I am a racquetball player and I personally have had a lot of defeats as a player but there was once which I didn’t stand a chance and I was really in trouble. I have played racquetball for almost five years; I have been training since the last year to get my level of playing higher and become better at this spot. We train and go to tournaments around North America and Latino America, but this time the world junior tournament was in Republica Dominicana. So I trained hard this, and the past year to get ready not only for this tourney but for all the ones that are coming.
When the racquetball team, coaches and I arrived to Republica Dominicana, we knew we had to do our best in the court, leave it all on the court and fight for every point. So we started the tournament and I was in the 18 years category, so I knew the competitors were going to be though, but that didn’t meant I was going to let them win easy, I was ready to give it all in the in the court no matter who was my opponent. Racquetball is a game where you have to win 2 out of 3 sets in total, 15 points each set. The first game came and my rival was the ex-champion from past years. I knew he was a really good player, I was really nervous but that didn’t stop me from fighting every point and leaving everything on the court. The game started and I started making some points, I made it to six and I was winning. I was thinking is he really good or he is just letting me do some point. Then I think he realized I had enough points so he started playing well and the first set he win 15-6, I couldn’t make another point. The second set started and I thought, if I made 6 the first one lets try and make more! I fought the whole set, I even dive and landed on my butt to try to catch that ball, but the game ended and he won 15-0. I knew he was a really good player but I really wanted got that 0 off the score. When the game ended I was with my friends, laughing and other things because everyone knew I wasn’t going to win, but inside I was mad I couldn’t get rid of the 0 and I knew that If I wanted to make points to him or even win I had to work harder, get a positive mind and enter the court with a positive, and winning mind, and not because he is the ex-champion I don’t have to make any effort playing and let him win easy.
The second game came and I was a little less nervous than the last game but still knew I had to give the best from myself. My opponent was from Costa Rica and my team told me you can win to him, you have to win to him. So the game started, and I really started to play really bad. I started to get mad with myself and wasn’t playing with the head, just hitting and hitting the ball and letting him win easy. He won the first set and I got out of the court really mad because I knew I could win to him and I wasn’t giving all I could to win. My coach talked to me, he told me to calm down, use my head and think where I had to hit the ball. I entered the court calm and I knew what I had to do to win, so I started playing better, with more confidence in my shots and giving everything in the court. Calming down and using my head helped and I won the second set. I got out of the court happy and more confident because I knew I could win and we had to play a third set, which is played to 11 points. The third set started and I think I entered to confident with myself that I started losing points, the opponent started playing better and it was too late for me to stand up and win, so I lost the third set including the game. I went out of that court sad and really mad with myself because I failed to me and my country which I was representing, and it doesn’t matter if you win or lose, what matters is that you won or lost that game knowing that you gave everything and fought every single point to win, that’s what matters and I felt that wasn’t me. That night one of our coaches wanted a meeting with the whole team. The meeting was really late and everyone was tired and mad because our coach had woke us up. We all went to the meeting and our coach asked us “Who thinks that himself or herself gave 110% in the court?” no one raised his hand. He told us that the only thing he wanted from us is to play with mind and heart, give a 110% no matter how good or bad the opponent was, and no matter if we win or lose if we gave 110% of all our strength in the court we could get out of that court and had nothing to be sad about.
So the tournament continued and we knew we had a new goal and it wasn’t just to win, it was to represent our country with honor, respect, and strength giving everything in every point and every game that we played.
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