Badminton tournament day!
Tournament day started with a Indigenous music demonstration I had attend for my music class that forced me to forfeit my first game. I was disappointed by the fact I had to forfeit my first match, but I managed to look him up and discovered that he had won the U18 2022 Badminton tournament here in victoria… So I really want the worst thing to have to miss it, as I would have gotten destroyed. The tournament was run in a double elimination format so you have to lose twice to be knocked out, so I still had a chance to advance through the losers bracket. Before my next match started I went around asking about him to try and gauge my chances. Unfortunately for me he also forfeited his first match so I couldn’t get any information.
Moving on to the game itself. My opponent showed up a little after me and we went straight into a game. Because of the level of the tournament, we were in charge of calling in or out for any birdies that were close or on the line, as well as keeping track of our points. I’m used to watching for if my/ my opponents shots are in or out, but I often rely on whoever I’m playing with to keep track of score as I tend to get exhausted while I play and my brain power and memory decreases making it hard to remember the score. Once we started playing it seemed like we were pretty even for abilities. We spent most of the match trading points or one of us going on a run of points followed by the other. In the end I managed to pull out a win for the first round. We took a rest between rounds to get water and recover some. We talked a little bit and found out he had been sick the past couple days as well as hasn’t played in a couple months. It was then that I realised that he was merely out of practice and he probably should be beating me more soundly.
The next round went much like the first except I lost. Round 2 is also when I saw that he was definitely better than but having not played and being sick gave me an advantage. When we started the last round I fell behind 0-5 and managed to pull it back to win 21-18. These games were definitely not easy but at least they felt like we were even on the playing field. The final scores were 21/18 for me, 21/16 for him and 21/18 for me. Unfortunately my next game wasn’t as even.
The second match was honestly a joke for my opponent. There isn’t much to talk about other than I lost 21/9 and 21/12. That may look like the score wasn’t horrible, but my opponent wasn’t trying at all. He was just playing with me, putting the birdie all around the court making me run. I think I had 2 points in each game that was a deserved point from me but even those he probably could have returned if he was taking the match seriously. I think the match showed me just how much I still have to learn in badminton to be able to be taken seriously. My smashes, drops and my placements all need work. I do hope that come next September when I’m back playing against some of these guys in intramurals that I can put up a decent fight.