My 1st Badminton Tournament

“Clear your mind of can’t.” – Samuel Johnson

“…The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat…” – ABC Wide World of Sports

My wife and I started playing badminton almost four (4) years ago. And just on day one (the very day we bought the rackets & shuttlecocks), we already got hooked. Just like any other person we knew we started just for the fun of it (and with the hope of shedding some pounds). As we went along, we met others who also had the interest in this racket sport. Slowly we got more eager to learn the sport and so the number of sessions just got more frequent & intense than before. I now know why thy call it “baddicts”. The craving to play is always there.

Human nature as it may be, the thought of competing and matching up with someone on your field of interest eventually pushed me to test where I’m at in badminton right now. And it did happen.

March 24. Summer. Hot & humid. And my much-awaited day came. This will be my 1st badminton tournament. And so, with such anticipation, energy and excitement for this day I woke up early, packed my stuffs and had a full breakfast of coffee and oatmeal.

By 8am, I was already at Racquettaz Badminton Club – just a 15min drive from home. The place was already bustling with activity when I arrived. Organizers pacing back and forth making sure that every thing’s in place. Other players were checking their match schedules. While the rest are limbering up and doing some shadow lunges, smashes and footwork exercises. Almost everyone was so eager to “get it on”.

After a short opening remark, invocation and a pledge to sportsmanship, the Intel-Analog dual meet eventually took its course. The place have seven (7) courts. All of which was filled with players, umpires & supporters from both sides as the games begin.

As this is my first time to be in a match, I was classified as a Level C player. I will be playing mix doubles with Joan whom I had the chance to meet and play with just a couple of days ago. But since then I already got some hopes that we’ll do well then.

And we did well indeed.

We had five scheduled match that day. Once our names were called for match # 1 I was half-eager half-nervous as I approached court # 4. The first few rallies were like getting-to-know my partner and our opponent. After a couple of scores, I was beaming with confidence. We can win this! And we did. Our winning streak (or my beginners luck) went on until the fourth match.

“We can ace match five”. I was already telling myself. But this match was different. The first half was full of errors from our side, specifically from me. I was doing clears so strong that it would over shoot the farthest line; do low serves that the net became the frequent receiver and pushed drives right in front of our opponents racket, to their delight, and to my partner’s dismay.

On the second half though, hope came up. Joan’s skills and confidence remained and we got to recover some lost points until we reached a 20-20 tie score. We went on a race to score 3. Unfortunately, my beginner’s luck ran out. We had to face defeat in 1-3.

We left court # 6 feeling bitter & disappointed knowing that we could have done better. But it’s how competition goes – one wins, the other loses.

Despite the competitive atmosphere, the whole match levels from A to C went well, friendly and fun. The photo ops was even well participated as anyone from either company cueing a camera for a shot would have swarms of players from both teams in from of him in no time all in smiles and killer poses.

In the end, Intel grabbed the overall championship that day. I know for a fact that we always do. And so, I went home exhausted but proud, knowing that this time I was among those who contributed to that win.