Way to go Jinryu and Silentlight! And congratulations to the first RsM tournament, it was a blast! The evening/night at the YMCA was a warm up session for some and killer for others (like me ^^"). I finally get to match a face to the screen names of some BC members: Jinryu, Silentlight, Friendies, LazyBuddy, Volts (anyone missing?). As expected, every single one of them are talented players. [out of towners] It was great to have the opportunity to meet the famous LazyBuddy in person. And it was an even more unique experience to see his dive! Hope your knees are alright! Outlah from Ontario also attended the tournament. Such a good player! In his match against LB and I, he was almost playing one on two and still managed to get a pretty tight game!! Mmm our excuse this time would be our being tired after the Friday night YMCA session which Outlah did not make. A pair of sisters (Friendies' friends) who live in a different region in the Quebec province also attended the YMCA session and the tournament. Decent players they all are. The two won first place in WD at RsM. *sigh* Sisters always tend to play well together in tournaments.
As far as I know, Tayo and iso300 was also there, I'm sure many others from BC were there except that we only knew their real names . But seriously though, I think Jinryu (especially) would agree with me that running a tournament is more tiring than playing in one. Maybe it's just because that was our 1st one. I didn't even get to watch the games .
I've been meaning to post something about the tournament earlier, but looks like Devilicious beat me to it. The night of the tournament I got to bed at about 1:30 in the next morning, only to wake up at 5:30am (4 hours later) to go to my first day at a new job... so yeah, I've been a tad short on sleep and spare time as of late. But to get to the point: I'd like to thank everyone for their support. People ask "how can you afford to give out so many prizes?" and the simple answer is because *you played*. Well, played, and *paid* to enter the tournament, that is. And pretty much every dollar you paid for your entrance fees went to the bags, rackets and birds that you won. The sales from the RsM store were also put into the prizes and gym rentals. The first ever Racketsports Montreal Amateur Open badminton tournament was a huge success. We had 21 teams playing in the mens doubles category, 6 in the womens doubles, and 18 in the mixed category, totalling 45 doubles teams. Add in friends and family of the players, as well as volunteers, and our two gyms were packed with well over 150 people! Total games palyed-- over 110 matches! I think it's worth mentioning my great thanks, especially to Silentlight, who was there from the very begining. I think when he signed up to be my partner, he, like I, expected that this would be "easy". We had a plan setup-- we thought we were organized, but you know murphy's law. I'll be honest when I'll say that for Silentlight and I, there were moments where I felt I was going to have breakdown and just sorta curl up in a corner and hide for the rest of the day-- things were really that tough! I will also confess that as a human being there were many moments when I felt like really just grabbing an overly annoying player by the shirt and shaking them up a bit. Well, maybe MORE than just a little bit. But in the end, thanks to constant supporting words of the players (the nice one, not the aggravating ones, lol) and other volunteers, we made it through. It's been a great learning experience for us as organizers, and already I've got ideas on how to make the next tournament run more smoothly, and be better overall. Yes, there's going to be a follow up for this tournament, but next year, lol! I think I for one need somewhat of a break for now. Seriously, the players we had were such a tough bunch! Though it's true that there were some pretty high level players out here, that's not what I mean... I mean the fact that many of you were entrolled in both a mens/womens doubles team as well as the mixed team-- that takes pure endurance. Some crazy eventualities: A three way tie for finals qualification in both the womens and mixed doubles categories! Seriously, I looked at some of the players, and it looked like they were running out of gas-- but they gave it their all to the very end, and for that, I was very impressed. Some other random statistics: At least 16 birds who had their heads chopped off At least one bird that went through the basketball hoop (very, very high) At least 5 strings broken At least 5 participants who came from outside of Montreal At least 36 litres of gatorade drank At least 1 case where someone needed ice for an injury At least 7diving saves At least one wristband was deemed too sweaty and disgusting for continued use At least one person almost choked on a muffin At least one person clashed rackets with the hallway wall when too overzealous about getting warmed up At least 1 racket broken At least 1 *shoe* broken It's been extremely entertaining to watch everyone play-- the best part is that while the people were competitive, I saw lots of smiles and lots of camraderie, even between opponents. People really did meet and make new friends. I saw some people exchanging phone numbers to play at a later date, and for having been able to play a part in forging such links among badminton players, I can say that the tournament was a total success in my eyes at least. P.S. I'd like to ask a favor-- if anyone got pictures of the event, if you could PM me, I'm interested in compling a bit of a photo album which I'll put online for everyone.
My god, another 8 hrs of driving, and I am back to NYC in 1 piece. The tourny is a great success, many good players, many good games (besides my own performance...) and many nice ppl around. I am totally amazed to Jinryu and Slientlight's effort. W/o their (and their staff, i.e. friends and family) hrs and hrs of preparation, we can never have such a chance to compete and to have fun. All thumbs up for them! 9hrs to Mtrl, and 8 hrs back, my legs are killing me. This is the 1st time, I almost suffered a muscle cramp off court, rather than in action. Well, all the effort totally worth it. Many thnx (and a bit sorry as for guilty) to my great MD partner (Mr. Demarco, Frendies' friend) and my lovely MXD partner (Devilicious). They covered me effectively, and encourage me when I suffer from a mental break down (in MXD) due to bad performance. W/o them, I can't achieve the 6-3 record, and might leave standing on court with a blank face... I think i need a bit more tourny experience, as well as mental toughness training in the future. It proves again (also from previous local tourny expereince), that it will take me un-necessarily long time to get into a comfortable zone. Lucky this tourny is round robin, and I still get a chance to show some strokes with my normal standard (i.e. the LB dive ), but it costed us the 1st game in both MD and MXD, due to my "slow warm up" nature. Anyway, need to take a rest. Let's see, maybe next time, LB can reflect a bit more "court skill" with his "big mouth / BC posting" skills.
Damn, my brain seems not working well now. Congrats to Frendis to win MXD title and runner up in LD! Congrats to ISO300 to win MD title and runner up in MXD! BC/BF rulez... Too bad, big mouth LB did not live up to ppl's expectation, as always...
lol, looks like Lazy is making acquaintance much quicker than I am. Up til this very moment, I'm still wondering who this ISO300 is... Yes, one of the 2 MD winner but WHICH one?! Enlighten me somebody... ^^" (don't thrash me the next time we play for not recognizing your screen name eh ) Friendies is a really good player. And Lazy, underestimating himself and modest as always.
Yeah...I thought I knew who iso300 was and if I'm right he was 2nd in MD, could master Lazybody be mistaken? I, too, think LB is too modest, young men should have more pride, I know I would if I had his skill.
I was wrong... Yeah, ISO300 got runner up for both MD and MXD. Still great! Just for that many games with high lvl opponents, I bow to his skills. And personally, he and partner trashed me and Devilicious in the group MXD games. Even my dive is useless to save the result. Proud of my skill? Dive, definitely yeah. BS a lot, could be.... Skill.... hmmm.... more training... and let's see next tourny...
No doubt... Her shoes can tell us how hard she fought through. This is the 1st time, i see a girl diving! And the thing amazed me the most is the mental toughness. With the situation like under pressure, I got my mental break down, but she did not, and went on to win. My 2 thumbs up again!
I definitely beg to differ! I simply got lucky sometimes. What pressure? This was a fun tournament, seeing so many people and all When Lazybuddy is in a good mood, everything seems like "la vie en rose" to him... But it's ok, we still like you, mr happy. Hope your knees get better soon
Lol of course! I believe Friendies have plenty. Please be patient Dave! BC members form such a nice crowd! Lazy seems a little shy though . He kept sitting slightly apart from the crazy people. Hmmm I don't know about having my pictures posted online though... Are we supposed to get permission from people before posting?
Kudos to Kevin, Jake, and all the people who helped run the event. It would be nice to know which BC'er actually showed up. As to having my picture posted here, I'll have to meet every BC'er in real life first, then I will consider. LB, you weren't alone, I cramped up half way back. Had to take a 5 minute break before I could continue, and had to use my heel for gas pedel. Its time like this I wish for cruise control. Have you had as good a time as I did.
Cruise control, what a great invention. Automatic pilot would be even better! I guess the pictures will be posted on racketsports website. *hint hint*
Let's just say you and Devilicious perhaps held back a bit in your game. Don't compliment me! But I do love playing mixed doubles. Just a little disappointed that the XD finals was a single set of 15 points. Your partner, DeMarco, is a high level player. At first he thought the top two teams in each pool will advance to the quarter-finals. But instead only the top team advanced, which is quite harsh. If you and Demarco have entered the playoffs, then you two may have reached the finals.
No doubt he's a good player. Actually, both me and him thought top 2 will enter the final draw (big prize as none of us paid enough attention when Jinryu explained the tourny format :crying: ). Maybe that's why even he did not take full force, when we were down in 1st game. (ok, ok, a bit excuse for me screw him up... )
First, that's not always true. Remember when u offer food, I was the 1st one went up to get it? I agree that i was in a very strange mood on sat. Just seems can't be cheered up easily, and that did make me lose both 1st games in both MD and MXD. Maybe I was busy cursing out myself when ur guys were having a party on the other side? Or, my brain was simply blanked?
Note: I did NOT dive much this time. The soreness more come from the driving (9 + 8 = 17 hrs), I believe.