Pac Rim
I'm relaxing at home after a long weekend playing squash. This weekend marked what is typically the end of the squash season, as the weather starts to turn for the better, and people have less desire to stand in a small glass box getting a schvitz on with another dude. And now for the segue... I think that that description would be a good candidate for getting squash into the Olympics. The introduction paragraph is now complete, and I will move boldly onwards.
Hello, and welcome to the first paragraph of the body of this entry. First up, the results. I had a disappointing loss in my second game of the main draw to Cam Burnett, a great guy with a good broad australian accent (I'd probably be willing to forgive someone taking my wallet if they did it with a sweet accent). Cam went on to win the B draw, so that offers some consolation.
As I was worried about, the typical mental block I suffer from re-emerged to claim my brain for the three quick games we were on the court for. I've been trying out a number of things this season with gradual success, and the only approach is to continue adapting and until I resolve it.
Having said that, I'm pretty happy with how I've fared this season. I feel like I can play an A-level game without embarassing myself, provided I am able to hold in my head that I am, in fact, capable of that. It's without a doubt that it is the battles that makes us stronger, so I can always try to hold in my head that this is a challenge to be triumphed over.
If anyone has their own tricks to share, I would be interested to hear them - leave a comment.
The tournament was precluded with Stu having to go to the hospital, which cast a bit of a pall over the whole thing. However, Dan received good news on Sunday, and it really speaks to the strength of the community that the event was still a huge success and a really great time. Rather than focus on the negative, it's the positive parts of the tournament that I like writing about.
There were a ton of old friends in town that I haven't seen and hung out with for quite a while, and it was great reconnecting with a bunch of them. Everyone has improved, and the squash was really great. The open draw this year consisted of a couple of friends, Thomas, Jarryd, and Ryan, along with some other familiar faces. And, to round it off, Sarah Fitz-gerald, the former world #1 female open player.
Jarryd and Sarah played first round, which was an interesting match. There was some contention about whether or not Jarryd was playing too roughly, and he received two warnings from the refferee about this. It looked to me like Jarryd was just making every effort to the get to the ball, and I was skeptical as to whether or not the same warnings would have been given out if Jarryd was playing another guy. Oh well, not a big deal.
Viktor Berg won the event, although I think that was mostly a foregone conclusion. Sarah came in second, which was interesting - I think most people didn't really know what to expect of her, and whether or not she would be up for it, but she certainly was. I had to play my own game for the final, but I heard that Viktor was fairly in control the whole way through.
The partying was pretty great - we kept things rolling throughout the weekend, and there was the perfect amount of beer flowing - not too much, not too little.
Lessons Learned
One thing this tournament gave me an opportunity to do was practice adapting my pace. I haven't really done this at all for a long while. If I think about it, most of our lessons are done at a fairly high pace, so it's not something I've thought about. However, three of the four opponents I played against this weekend were weakest (in my opinion) against a slower pace.
Cam played a good all-around game, but Bevan confirmed my initial hunch when he said that he loved to hit pace. Slowing things down against Cam didn't win me the match, but it definitely was the right path to head down. Anytime you can take your opponent out of their element, you introduce a little bit of uncertainty to their mindset.
Next up I played a little dude from England called Alex. Alex was 13 and definitely precocious at times, but he was pretty cool and I enjoyed playing him. He played a damn good game, especially for someone that only just came up to my torso (I guess that's why he's ranked 7th in England for his age group). The juniors that I've played have typically learned pace before they've learned playing soft and slowly. It takes a little more patience to play, and that's always something that I find improves as I age. There's always exceptions to every rule, such as Tyler Olsen in this case (who almost won the A's - big ups the T-dot massive).
Alex adapted reasonably well to the shift in pace, but playing high took away a lot of his power, and it's pretty hard for a little guy to volley early due to their height. Still, it was a great match, and I got to play the villain (playing against a cute 13-year old kid with a British accent is the ultimate introduction and setup for the villain in any squash-related super-hereo movie).
The last opponent I played was another junior who loves to hit the ball hard. Taking that ability away from him removed his ability to let out his frustrations (and this guy definitely gets frustrated with himself). I played softly and patiently and essentially let my opponent beat himself.
MVPs
Dan and Jocelyn are without a doubt MVPs for the weekend, largely carrying off the whole tournament themselves. There's a million of other people that contributed in their own ways, and that's pretty dudical too. At the center of that all, though, these guys were definitely at the nucleus.
Wrap up
So, the squash season is drawing to a close, but what a great tournament to end on. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at the Sun and Surf tournament in the heat of the West Coast summer, and seeing how everyone has developed.
Two of my friends, Jarryd and Thomas, are moving out here for the summer, and that is likely to be a pretty good time. I see tacos and patios on the horizon..
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