Team gossip????

[GiGaChip]

I'm a high school doubles player, and I recently lost what should have been an easy game to a pretty lame school. My partner and I are doubles #2, and of course in high school, doubles plays their opponents of doubles #1 and doubles #2. So my partner and I won against doubles #2 fairly easy, with a 15-4 15-5 win. However, against number 1, we lost, 6-15 15-6 6-15...what was worse, I ruined the teams chances of getting an early pre-season bagel (dropping no games). The reason I say I is because I made a lot of mistakes and was mentally exhausted to play efficiently. I know I upset my partner and disappointed my coach, but what sucks is that although my teamates may be joking, it seems to me they were gossiping about the fact that I (not my partner) was the only one to lose the game. My question is, do you think it was right for me to immediately take blame for the loss? I did admit it was my fault, and I did let my partner down, but I did this out of humbleness, and didn't want to look arrogant. However, this "strategy" backfired, and I'm afraid my coach will lose faith in me. In practice, I kick but but it just so happened that what should have been an easy game turned into a disaster. I've been trying to forget it, its only been the 2nd preseason game but it still bugs that my teamates aren't really supportive either. Ever experienced something like this, or having any input? I'd appreciate it a lot, thanks very much.

[MarkinJapan]

Of coarse doubles is a team effort, but just like you can pick out a player who is on his game, you can pick out a guy who is off. If your coach/team-mates are talking about your poor game/performance all it means is that they had higher expectations for you. It sounds like you had higher expectations for yourself.
I had a similar situation recently. I was the strongest player on a team but failed to perform and get the expected number of points for the team. I'll be the first to say my mistakes were stupid and all in my head. Wether it is a bad draw, bad partner, or just a game day you need to work on what motivates you. Take the pressure off of yourself by making sure your team knows where you're at. Unless they are complete jerks they should have no problem with your loss. Show your dedication to fixing mistakes (either mental, tactical, or technical) in practice. Good communication with your partner is also key.

[cappy75]

Why beat up yourself even more when your coach and teammates can do it to ya:p? Seriously Gigachip, you need to accept your responsibility and move past it. You said that you accept it "out of humbleness" and not wanting to seem arrogant, but it sounds like you still trying to shift the blame around. If it's your off-day and you're not performing as expected, just take the fall, learn from your mistakes and then move on. No point dwelling on the past. Everybody is gonna say what they wanna say, you can't control that but you can control how you respond. The more you care about what they say about you, the more their words (negative or positive) will affect you. And you really don't wanna credit their negativity for your future poor performance:rolleyes:.

Take heart, see this as a opportunity/challenge and make any changes neccessary to win!

[FEND.]

Stop taking pity on yourself, you're being more pathetic than William Hung at the rate you're going.

Pick yourself up, and continue training hard!!! If you pity yourself even more then, I don't know what we can say to you.....

[GiGaChip]

LOL you guys are very right. I've gotten over it a bit the past few days, and I'm sure the team wouldn't really care now that they are all knuckle heads and forgot about badminton completely (j/k) But yea, just move on, and I'll work harder during practice. Hopefully I can redeem myself at the next game which is on tuesday, but the coaches are predicting that it's gonna be a tough one. We'll see hehe, thanks guys.