This last weekend I played in a tennis tournament. A common event for me one of which I truly enjoy. There are so many things I want to work on, the most important at this time is my mental game. I let the smallest things bother me and have to remind myself to just play the opponent and nothing else. This tournament had already upset me with numerous cheesy rules.
It really bothered me to play with no-ad scoring. I have never done that since high school and didn't think I would again. Then I had to wait an extra half hour to start while two courts went unused. Then four men played doubles on "center court" while the tournament players were sent down to the lesser courts. While I know one of the players was Brian Parrot, Travis Parrot's dad, or the father of one of the top players in the world, I have always felt if you are going to put on a tournament you can't go cutting all these corners. So I finally went out and played and never could drop my attitude long enough to focus on the game itself. I got crushed and was really upset that I wasted my time on the whole event. I went home gathered my senses and decided to play in the consolation event(AKA losers bracket). My first consolation match was against a really nice Asian guy who used to play in high school and college and was just getting back into it. He had an absolutely beautiful girlfriend who asked if she could sit courtside and watch because it was too hard to see from where she was supposed to sit. My head spun so fast I really wasn't sure the correct answer. First of all, her looks alone were distracting, second the feeling of lonliness and just being uncomfortable with someone on the court didn't seem right, third I wandered if he "planted her as a possible distraction for me," fourth I would feel bad if I crushed him in front of his girlfriend, and last I didn't like being put into the position of being a jerk if I am to say no. I quickly realized this IS the losers bracket and I have always played a lot better with people watching. I enjoy the entertaining aspect as well as the extra reason to play well. I won rather quickly and I think we both had a good time. I just played my usual game, and fortunately he could not handle off speed shots at all. Once he learns to pick those up he will crush me. I want to wish him good luck in the next tournament solely on the fact he had a great desire to build his game. One last complaint, the tournament director handed out used balls for the consolation bracket. I feel I owe him an apology for laughing in his face while making the rude comment, "now that's class." I'm sure the owner of the club gave him a stict budget, and it was beyond his control. For that I apologize. For everything else I just appreciate the other tournaments that much more. And by the way I lost in the consolation finals to a really good player visiting from Guam. At least I couldn't complain about travel time!
Cancer
11 years ago
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