Another Judo tour under my belt, and another tour coming back empty handed.
The Olympic qualification period for Rio has started, which means everybody is going to be competing, trying to get as many points as possible so they can directly qualify for the Olympics. To Qualify for the Olympics, Men Have to be ranked in the TOP 22 on the World Ranking List and Women have to be ranked within the Top 14! To qualify for the Olympics, you need to compete at all the IJF events, such as Grand Prixs, Grand Slams, World Championships, Continental Championships and Opens to gain valuable points!
At the moment I am ranked #12 in the world, and I need to keep my ranking- by medaling at these events, which I have not done since January!
In Cuba I ended up placing 7th. I beat Cuba first round, with O-goshi and a pin, and then lost the to the eventual winner, Clarisse from France in the quarterfinals and then lost to Espinosa from Cuba who is 2013 and 2014 Pan American Champion. I really lost a huge opportunity in that match, I only lost 2 shidos to 1 and the reason why I lost? Take a guess! I walked out of bounds!! I have made a conscious effort now during practice to be aware of where I am. I have been competing at this level for awhile now, and I should not be losing these matches this way!!!
Overall Cuba was an interesting experience. Our hotel was nice, we had an awesome pool. The food was phenomenal, only down side was that Wi-Fi cost $10.00 an hour. I did cave and buy internet a few times- It's hard to stay off of FACEBOOK for that long!
My Teammates and I travelled back to Miami for a few days in between tournaments. I was a little happy to leave and not stay for the training camp because I injured my left knee fighting Espinosa in my last fight. I am not too sure what happened but my knee was super swollen and I couldn't straighten my leg! 
BUT I had my good friend MAC taking care of me- and I am so appreciative of that! THANK YOU MAC!
El Salvador didn't go as well as I planned either, this is my 5th year in El Salvador and I took 5th!! I messed up in the Semi-Final match against Hilde Drexler from Austria. I was winning the match on shidos and in the last few seconds I got a shido and our match ended up going into overtime. In Overtime I was thrown trying to counter her attack! and in my Bronze Medal Match....Ehhh I don't even want to explain what happened there!
In the game of sports, things don't always go as planned! That is why it is good to have a short term memory. I don't like to dwell on my wins and losses too much because there is always something to look forward to. I know what details I need to work on and the only thing I can really do is strive to improve every single day!!
xoxo,
Hannah
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