Feelin' fulfilled (Part I)
Past fortnight has been amazing for me! A series of really motivating events has really helped me to fight back the depressing mood I've been having for the larger part of this year. Makes me actually feel proud of what I'm doing and also see the silver lining on every single cloud!
I shall start with the first event. It was a regular saturday night (after a long afternoon teleconference session with Kel, Am, Joon, Vinh earlier!) and I hit the badminton courts in Serangoon as usual. Unlike usual days, we had a singapore national squad player joining us that day and I took to the court against him with my usual partner. We didn't do too badly (final score: 21-15) as he was really off-form in the 1st game. After seeing my performance against him earlier, he invited me to partner him when he was asked to play against the 2 veteran players (I wouldn't call them the strongest, but certainly the most stable pair in the group). Those 2 are really arrogant players and many of the members don't like them, although we can't do anything as they were the original members in the group. Anyway, we got down to business and absolutely thrashed them (final score:21-5!)in the first game. They refused to concede defeat and asked for a return match, and this time the score was even worse: 21-3! Totally controlled the match and didn't leave them any chance to retaliate. Has been a while since I can really trust my partner to cover for me when I'm making my foray forward to the net area, where I'm strongest at (at least I think so =), and I could stay fully focused in winning net battles against the opponent.
The following session, he was again at the club and asked me to partner him against the strongest pair in the club: 2 ex-national squad players! I was really excited & pumped up as I know we have a chance against those 2 players that I've never beaten before. Just before we started the game, one of the arrogant players mentioned earlier asked me to let someone else stronger play in my place instead (let's just call this person K). I do admit that K is a better player than me as he is an all-rounder, but I was really dissappointed that I didn't get to play, & K apologized to me for having taken my place later. My partner was flabbergasted that they actually did that to me when I was already on the court, but couldn't do anything with it. They lost the match 21-16 in the end.
Those 2 ex-national players asked my partner for a rematch later, having been impressed with his skills in the first. I was sitting quietly at the side then when I heard him say loudly: 'sure, but I'll only play if I get to partner Hendry in the next game'. They couldn't say no to that and agreed. All this while I was just too shocked to react when I heard him saying that, until he approached me later when the match was about to start, saying 'let's go. They say we've gotta pay 10 bucks if they beat us under 10!'. Has been a long time since somebody really believed in my ability that much when he obviously had the choice of stronger partners than me at his disposal. After warming up, the game started. We were leading by a big margin at the beginning, leading 10-3 as our opponent couldn't cope with our attack speed & fast drives. We were in control till then, before they changed tactics to play a slower game and mistakes started cropping up as we were both fast-play players who thrive on quick plays. Lost the game 21-16 in the end, but we were far from losing 'under 10' that we were predicted to do at the start. With a bit more experience and patience, we could have won the game, but it wasn't meant to be. It was fun though, and although I was huffing & puffing at the end, it was all worth it as I really played my heart out in that game. It has been a while since I faced an opponent of that standard (the last being Raymond/Jim in the Melb Uni Open) and played close to my maximum potential.
Nothing better than having the trust of a teammate that totally believes in your ability and counts on you to deliver in a doubles game. That's why it's always doubles over singles game for me anytime!
Will continue on my other story in the next post =)
I shall start with the first event. It was a regular saturday night (after a long afternoon teleconference session with Kel, Am, Joon, Vinh earlier!) and I hit the badminton courts in Serangoon as usual. Unlike usual days, we had a singapore national squad player joining us that day and I took to the court against him with my usual partner. We didn't do too badly (final score: 21-15) as he was really off-form in the 1st game. After seeing my performance against him earlier, he invited me to partner him when he was asked to play against the 2 veteran players (I wouldn't call them the strongest, but certainly the most stable pair in the group). Those 2 are really arrogant players and many of the members don't like them, although we can't do anything as they were the original members in the group. Anyway, we got down to business and absolutely thrashed them (final score:21-5!)in the first game. They refused to concede defeat and asked for a return match, and this time the score was even worse: 21-3! Totally controlled the match and didn't leave them any chance to retaliate. Has been a while since I can really trust my partner to cover for me when I'm making my foray forward to the net area, where I'm strongest at (at least I think so =), and I could stay fully focused in winning net battles against the opponent.
The following session, he was again at the club and asked me to partner him against the strongest pair in the club: 2 ex-national squad players! I was really excited & pumped up as I know we have a chance against those 2 players that I've never beaten before. Just before we started the game, one of the arrogant players mentioned earlier asked me to let someone else stronger play in my place instead (let's just call this person K). I do admit that K is a better player than me as he is an all-rounder, but I was really dissappointed that I didn't get to play, & K apologized to me for having taken my place later. My partner was flabbergasted that they actually did that to me when I was already on the court, but couldn't do anything with it. They lost the match 21-16 in the end.
Those 2 ex-national players asked my partner for a rematch later, having been impressed with his skills in the first. I was sitting quietly at the side then when I heard him say loudly: 'sure, but I'll only play if I get to partner Hendry in the next game'. They couldn't say no to that and agreed. All this while I was just too shocked to react when I heard him saying that, until he approached me later when the match was about to start, saying 'let's go. They say we've gotta pay 10 bucks if they beat us under 10!'. Has been a long time since somebody really believed in my ability that much when he obviously had the choice of stronger partners than me at his disposal. After warming up, the game started. We were leading by a big margin at the beginning, leading 10-3 as our opponent couldn't cope with our attack speed & fast drives. We were in control till then, before they changed tactics to play a slower game and mistakes started cropping up as we were both fast-play players who thrive on quick plays. Lost the game 21-16 in the end, but we were far from losing 'under 10' that we were predicted to do at the start. With a bit more experience and patience, we could have won the game, but it wasn't meant to be. It was fun though, and although I was huffing & puffing at the end, it was all worth it as I really played my heart out in that game. It has been a while since I faced an opponent of that standard (the last being Raymond/Jim in the Melb Uni Open) and played close to my maximum potential.
Nothing better than having the trust of a teammate that totally believes in your ability and counts on you to deliver in a doubles game. That's why it's always doubles over singles game for me anytime!
Will continue on my other story in the next post =)
posted by leonhart @ 12:49 AM
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