and Ava go undefeated for a total of 12 games between them... Heather had two semi final matches in singles, 14 and unders and 16 and unders. The 16 and unders came first in a rematch of a match she played last year against Erin Slutsky from Missouri. Last year, Heather lost to Erin in a tie breaker in the 16 and unders...This year, she went in with a game plan....Serves were executed the way we planned and shot choice was excellent. No tie breaker this time... Heather won 15-3 15-6 and will play in the final of the 16 and unders against Annie Roberts. A repeat of Nationals two years ago in the 14 and unders when Heather lost in a tie breaker. In the 14 and unders Heather face Kareena Mathew. This is the first time they have played in singles. They have been on the court in doubles a few times. We really did not have much ...

Ava and Doubles partner, Sonya Shetty, about to watch Heather play on glass court... Undefeated Thursday!! On Day 2 of competition at Junior Nationals, Heather and Ava each played three matches, singles and doubles. That was a total of 6 games each (12 total). Neither of them lost one game...Winning all 6 of the matches!!! Unfortunately, Heather had to play her doubles partner and good friend, Julia Stein, early in the 16 and under singles...We attempted to have this changed, but no luck. Extra pre-match stress going on both sides as not only are we trying to beat an opponent to move on, but we have to beat our good friend impacting their chances to move on. Bottom line was we both play our best, and the best player that day moves ahead.  Oh, to top it off it was live streamed on the Glass court!!! The match started with Julia in the Zone. It was probably the best I have seen her play. Serves were hard and accurate and she was making the right shots. She got up to a pretty goo...

Heather and Julia discussing politics The 2019 Junior Olympics began here in Portland, Wednesday June 19th....Once again Ava Naworski and Heather Mahoney are competing. They are both competing in 3 divisions.. Ava - 12 and under singles; 12 and under doubles with Sonya Shetty; 12 and under Mixed doubles with Advait Kartik Heather - 16 and under singles; 14 and under singles; 16 and under doubles On Wednesday Ava won in doubles and Heather won her 16s singles and 16s doubles... They will play in all their divisions Thursday. I will update daily, hopefully with lots of pics... A few from Day 1