An Indian Wells Adventure

What a joy to represent My Female View Broadcast as a reporter at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden for the Paribas Open Tennis Tournament. Former Student, Gina Robinson, who co-produces the show, invited us(Shana Butler, and I) to take part in this great adventure since she neither or her partner could not make it. No, never even entered my mind--I don't think she even knew what a tennis buff I am.

We had a wonderful drive from San Diego--left at 9:30, and even with construction traffic, made it in good time with just one bad direction by me, the navigator. For the most part, it was a straight shot. Shana was a wonderful one handed driver, since she had an accidental fall, yesterday, and broke her wrist. Soldier that she is, she sucked it up, and carried out her commitment. I have to love a committed woman, but she also knows I would have never let her live it down (her words)

We decided to head straight to the Tennis Garden, instead of the hotel, in order to pick up our credentials. We had directions on exactly how to get to the "pick up" parking lot, went there, parked and headed to the credentials bungalows. My husband, also came along, and he sat at a shuttle stop to wait for us. The credentials area, staffed primarily by volunteers, was quite pleasant indeed. I spoke to one lady and she told me that this was her l4th year volunteering at the tournament. They were all quite nice, and facilitated the process quickly. We had our pictures taken, received lanyards with our press badges, and began to feel very official. We then went to our hotel, which could not be any closer--about four miles from the Tennis Garden.

We are anxiously looking forward to tomorrow when our reporting begins. It is the first time in ten ears that Serena Williams has played in this tournament and she will play in the night match tomorrow night. We will cover the morning and the evening matches.

Grateful for this opportunity.