Today (13th September) marks the beginning of the Wisden and Slazenger tournament, which are the NZ nationals for teams. This means its inter-provincial, e.g Auckland vs Wellington or Auckland vs Christchurch and so forth. The Wisden Cup is what the Division 1 players (comprising of most NZ national players vie to win, including the recent WC Bronze medalists, Sarah Runesten-Petersen and Daniel Shirley). Slazenger Cup is what the Division 2 players from each province try to bring home. The format works like this: There's 16 games. 4 MS, 4 LS, 2MD, 2 LD and 4 XD. If games tied up at 8-all then it's countback on sets, and points (if sets are still tied). I'm playing in the Slazenger Cup for Auckland and it will be my last tournament before heading overseas, so I'm quite excited about it, so I thought I would like to share this with you guys. After months of off court, body conditioning training and hours of shadow footwork, drills and backhand clears (hate that!), finally it's showtime! First up, Auckland is playing Canterbury, my old province, so that's going to be interesting. On paper, we should win, but it's going to be a struggle with Canterbury's line-up featuring 2 imported players - one's an ex state player from China (rumoured to give the top Canterbury guys a hiding in singles! *gulp* ) and the second is a lady from Japan, also very good! Anyhow, win or lose, hopefully it'll be a fun tournament! I'll be playing the no.2 singles and either no.1 doubles or potentially no.3 or no.4 mix doubles. Wish me luck guys, coz I know I'm going to need it to play consistently well for 4 days in a row, oh my poor old body is going to be sore! :crying: Cheeky KiWi - aDeLiNa
Interesting format. Is it a round-robin? Knockout? Round-robin with knockout with a playoff round? Are all 16 matches in a meet played in one day? How many people are in one team, usually? It would be quite brutal if there're only 8. Good luck on your matches. I'm sure you picked up a few tips and techniques from the recent NZ Open tourney.
Basically 8 provinces get divided into 2 groups. Then you play everyone in the group in a round-robin format. After that, the top team from group A will play the 2nd team from group B and vice versa in the semis and winners play each other for the Slaz Cup. And yes, all the 16 matches are played in one day. Usually a minimum of 8 ppl (4 guys and 4 gals) in one team but you can have up to 12 ppl too max. Some teams have singles specialists or doubles specialists that play in only their special events. For example, my strength is in my singles and doubles and so most likely I'll be playing these 2 disciplines throughout the tourney. You're right it can be quite brutal if you only have 8 players which means each player will have to play all 3 disciplines each day, oh man, that's one sore body by the end! Thanks for your good wishes!
Good luck Adelina! There is a good write up on the BNZ site if anyones interested. http://www.sportingpulse.com.au/assoc_page.cgi?client=%40Badminton%20New%20Zealand%402406%40%40%40%40%40%4036%40%401%40&sID=47&news_task=DETAIL&articleID=152283§ionID=47 I've got to say that BNZ has been a bit slow with the publicity for this event. I guess everyone was tired after the 1* & the Masters tournament in Nelson. Its very hard to predict winners with so many strong teams but I'm going to go out on a limb & say Auckland 1 for the Wisden & Waikato for the Slazenger (sorry Adelina) But if Auckland 2 does win the Slazenger they still won't be promoted to the Wisden as Auckland already has a team in this division.
First day Jitters! My first day could be summarised in one word, NERVES! This is not my first competition at this level but it still amazes me how I get this gigantic butterfly in my stomache that just won't settle! I had a horrible singles game, lost tamely to an ex-team mate from Canterbury, going down tamely, 3-11 and 6-11. I was rested from the doubles and mix. This made it worst, my only one game for the day and I couldn't perform. Made me realise a couple of things though: 1. The most important part of your game is your mind. All the physical fitness, great skills and technique all amount to nothing if your mind isn't strong enough to conquer your nerves, fear of losing, or give you the confidence and positive thinking that you need to play your game and execute your shots. 2. My old coach's wise words of the past came back and haunt me too after that game. He used to say to us "Don't lose, get beaten!" That is to say, don't be your worst enemy and make unforced errors to defeat yourself. Keep everything in and make your opponent win his/her points against you. 3. "Know yourself and know your enemy..." Rather than concentrating on how terrible I was playing, I should have concentrated more on working out my game plan, do what I normally do best on court and find my opponent's weakness. So all in all, terrible day for me. Luckilly though, my team did well enough and we won, albeit narrowly, 9-7. In the other tie in our group, Waikato (fueled by international players, including world no.35 Conrad Huckstaerd, easily accounted for Counties, winning 15-1 I believe. Today we're taking them on Waikato. I agree with EekOh, that Waikato should also walk all over us as they're poised to get promoted back to Division 1. Our aim in this Slaz tournament is to be 2nd and we're quite confident that we'll achieve that. I'm hoping to play in singles and doubles today and hopefully play better today. I always found that my first game of the tournament's the hardest! Anyone else found that? After that horrible first nervous game, I tend to relax and play better. Adelina
hey, I never said they would walk all over you. It looks like you have a really good team. But waikato are really strong. & it should be noted that Conrad Hackstaedt (sp) didn't play yesterday. Hopefully he was just being rested. Good luck Adelina!
Touche! Was just gonna say the same thing Adelina, methinks you should remember that whenever you step onto the court Convert the rest of Auckland 2 into Malaysians as well while you're at it... And if that doesn't work for you, don't forget about karma - hopefully it'll be your turn to dish out some damage tomorrow.
Thanks guys! Hey, just want to say I really appreciate all the support from you guys. Been kinda feeling a bit down since the start of the tournament. Ok, 1st day I could blame it on nerves. 2nd day, I was playing in all 3 disciplines. Although we weren't expected to beat our more fancied opponents, I was still surprised at how bad it was. In my singles, I didn't have nerves anymore but was so intimidated playing this import player from Peru, ranked in the top 50 of the world, I completely let her dominate and didn't play my game, as a result, lost quite terribly, so badly I don't even want to put down the score, suffice to say that it was close to getting two "ducks", which we call "down-trout". Do you know what happens if I have gotten one? I would have to bare my bottom to the entire players in the tournament on the finals' night celebration, oh the shame! Anyhow, doubles was slightly better, we lost 13-15 and 11-15, not too bad but could have been better. Mix was a waste of time, we were basically put in to rest the more 'talented' mix players. My mix was bad enough as it is, but I got put with a singles specialist, so it was quite bad! Overall, the team lost 1-15 (almost a team down-trout, and yes, that would have meant all of our team had to 'moon' the crowd). Today we're playing another province, Counties who got thrashed 15-1 by Canterbury (whom we beat 9-7 the other day) so we're hoping to beat Counties too and remain no.2 in the group. If we succeed, we'll then be in the semis and will play the top team from the other group. That's going to be interesting. So at the moment, despite not expected to do well yesterday, I'm still gutted that I'm not playing my best, it really gets me down, especially given it's the last tournament of our season and I wanted to do so well for our team. Oh well, can't turn back the clock. Will have to try harder in the next round of games. What I've learnt though is that my problem is mental, not physical. No, I'm not insane (well, not all the time!) but I sure need a sports psychologist to help me better in handling pressure in playing in tournaments My biggest weakness I think. Adelina
This revelation puts us in two minds. Do we wish you all the best and hope that you win? Or do we hope that you get a down-trout?
Very funny hcyong! Lucky you're not in NZ then huh?! 3rd day of the tournament went a bit better. I still haven't won my singles, but I'm definitely more relaxed and managed to at least win a set...hehe, slow improvement I know, but getting there...our team had a good win though, winning 12-4 and this takes us into the semi-finals. Today will be a good game versus North Harbour (Mel's province, so no doubt he'll be cheering for them!) The other semi features the top team from our group, Waikato vs the 2nd team from the other group, which I believe is Wellington North. Most likely Auckland will meet Waikato again in the finals. I'm hoping to play better espeially when I'm likely going to play against a player that's supposedly much better than me on paper. I like being the underdog. Hopefully I can turn the tables on her! Adelina
Go out there and show North Harbour that they're nothing more than the little splinter colony that it really is! (FYI for you folks not in NZ, the North Harbour is part of the Auckland region, just not part of Auckland Badminton - or any other sport for that matter)
Psst Adelina - its down trou not down trout - although the idea of having to go on court & put a fish down is pretty funny! Hope you are having a great morning!
Hehehe Eek Oh, I always wondered how "down trou" was spelled, it sounded like trout to me..thought it was some weird kiwi slang! Sorry to break your heart Mel, but we beat North Harbour 9-7 today to enter the finals against the mighty Waikato tomorrow who of course easily disposed of Wellington North. It's going to be another thrasing for us no doubt *sigh* I better not get 'down trou' or I'll be really annoyed. Managed so far to avoid the shame! Tomorrow's finals will be interesting given that the Slaz and Wisden will be held at the same time, starting from 11am. You guys in NZ, make sure you turn up to support your respective teams! Please come up to say hi to me too, especially eek oh and noluckjim, I still have no idea who you guys are! Don't be anti-social lah! A
lol how long do the matches take? I'm meant to be painting a bathroom (no, seriously!). May get a chance to pop down - if I'm lucky Play to three sets, that way you can stall for time.. Auckland/Adelina boleh!
Hahaha, you gotta be kidding right, 3 sets? I'll be lucky I don't get another down trou given that I'm playing that Peruvian scary woman again! But this time, with everyone and I mean everyone not expecting much, I hope I'll be able to have some fun, get a few rallies going, really go for it Well, hope to see you down there later today then!
I hope its still not too late to wish you ALL the BEST! . Stay focus gal. You can do it. Show your game face.
Go Adelina! Hi Adelina! She is no doubt having a well deserved lie in today! I wish I had read this board before heading in for the last day. We assumed the starting time would still be 10 but it was 11, so we were far to early. Adelina is a very good player, folks! She battled very hard against the Waikato No2 (never gave up!) but Doriana was too strong for her. Unfortunately work committments meant I couldn't stay for the entire game but I've looke the results up & Waikato won 15-1. Waitakere won the first division. Waikato had beaten Waitakere twice in friendly games leading up to this, so which one is really the No 1 side in NZ?
