She's an awesome person to talk too though, not arrogant at all. I told her about BF and asked if she would be happy to share some of her experience and give me an impromtu interview and she happily agreed. She even showed me the one silver and 2 bronze medals she won at the Games. I was simply awestruck! :P Anyway, here's how the interview went:
Adelina (Q) : What was it like playing in the finals of the WD at Manchester? Were
you nevervous?
Sarah (A) : No not really, I actually get very motivated and hyped up for the game. Surprisingly, it felt just like another tournament..we've trained sooooo hard prior to competiting and so we were simply delighted to be able to reap the fruit of our hard work.
Q: What was it like playing against Lim and Ang from Malaysia?
A: They were just superb. We tried everything. Nicole, who has one of the hardest smashes at Manchester, must have smashed like over 30 times during that 5 sets, but unfortunately, the Malaysian girls defence were just too solid, they just kept flicking all the smashes back.
Q: Do you think you could have played better against them?
A: Not really, I think Nicole and I did our very best..I came off the court really feeling like I've given my best and could not have done anything more. The Malaysian girls were just too good for us that day and so we were happy with our silver medal.
Q: Was there a lot of expectations on you to deliver the gold?
A: No, we were just told to play our game and do our best. Our aim was to reach the semis (and win the bronze) but once we got to the final, it was just a bonus.
Q: What about the mix doubles? You lost to Archer-Goode in the semis right?
A: That's right. We weren't expected to beat them so we were quite thrilled with what we achieved, pushing them to 5 sets before losing. It would have been a great upset.
Q: How hard did you train for this C'wealth Games Sarah?
A: Very hard, basically, 3 hours daily, 7 days a week.
Q: What kind of training did you do?
A: Roughly, in that 3 hours, we do one hour of gym in the morning, then go to work, and after work we train 2 hours on court, perhaps one hour of that on footwork and interval speed training and another hour on doubles games. Other days, we do running (interval) instead of a gym and then 2 hours on court.
Q: What kind of exercise do you do at the gym?
A: Well, we did various weightlifting..like squats, clean and snatch, abdominals and calf strenghtening exercises.
Q: Wow, so you don't do anything with wrist strength training or forearm training?
A: Nah..we're expected to do that at home..I just swing squash racquets around.. when I can be bothered (giggles)
Q: How old were you when you started playing for the first time, and also when playing competitively?
A: I started playing at 7 and seriously got looked at when I was 12.
Q: You were originally from Denmark, weren't you?
A: Yes..I came to New Zealand some time ago..
Q: What made you come to NZ?
A: Well, at that time, I started going out with Anton (ex-NZ player) and decided to follow him to NZ
Q: Are there any future tournaments you're going to play in soon?
A: Not at the moment, just taking a break after the C'wealth Games and we'll see..
Q:So tell me Sarah, when you played against us, knowing that we suck so badly, do you try and be kind and play maybe slightly below par, or do you just play like you normally do against international players?
A: Good question..well, it depends really, I normally try to give the ppl I play against a bit of a rally so they won't feel totally whitewashed. But at the same time, I won't like drop my game down badly just to give them rallies as I think that would just insult them. Also, I suppose I want to give them a taste of what it's like to play at this level. So I would put on average, I'm probably playing at 70% right now.
[FYI: She and her doubles partner (not Nicole) thrashed me in the doubles 7-0,7-0,7-0 and beat me in the mix 7-2,7-3,7-5..sheesh, hate to see what she would have done to us if she was playing her 100%!!!]
Q: Are you sponsored Sarah?
A: Yes, my sponsor is Babolat and they sponsor my badminton racquets, clothing, socks etc.
Q: What about when you go overseas for tournaments? Who pays for that?
A: New Zealand Badminton Association pays for accomodation and tournament fee but any tournaments played in NZ, if we want to play, we have to pay our own tournament fee and accomodation and travelling expenses as well.
Q: Wow, that sucks..does that put you off playing in these local tournaments?
A: Nah...I do it because I love badminton and I don't mind all the hard training too, I just love it!
Q: What's the hardest part of the game for you?
A: My doubles service...I'm still working at it.
That's about it..and of course we talk about other stuff, mostly unrelated to badminton. She's awesome to talk to though..very down to earth. I've asked her for a photo with her and her Commonwealth Games medals and she's agreed! I think I looked quite awestruck yesterday when I met her..but I don't care! :P So today I'm going to take heaps of photos with her :P *sigh* Too bad I don't have digital camera. You guys would just have to wait a while before I post the photo!
Gosh, I'm going to feel so ordinarily ugly standing beside her..she's so pretty, athletic looking and fit..:P I need a body double!!! :P
