I've Lost It!

It 's been 2 years since I played for my School at Kalpakkam for the Regional Level Badminton Meet. The experience I gained there as a player is immeasurable. I probably played alongside some of the best talent among students of my batch and I won against some. It was a pleasure actually.

Compare that experience with what happened on Monday. Selections for the College Badminton team started at 930. I had given away my racket to one of my friends from school and never got it back. So I thought I should get one before I go to college. Trust me, I searched for a Sports Shop at 9 in the morning starting from Kodambakkam right till Santhome covering Alwarpet, Mylapore and Mandaveli, as my luck would have it, none of them were open!!

So I went in to college, not knowing what to do, the Only Person who had come to the Badminton Selections without a Racket to play with. Thankfully, some kind souls lent me one and I practiced a few shots after 2 1/2 years. After waiting anxiously for an hour, the man called my name and I was supposed to be playing against one of my class mates.

It couldn't have been more Pathetic. He was a decent player, could've defeated him easily when I was in school. But now, I had lost all my moves, all my thinking abilities, my strategies weren't working, the Cock was badly damaged (No Replacement until the 2nd round of selections, 30 matches with the same Cock!!) and I didn't have my racket. I had borrowed a Yonex from one of my friends, it was a brilliant piece, but the Chemistry just wasn't there.

A Racket with which you play isn't just something you use to hit the cock to the other end. It is an extension of your arm, you must feel it like your own piece of flesh and blood and bones and use it with utmost ease. The racket I used in School was a Silver's which I had bought with my own money. It was heavy by many standards, the grip was poor and the guts were a bit weak. But it was MY own. Whenever I lifted it, I knew I could whack a few shots with it. It was powerful and most importantly, it felt freaking good to play with it. But today wasn't that kinda day where I had luck. So i lost bad, 2-9 to be precise.

Humiliating! :(