Practically shaking with excitement, I received my money. Three envelopes with money inside, just for playing in a small, local tournament! I received them one at a time, first, $70 for being 1st in U13 Boys Doubles. Next, I got $50 for getting 2nd place in U17 Mixed Doubles, and lastly, another $50 for getting 3rd place in U13 Boys Singles. This was the first time I had ever gotten money for winning a badminton tournament, and I enjoyed seeing my hard work pay off!
The first game I had played in the 2022 NVBC Open was my first Under 13 singles match. My mom said my opponent’s last name wrong, and I thought I was playing my friend, Daniel. I remembered that in the last badminton tournament, I lost pretty badly to him, and I had a terrible feeling in my gut that I didn’t express. But to my relief, my mom said the last name wrong, so I would play against Alex, someone I knew I could beat.
Badminton games consist of 3 sets, and the first player to win 2 sets would win the game. We started to play, but I was tense while trying to play my best because in every past tournament I played, I was lectured to always play my best. I couldn’t run, I couldn’t hit, and I couldn’t even think properly! Every time I lost a point, my mom looked disappointed, and I got more and more tense, forcing myself to play better.
In the second set, my mom told me to just relax, and play freely. I felt the difference in my performance. It was like I removed a fifty pound weight off my shoulders and I could finally run freely, not clumsily step around, trapped in a cage of worries. I kept controlling how I wanted the game to go, hitting my shots to the four corners of the court, making Alex scramble to the bird then back. Front to back, side to side, corner to corner, it was like I was training him, making him hit the shuttle back to me. After I won, I felt relaxed knowing that I didn’t have to tense up.
After that match, I had to play in the quarter finals against Zarnie, a player who had much more power than me. I was intimidated by his immense power, but soon realized he had too much power, and he was hitting all his shots outside the court. I won in the first set, but I was extremely lucky, as I was struggling to run around.
In the second set for that match, Zarnie focused his fighting spirit more, allowing him to keep a slight lead on me. He controlled his shots, and every time I hit to the back, he just easily hit it back to me, and I was like his toy. He easily got points using his power as an advantage, but he still occasionally made mistakes, allowing me to tighten the gap between the score. After all his efforts, he won the second set.
After the second set, my mom told me to hit to Zarnie’s backhand and then make him run diagonally across the court if I wanted to get points. I did as she said in the third set, and just as I thought, he had given up and his fighting spirit was unbalanced. He sometimes had a determined look in his eyes, but on the next point, he would have a tired look instead. I allowed this to process in my mind, and I easily defeated him using his weakness as my own strength.
After that, I played in the U13 Boys Doubles Finals, and I was partnered with the strongest U11 boy in our club. We were up against the state champion in Massachusetts and Thomas, someone who I lost to in a previous tournament in New Jersey. The first set was played in no one’s favor, and the set was evenly played, with the points advancing from 2-2 to 2-3, 3-3, and so on.
I realized that they weren’t playing really well, but I just couldn’t push myself to play better and I felt terrible for dragging my partner, Aditya, down. He played well, and because of him, we just barely won, making me question, “if I can sense that our opponents are playing terribly, why can’t I win points against them?”
In the second set, they started to hit me more, seeing that I was the weaker in our team. With this realization, they were able to lead just slightly, and I started panicking. I didn’t want to drag Aditya down with playing worse, and I tried to push myself to play better, but I lost the last point. We had played until deuce, where both teams have reached 20 points, making it so whichever team leads by two after 20-20 wins. We lasted two deuces, losing 21-23.
In the last set, we hit to Thomas’s backhand, and he tended to hit it high, letting Aditya net kill them many times. They maintained their plan to hit to me, but it backfired when they didn’t have the best angle but still hit to me, allowing me to get points off of their lousy returns. They kept fighting, but we also did, and the score was tight, but after all of our efforts, and the last two points, they hit below the net when hitting to me!
At the end though, we caught up from losing 8-1 to winning the U13 Boys Doubles division, 21-19. I was glad I had partnered with someone so strong, and that he agreed to be my partner. My parents were also happy that I not only won, but I had tried my best to win. At the end, I saw all my work pay off when I received $170 and a medal, piquing my interest in badminton.
The first game I had played in the 2022 NVBC Open was my first Under 13 singles match. My mom said my opponent’s last name wrong, and I thought I was playing my friend, Daniel. I remembered that in the last badminton tournament, I lost pretty badly to him, and I had a terrible feeling in my gut that I didn’t express. But to my relief, my mom said the last name wrong, so I would play against Alex, someone I knew I could beat.
Badminton games consist of 3 sets, and the first player to win 2 sets would win the game. We started to play, but I was tense while trying to play my best because in every past tournament I played, I was lectured to always play my best. I couldn’t run, I couldn’t hit, and I couldn’t even think properly! Every time I lost a point, my mom looked disappointed, and I got more and more tense, forcing myself to play better.
In the second set, my mom told me to just relax, and play freely. I felt the difference in my performance. It was like I removed a fifty pound weight off my shoulders and I could finally run freely, not clumsily step around, trapped in a cage of worries. I kept controlling how I wanted the game to go, hitting my shots to the four corners of the court, making Alex scramble to the bird then back. Front to back, side to side, corner to corner, it was like I was training him, making him hit the shuttle back to me. After I won, I felt relaxed knowing that I didn’t have to tense up.
After that match, I had to play in the quarter finals against Zarnie, a player who had much more power than me. I was intimidated by his immense power, but soon realized he had too much power, and he was hitting all his shots outside the court. I won in the first set, but I was extremely lucky, as I was struggling to run around.
In the second set for that match, Zarnie focused his fighting spirit more, allowing him to keep a slight lead on me. He controlled his shots, and every time I hit to the back, he just easily hit it back to me, and I was like his toy. He easily got points using his power as an advantage, but he still occasionally made mistakes, allowing me to tighten the gap between the score. After all his efforts, he won the second set.
After the second set, my mom told me to hit to Zarnie’s backhand and then make him run diagonally across the court if I wanted to get points. I did as she said in the third set, and just as I thought, he had given up and his fighting spirit was unbalanced. He sometimes had a determined look in his eyes, but on the next point, he would have a tired look instead. I allowed this to process in my mind, and I easily defeated him using his weakness as my own strength.
After that, I played in the U13 Boys Doubles Finals, and I was partnered with the strongest U11 boy in our club. We were up against the state champion in Massachusetts and Thomas, someone who I lost to in a previous tournament in New Jersey. The first set was played in no one’s favor, and the set was evenly played, with the points advancing from 2-2 to 2-3, 3-3, and so on.
I realized that they weren’t playing really well, but I just couldn’t push myself to play better and I felt terrible for dragging my partner, Aditya, down. He played well, and because of him, we just barely won, making me question, “if I can sense that our opponents are playing terribly, why can’t I win points against them?”
In the second set, they started to hit me more, seeing that I was the weaker in our team. With this realization, they were able to lead just slightly, and I started panicking. I didn’t want to drag Aditya down with playing worse, and I tried to push myself to play better, but I lost the last point. We had played until deuce, where both teams have reached 20 points, making it so whichever team leads by two after 20-20 wins. We lasted two deuces, losing 21-23.
In the last set, we hit to Thomas’s backhand, and he tended to hit it high, letting Aditya net kill them many times. They maintained their plan to hit to me, but it backfired when they didn’t have the best angle but still hit to me, allowing me to get points off of their lousy returns. They kept fighting, but we also did, and the score was tight, but after all of our efforts, and the last two points, they hit below the net when hitting to me!
At the end though, we caught up from losing 8-1 to winning the U13 Boys Doubles division, 21-19. I was glad I had partnered with someone so strong, and that he agreed to be my partner. My parents were also happy that I not only won, but I had tried my best to win. At the end, I saw all my work pay off when I received $170 and a medal, piquing my interest in badminton.
