DChmielewski

Since I last posted here, I have had I think 2 tournaments. First one was State Doubles in which my dad and I won A cons and the second tourny was the Candy Cane Classic which was actually this last weekend. It was a really good tournament for me and I'm glad of the outcome. I ended up playing Open Doubles with an ex-pro player named Jim W. and then singles. My first match was doubles and we got matched up againist 2 very good open players. I played hard but was not focused because of my previous match, losing in tiebreaker in singles. The doubles match was fairy good, but I was playing like crap and my mind was just not in the right place. We ended up losing in 2 games and I went home disapointed with the outcome for that day. I didnt play until 8pm. on Saturday so I had the whole day to rest up physically and mentally for the Open Double Con Finals. I came to the club determined to win. I was so focused that I felt no emotion when I missed a shot, I felt no pain, and I felt like a king on the court. Jim, my doubles partner, told me the day before that we play for one point. We always pretend its 0-0 and we play for 1 point. This really helped out because the score was not in my mind. The only thing in my mind was my next shot or movement. We ended up losing the first game 15-13 but I knew that we were not going to go down without a fight. I knew the first game was over and there was nothing to do about it but win the next game. We ended up winning 15-12 in the second game. Tie-breaker was brutal and all I can remember is my opponents serving with 9-10. I got screened and didnt see the ball but the ref thought it was a good shot. I held my racket up and refocused. Usually when its 10-10 I play defensively but because I thought to myself, one point, I played like it was 0-0 killing the ball and the rally ending with a lucky dink from my opponents. We lost the match 11-10, I was angry but felt accomplished. After the match, I had at least 15 people come up to me and congradulate me on how well I played. My doubles partner said that the game was a Victory in the sense that I learned how to use your mind and to focus to play good racquetball. I had people coming up to me saying that it was the best I ever played, and I guess the whole top was filled with people looking over peoples shoulders just to see my match. I felt so proud. Even though we lost in points, I felt as if we won. My game took a huge leap forward that day and I'm glad that I played with this ex-pro because he taught me somethings that I could never learn in a lesson. Focusing is a big part of racquetball, actually, its a big part with any sport and I learned that day of how key it is.