Mind Game or Footwork?

SB is very good at badminton – for the amateur level we play at, he is one of the best in our group, if not the best. And today I beat him 26 – 24. You know how much of a historic (histrionic?) moment it is for me to be so thrilled and blog about it!!!

We were just fooling around, tossing the shuttle back and forth for the first 15 mins. Then he said “Shall we?” I nodded, and started love-all. Game of 21. I scored the first point. Now usually when I play singles against any of my badminton buddies, I expect to lose. Being the only woman gives me the license to expect this – but naturally 😉

Today I said to myself, even if I lose, I’ll at least get to 15 points. My target was humble. But the first few points we seemed evenly matched. His unspoken rule of chivalry is he will not play smashes against me, but even given that I usually lose. But today my game was charmed. Everything I was placing was going just where I wanted it to, I even played a couple of satisfying smashes. He was making mistakes, and for once, I had enough control to take advantage of them. He was never more than 2 points ahead of me – 2-4, 5-7… and once briefly he was 3 points ahead – 10-13.

Something clicked in my brain when I crossed 15. I realized I don’t have to assume I will lose… I have a fair chance of winning! I was ahead 17-15, then he was ahead 19-18, then 20-19…. and then I evened the score at 20-all. Not being in the best of shape, we were both tired by now. I played without any prejudice about the outcome, and surprised myself by getting the advantage at 24-23. Then he scored a point to get us to 24-all.. then like a dream, I scored 2 points in a row and the game was mine.

This adrenalin high is something I’m enjoying after a long time – yesss!