I was winning most of my matches with the help of my forehand top-spin, something which the seniors did not approve of. Why would i bother? After all, nothing succeeds like success!
So I kept playing and kept upsetting few seniors frequently… It all carried on well for sometime. Then came the time to get exposed to the real world… the harsh realities… Often called the bitter truth … where you actually stand.
The first of the many “Big” days - A state level competition.
I was to take part in few events. The Juniors and NMS (Non Medalist Singles- An event where anyone irrespective of gender and age will play the other). The unique thing about NMS is once you win it you cannot take part in it again.
Few people hoped I would turn up quite a few surprises that day and others were not so hopeful but it hardly mattered. What I thought rather what I would do, was what all which would matter at the end. To be frank I was nervous. I had practiced till 9PM the previous night and left the hall assured that I would give the tourney my best.
The hall and surroundings which make up a state ranking tourney are quite different from one gets to see in a club. So many established players, so much expectations, so many seniors, the stars and few legends. The way they come across to a new player can be quite intimidating. It really can be. Those track suits which those “players” were flaunting, those rackets-rubbers one would have never seen, the coaching , the secret/tips sharing in between the sets… Well one has to go to a tournament to get a feel of the atmosphere. It takes time to sink in for anyone and I was no different.
After searching through the fixtures for my name, I found that I had an unseeded player in my first round and Arun (State 4th seed) in my 3rd round. So after meeting my fellow club mates and cheering for them in their matches I was ready to get on with my game.
It was a pretty easy match and I was through to my second round clash. Now this guy had a really big gang behind him. Even before both of us reached the table there were rounds of cheering doing rounds
and that didn’t help me much. The first set got over pretty soon with I losing it (21-16 I think). Now with no one from my club around me I had get my strategies on my own. I dint have any of them.. I just went there thinking giving I have to win this set. Don’t remember the details but I somehow managed to get through in that game.
Something really was not happening.
My mom told not to play offensive as most of my shots were not yielding the results. My top-spins were not finding space on his side of the table. They kept crashing the net and I was in total disarray. After all top- spin was my main weapon. Was it because of the speed ? Was the spin not enough? What was the factor? I was not sure… I just couldn’t play to any game plan . I never had thought about any game plan ever before except to go there and keep hitting top-spins one after the other. I never was a player who “capitalizes on the other player’s weakness, makes a strategy and sticks to it” kind of a player. I was more of a “follow your instinct” kind of a player. But somehow nothing seemed to work.
I resisted my urge to play top-spin. He built his game on it… All of a sudden he turned more offensive. Worse he was succeeding in it too…. How could I explain to my mother that I never had learn't to just block and play a defensive game. It was not how I had learn't to play Table tennis … I played my top-spins few landed right too. I was unable to find out what made few of them land rightly while others were going wrong… I lost the match…End of the tournament for me . After all a person who lost his second round to an unseeded player is not expected to do much harm in NMS.
Played the NMS with a heavy heart and lost in 2 or 3 round. My mind was in such a confused state. How could I lose in such a manner? Why did my best arm desert me all of a sudden? How could it happen? Oh man like this I was never gonna make it big…
I went back to club the next day evening. First thing I did was to “test” my top-spin. Everything seemed just right. I still could race away with the game with the opponents I had there. All seemed back in place. I took out my frustration smashing the hell out of players I used to practise in my earlier days. They just dint have answers to my offense.
I tried hard and ignored the tourney day and removed it out of my head. It was not as difficult as I thought it would be with the leagues and intra club competitions which happened in Horizon.
So I kept playing and kept upsetting few seniors frequently… It all carried on well for sometime. Then came the time to get exposed to the real world… the harsh realities… Often called the bitter truth … where you actually stand.
The first of the many “Big” days - A state level competition.
I was to take part in few events. The Juniors and NMS (Non Medalist Singles- An event where anyone irrespective of gender and age will play the other). The unique thing about NMS is once you win it you cannot take part in it again.
Few people hoped I would turn up quite a few surprises that day and others were not so hopeful but it hardly mattered. What I thought rather what I would do, was what all which would matter at the end. To be frank I was nervous. I had practiced till 9PM the previous night and left the hall assured that I would give the tourney my best.
The hall and surroundings which make up a state ranking tourney are quite different from one gets to see in a club. So many established players, so much expectations, so many seniors, the stars and few legends. The way they come across to a new player can be quite intimidating. It really can be. Those track suits which those “players” were flaunting, those rackets-rubbers one would have never seen, the coaching , the secret/tips sharing in between the sets… Well one has to go to a tournament to get a feel of the atmosphere. It takes time to sink in for anyone and I was no different.
After searching through the fixtures for my name, I found that I had an unseeded player in my first round and Arun (State 4th seed) in my 3rd round. So after meeting my fellow club mates and cheering for them in their matches I was ready to get on with my game.
It was a pretty easy match and I was through to my second round clash. Now this guy had a really big gang behind him. Even before both of us reached the table there were rounds of cheering doing rounds
and that didn’t help me much. The first set got over pretty soon with I losing it (21-16 I think). Now with no one from my club around me I had get my strategies on my own. I dint have any of them.. I just went there thinking giving I have to win this set. Don’t remember the details but I somehow managed to get through in that game.
Something really was not happening.
My mom told not to play offensive as most of my shots were not yielding the results. My top-spins were not finding space on his side of the table. They kept crashing the net and I was in total disarray. After all top- spin was my main weapon. Was it because of the speed ? Was the spin not enough? What was the factor? I was not sure… I just couldn’t play to any game plan . I never had thought about any game plan ever before except to go there and keep hitting top-spins one after the other. I never was a player who “capitalizes on the other player’s weakness, makes a strategy and sticks to it” kind of a player. I was more of a “follow your instinct” kind of a player. But somehow nothing seemed to work.
I resisted my urge to play top-spin. He built his game on it… All of a sudden he turned more offensive. Worse he was succeeding in it too…. How could I explain to my mother that I never had learn't to just block and play a defensive game. It was not how I had learn't to play Table tennis … I played my top-spins few landed right too. I was unable to find out what made few of them land rightly while others were going wrong… I lost the match…End of the tournament for me . After all a person who lost his second round to an unseeded player is not expected to do much harm in NMS.
Played the NMS with a heavy heart and lost in 2 or 3 round. My mind was in such a confused state. How could I lose in such a manner? Why did my best arm desert me all of a sudden? How could it happen? Oh man like this I was never gonna make it big…
I went back to club the next day evening. First thing I did was to “test” my top-spin. Everything seemed just right. I still could race away with the game with the opponents I had there. All seemed back in place. I took out my frustration smashing the hell out of players I used to practise in my earlier days. They just dint have answers to my offense.
I tried hard and ignored the tourney day and removed it out of my head. It was not as difficult as I thought it would be with the leagues and intra club competitions which happened in Horizon.
