Even the big snow storm striked northeast region of US, the annual team tourny is still scheduled to be tomorrow - 12/07! Lucky enough (still don't know what the hell why and how) I got selected into 1 of the 8 teams, and over 100 club members from various regions will rock in Manhattan, NY. The tourny should be lasted for the entire day. The traffic is terrible, but i am sure most of the baddy fanatics from the listed clubs will come to play, to fight for the trophy and to cheer from their teammates. I am looking forward for a fun day, and fully charged my digital camera. Snow and gusty wind outside, but inside of our hearts, the desire of badminton is burning, and let's see which team will raise the champion trophy this year!
Fun, yes, big & tasty pizza, yes, watched a lot of intensive games, yes, personal record, errr.... u know... I was really surprised that over 80% of players still managed to travel to this tourny, including ppl live 100 miles away, who had to drive 3-4 hrs (tourny started @ 8:30am). Compare to most of other teams, my team was not strong. We do have a lot of good players (according to regular club lvl), but lack of "the one". Therefore, our team's ranking was low as we expected. However, most of us did put on some fight, and once a while, put a threat on some favorable individuals. I played 2 MD for my team, the 1st one, we got a point for the team, not because we did superior well, just because one of the opponents did not show up on time, and we won by default. The sub player was even stronger (their capt.), but since there's no pressure, we just played as best as we could. The 2nd game was against a highly favorable pair. We knew we would lose, but still tried to hold on. I was not quite satisfied with my own performance, though. Due to this is the 1st time I played in this gym, kinda bothered a lot by the light and lines (massive of lines for various sports). Plus, the cheering crowd was overwhelming (hey, they are the favorable), and I got some very serious unforced error. Down by 0-12 within 5 min in 1 set, then finally settled down. Lost 6-12 in a total of 25+ min, and several rallies impressed the entire crowed, and brought ppl on their feet and cheer. Overall, I think I enjoyed myself and know about how much gap in between me and the good players. Nice experience, nice ppl, and hmmmm.... really good pizza.
Sorry, I mean 6-15. The team score was 1 win, 2 loses in the group (4 teams in each group) in the 1st round. W: 7:2 (9 games played between each of 2 teams) L: 1:8, 1:8 (I got that 1 point, ) I did not stay until the 2nd round was over, due to I have very early morning working schedule. I will contact my team mates regarding to the final ranking. The pics, yeah, i took some pics, but almost none in action. The gym is dark, and ppl complain if taking pic right to the eyes, will disturb players' performance. I know 1 girl took a group pic of my team, see if I can get a copy and put it up here. Just look for the "big guy", that's me.
My team's ranking is 7 out 8 in total. 5 teams got more than 3 elite players, which left 3 others fight for the 2 survivor spots, and the 8th team will be dropped out for next yr. So, we survived, barely...
Holy smoke, LB! Was it your first outing in that tournament? I am sure that the crowd must be cheering for your team as well since you guys are the underdogs. What audience won't like a dramatic good fight even if it's almost one-sided. Was the spectator turnout really huge despite the nasty condition outside? 80% showed up for baddy, eh? Tells us something about the passion of the sport and how underrated it is comparing to other spectator sports.
The gym was divided into 2 sections, with 3 courts each side. My match was played in the opponent's "home court", which means the majority crowd are "enemies". Ppl cheered loudly for their heroes, and I think they were ready to watch a quick blow out. With all the environment (including light, lines, as I first played there), we were quickly down to 0:12. I thought I was way too nervous at the way beginning, and let my partner down. Lucky enough, we made the game to be much more excited after we thought "there's nothing to lose", and put on a fight. They used almost another 20 min to score the final 3 pts, while we got 6 in the same period. The crowd was brought to their feet, once I charllenged one of their players for some net rallies. Nasty and tricky tip-tap / slices last for several shots, and I won with a "roll over". I raised my arm into the air, and the crowd kindaly cheered for me for a while. Maybe this was the only positive moment in this match.
Nice! LB! Heh! Now you really know how to milk your "15 minutes of glory". Was it your first tournament? I think that inexperience players tend to beat themselves in tournament conditions rather than getting beaten by other people. Just keep training, man! Next year will be better!
This is not the 1st tourny I participated, but it is the 1st as a "team tourny". I think I might over-concern the team value, and did not want to let my teammates down. Compare to a lot of ppl, i am still relatively inexperienced for the "large stage", but guess "tomorrow will be better".
