This morning we woke at 7am, packed, ate breakfast, and then the first 6 people took the hotel shuttle to the airport (since it can only fit 7 people). They arrived at the airport at 8:30am and got into what may be the worst check-in line in Southwest history! I arrived at the airport in the second shuttle at 9am, joined the rest of the team in line, and then waited until 9:55am to check-in! That is 85 minutes to check-in! This long wait caused our bags to be late checked. After checking in we rushed through security and got to the gate at 10:05am (5 minutes before the gate closed). The plane had already boarded, so we just got on and found whatever seats we could. I boarded last and somehow got an aisle seat in the back row with no one in the middle seat. They closed the door at 10:10am, but then reopened it and let about 6 more people onto the plane. The middle seat in my row remained open.
The flight was pretty normal. However, when we arrived our bags never appeared on the baggage belt. In fact, a lot of people were missing their bags. Apparently since our bags were 'late checked', this meant it was our fault our bags did not make it to Austin on our plane and hence we had to go back to the airport and retrieve our bags later. Pretty bad, considering that it was really their 85 minute check-in line that caused our bags to be late checked. We arrived at the airport plenty early.
Daniel (a guy on the UT racquetball team who did not go to nationals) came and picked Steven, Greg, Brendan, and me up from the airport. We dropped off Brendan in Riverside and then stopped for food at Popeyes. Then I got dropped off at the parking garage on campus, where I retrieved my car and drove home.
Greg went and picked up all of our bags from the airport later in the evening, and then I retrieved my bag from his west campus apartment around 9pm. It was really nice of him to go get all of our bags from the airport!
Showing posts with label racquetball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label racquetball. Show all posts
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Racquetball Nationals 2015: Day 4
Today I had a singles match scheduled for 3pm and a doubles matched scheduled for 4pm. Hence, I knew going into the day that I would be playing back-to-back matches.
I watched my team mates play until 1:30pm, when I went to relax for 30 minutes before getting ready for my singles match. I was changed and warmed up by 2:30pm at which point I checked in for my singles match. I was quickly given court 8 upstairs.
I was feeling good during my first set, and my shots were coming together nicely. I won this set 15-6 and was ready to march to victory. The four team mates who watched my first set all disappeared before my second set. I should not have let this bother me, but it did. I got down 8-2, and then 14-8. I used my last time out at 13-8, but was able to refocus. Some of my team mates had also re-appeared. I fought off 4 match points before making a run to 14-14 (during which I fought off two more match points). Once at 14-14, I was feeling good and confident and ready to put the win in the books. I lost the serve though, fought off match point again, lost the serve again, and then she dropped a short shot that I was just unable to get to. I had momentum now, but I was also emotionally drained from the comeback and then the let down. I fought my hardest, but was just unable to settle in and get anything going during the tiebreaker, and lost 11-6 to take 2nd place in women's #2 blue division (effectively 6th in women's #2).
I was so emotionally drained after the loss, but I had to turn around and immediately play doubles. I used my warm-up time to change into dry clothing, since I clearly did not need to warm up (in fact, I desperately needed a break). The team from the University Of Missouri that we played was slightly better than us, but I feel like the result could have been a lot closer. We might have even been able to win under different circumstances. But I just had nothing left to give emotionally, and was unable to get anything started in doubles. We lost 15-7, 15-5 to get 4th in the women's doubles #2 gold division.
After doubles, I went to claim my medals and then headed back to the hotel to shower and change clothing before the banquet.
The banquet was held in a dining hall in the Memorial Union. Our team sat with the Texas A&M team. We were called to get food last, but at least the Italian style food was good and plentiful. Then the awards ceremony began. We were amazed to find that we had won the conference cup for the SCRC! Our men's team finished 6th overall, our women's team finished 5th overall (even playing with only 5/6 of the allowable players), and our team finished 4th overall (even playing with only 11/12 of the allowable players). This is likely the best we have ever finished at nationals, and certainly is the best we have finished in recent years!
Sadly, Taquito was never returned to us. :( I had fully expected a team to return him to us at the banquet, but it did not happen.
After the banquet, Texas A&M came to our hotel to hang out for a while. We all piled into one room, and just sat and talked. We got a noise complaint around midnight, and we all went to bed shortly after. It was a fun night!
I watched my team mates play until 1:30pm, when I went to relax for 30 minutes before getting ready for my singles match. I was changed and warmed up by 2:30pm at which point I checked in for my singles match. I was quickly given court 8 upstairs.
I was feeling good during my first set, and my shots were coming together nicely. I won this set 15-6 and was ready to march to victory. The four team mates who watched my first set all disappeared before my second set. I should not have let this bother me, but it did. I got down 8-2, and then 14-8. I used my last time out at 13-8, but was able to refocus. Some of my team mates had also re-appeared. I fought off 4 match points before making a run to 14-14 (during which I fought off two more match points). Once at 14-14, I was feeling good and confident and ready to put the win in the books. I lost the serve though, fought off match point again, lost the serve again, and then she dropped a short shot that I was just unable to get to. I had momentum now, but I was also emotionally drained from the comeback and then the let down. I fought my hardest, but was just unable to settle in and get anything going during the tiebreaker, and lost 11-6 to take 2nd place in women's #2 blue division (effectively 6th in women's #2).
I was so emotionally drained after the loss, but I had to turn around and immediately play doubles. I used my warm-up time to change into dry clothing, since I clearly did not need to warm up (in fact, I desperately needed a break). The team from the University Of Missouri that we played was slightly better than us, but I feel like the result could have been a lot closer. We might have even been able to win under different circumstances. But I just had nothing left to give emotionally, and was unable to get anything started in doubles. We lost 15-7, 15-5 to get 4th in the women's doubles #2 gold division.
After doubles, I went to claim my medals and then headed back to the hotel to shower and change clothing before the banquet.
The banquet was held in a dining hall in the Memorial Union. Our team sat with the Texas A&M team. We were called to get food last, but at least the Italian style food was good and plentiful. Then the awards ceremony began. We were amazed to find that we had won the conference cup for the SCRC! Our men's team finished 6th overall, our women's team finished 5th overall (even playing with only 5/6 of the allowable players), and our team finished 4th overall (even playing with only 11/12 of the allowable players). This is likely the best we have ever finished at nationals, and certainly is the best we have finished in recent years!
Sadly, Taquito was never returned to us. :( I had fully expected a team to return him to us at the banquet, but it did not happen.
After the banquet, Texas A&M came to our hotel to hang out for a while. We all piled into one room, and just sat and talked. We got a noise complaint around midnight, and we all went to bed shortly after. It was a fun night!
Our conference cup!
Friday, March 27, 2015
Racquetball Nationals 2015: Day 3
Today felt a lot busier - I had a doubles game at 10am and a singles game at 4pm (plus our team had games at most other times).
The doubles game at 10am was against a very strong Oregon State team. They just had much better individual skills than us. One girl was weaker than the other, but even she was still better than us. Jordan had trouble handling the left-side serves, and I was getting but not killing the right-side serves. We switched from playing front and back to playing diagonals for the second set, and that seemed to help some. We ended up losing 15-1, 15-5.
Since we lost, I had to referee right after our game. I ended up refereeing a men's #6 match between a University of Florida guy and a Baldwin Wallace guy. I was nervous, but it went reasonably well. I just feel like I'm a useless referee because I can never tell of the ball skipped or not (and that's the main use of a referee). Jordan stood with me for most of the game to provide moral support (and a second set of eyes).
After refereeing I changed and then watched some games. I eventually went to relax some until it was time to get ready for my singles game.
My singles game was against a friendly girl from the University of California Berkeley. I played better in this game, and she was generally worse than me, so I marched to a 15-6, 15-8 win. She made some good shots, and kept the score close at the beginning of both sets. However, she seemed to be very tired at the end, which probably hurt her (although she still made good shots even in long rallies). I'm proud of how I played, especially at the end of the game.
After my win I stretched, watched some other games, and then changed into dry clothing. We realized soon after my game that Taquito, our good luck gnome, had gone missing. We searched for him, and had the tournament desk make some announcements about him, but we had no luck in finding him. Perhaps a team has stolen him and will return him at the end of the tournament?
We left the gym around 8:30pm, went to the hotel to shower and/or change, and them took the hotel shuttle (in two trips) to our team dinner at Gordon Biersch. The food was delicious, although the garlic fries were by far my favorite. I had the Gorgonzola chicken with mashed potatoes and asparagus for dinner and the brownie with ice cream for dessert.
Katie from Texas A&M picked us up from the restaurant and took about half of us back to our hotel and the other half back to the Texas A&M hotel to chill. I was really tired, so I just went back to the hotel. But it was really nice of her to pick us up!
The doubles game at 10am was against a very strong Oregon State team. They just had much better individual skills than us. One girl was weaker than the other, but even she was still better than us. Jordan had trouble handling the left-side serves, and I was getting but not killing the right-side serves. We switched from playing front and back to playing diagonals for the second set, and that seemed to help some. We ended up losing 15-1, 15-5.
Since we lost, I had to referee right after our game. I ended up refereeing a men's #6 match between a University of Florida guy and a Baldwin Wallace guy. I was nervous, but it went reasonably well. I just feel like I'm a useless referee because I can never tell of the ball skipped or not (and that's the main use of a referee). Jordan stood with me for most of the game to provide moral support (and a second set of eyes).
After refereeing I changed and then watched some games. I eventually went to relax some until it was time to get ready for my singles game.
My singles game was against a friendly girl from the University of California Berkeley. I played better in this game, and she was generally worse than me, so I marched to a 15-6, 15-8 win. She made some good shots, and kept the score close at the beginning of both sets. However, she seemed to be very tired at the end, which probably hurt her (although she still made good shots even in long rallies). I'm proud of how I played, especially at the end of the game.
After my win I stretched, watched some other games, and then changed into dry clothing. We realized soon after my game that Taquito, our good luck gnome, had gone missing. We searched for him, and had the tournament desk make some announcements about him, but we had no luck in finding him. Perhaps a team has stolen him and will return him at the end of the tournament?
We left the gym around 8:30pm, went to the hotel to shower and/or change, and them took the hotel shuttle (in two trips) to our team dinner at Gordon Biersch. The food was delicious, although the garlic fries were by far my favorite. I had the Gorgonzola chicken with mashed potatoes and asparagus for dinner and the brownie with ice cream for dessert.
Katie from Texas A&M picked us up from the restaurant and took about half of us back to our hotel and the other half back to the Texas A&M hotel to chill. I was really tired, so I just went back to the hotel. But it was really nice of her to pick us up!
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Racquetball Nationals 2015: Day 2
Today was a rather rough day. I watched Natalie play at 9am, and then I played doubles with my partner Jordan at 10am. In doubles, we beat a team from Baldwin Wallace University in two games, 15-8, 15-13. Jordan and I played well, although I was personally struggling to keep my shots low, so many of the rallies continued much longer than they needed to. We communicated well though, so I was happy with how the game went.
I watched my team mates, went to the business school to work for a while, got Qdoba from the Memorial Union, and then came back to watch more games. I was watching a doubles match upstairs about an hour and a half before my singles game, and I decided to just go chill downstairs for a while since it was so cramped and uncomfortable sitting upstairs.
I was nervous going into my singles game against a girl from Utah State University. I knew from watching her last night that her serves would be difficult, she had no clear weaknesses, but that I felt I was better than her. My national ranking was much better. Hence, I went into the game trying to just be confident and play my game.
Her serves were indeed difficult, especially her Z-serves. And she put a lot of power on most of her hits. She got to things I thought impossible. She was weak at playing things in the back of the court. And I was nervous and anxious. I never really settled in.
In the first game, I came back from a 4-8 deficit to win 15-8. In the second game, she got out to an early lead, I caught up, and then she ran away to a 15-8 win on a serving streak. In the final third tiebreaker, we traded side outs for a long time. We tied at 8-8. Then I got up 10-8, before letting her come back and win 11-10.
This loss was very frustrating for me, mainly because I was unable to figure out a good strategy to use against her. I was also in better shape than her, but it did not seem to help. I was pretty devastated after the loss, as I had put everything I could into the game. I really felt like just finding a place to hide and cry after the game.
I should have refereed a game after my loss, but there were no games at my skill level left tonight, so they left me off without refereeing in this case.
Once our guys finished playing their 9pm doubles matches, we headed to Whataburger for dinner. I showered once I got back to the hotel, blogged, and then went to bed around 12:30am.
I watched my team mates, went to the business school to work for a while, got Qdoba from the Memorial Union, and then came back to watch more games. I was watching a doubles match upstairs about an hour and a half before my singles game, and I decided to just go chill downstairs for a while since it was so cramped and uncomfortable sitting upstairs.
I was nervous going into my singles game against a girl from Utah State University. I knew from watching her last night that her serves would be difficult, she had no clear weaknesses, but that I felt I was better than her. My national ranking was much better. Hence, I went into the game trying to just be confident and play my game.
Her serves were indeed difficult, especially her Z-serves. And she put a lot of power on most of her hits. She got to things I thought impossible. She was weak at playing things in the back of the court. And I was nervous and anxious. I never really settled in.
In the first game, I came back from a 4-8 deficit to win 15-8. In the second game, she got out to an early lead, I caught up, and then she ran away to a 15-8 win on a serving streak. In the final third tiebreaker, we traded side outs for a long time. We tied at 8-8. Then I got up 10-8, before letting her come back and win 11-10.
This loss was very frustrating for me, mainly because I was unable to figure out a good strategy to use against her. I was also in better shape than her, but it did not seem to help. I was pretty devastated after the loss, as I had put everything I could into the game. I really felt like just finding a place to hide and cry after the game.
I should have refereed a game after my loss, but there were no games at my skill level left tonight, so they left me off without refereeing in this case.
Once our guys finished playing their 9pm doubles matches, we headed to Whataburger for dinner. I showered once I got back to the hotel, blogged, and then went to bed around 12:30am.
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Racquetball Nationals 2015: Day 1
I had no games today, so today was just a day of watching my team mates, scoping out the competition, and getting some work done.
We woke at 7:45am, ate breakfast at the hotel at 8:15am, and arrived at the gym at 9am. I watched our team play in the morning, and saw my room mate Natalie win her first tournament game ever! After watching a few of my team mates play, I found a place to sit in the business school and worked until 2pm. During this time JT brought up the fact that I was unfairly seeded in my bracket, so I looked into it more and built a case. I emailed this to the tournament director using the proper appeal process, and they updated my seed (and the bracket) after conferring with the entire rules committee. At 2pm I went back to the gym and ate the provided pizza lunch with a girl from Utah (who actually ends up being the girl I'll play tomorrow in singles).
I watched a few more team mates play before heading back to the business school for an hour more of work. I came back to do a short 20 minute workout and watch a flury of games, including one that determined who I will play tomorrow night.
Overall, our team did excellent today. We went 11-2, only losing in #1 mens and #5 womens. Taquito, the little sports club gnome, must be giving us good luck. He watches each game from just outside the back-wall glass.
After our entire team was finished for the day, we walked to Raising Cane's for dinner. It's a place JT and I really like in Austin, so I was very happy with that choice for dinner. After dinner we walked back to the hotel, and I choose to shower and get in bed. Some of the guys are staying up tonight and drinking, but I really just want to sleep. Plus, I have a doubles game at 10am and a singles game at 7pm! It will be a long day tomorrow!
In watching the games today, one thing was extremely apparent: racquetball requires a certain mental toughness. I saw multiple people give up in games today, because they let their emotions get the best of them. Because they actually began to believe they would lose. I'm going to go into my games, especially singles, with the mental attitude that I'm in control of the game. I tend to play a lot better when I adopt this attitude.
We woke at 7:45am, ate breakfast at the hotel at 8:15am, and arrived at the gym at 9am. I watched our team play in the morning, and saw my room mate Natalie win her first tournament game ever! After watching a few of my team mates play, I found a place to sit in the business school and worked until 2pm. During this time JT brought up the fact that I was unfairly seeded in my bracket, so I looked into it more and built a case. I emailed this to the tournament director using the proper appeal process, and they updated my seed (and the bracket) after conferring with the entire rules committee. At 2pm I went back to the gym and ate the provided pizza lunch with a girl from Utah (who actually ends up being the girl I'll play tomorrow in singles).
I watched a few more team mates play before heading back to the business school for an hour more of work. I came back to do a short 20 minute workout and watch a flury of games, including one that determined who I will play tomorrow night.
Overall, our team did excellent today. We went 11-2, only losing in #1 mens and #5 womens. Taquito, the little sports club gnome, must be giving us good luck. He watches each game from just outside the back-wall glass.
After our entire team was finished for the day, we walked to Raising Cane's for dinner. It's a place JT and I really like in Austin, so I was very happy with that choice for dinner. After dinner we walked back to the hotel, and I choose to shower and get in bed. Some of the guys are staying up tonight and drinking, but I really just want to sleep. Plus, I have a doubles game at 10am and a singles game at 7pm! It will be a long day tomorrow!
In watching the games today, one thing was extremely apparent: racquetball requires a certain mental toughness. I saw multiple people give up in games today, because they let their emotions get the best of them. Because they actually began to believe they would lose. I'm going to go into my games, especially singles, with the mental attitude that I'm in control of the game. I tend to play a lot better when I adopt this attitude.
Taquito watching Jordan play
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Racquetball Nationals 2015: Day 0
It is strange to be blogging a new trip so soon! Flying over pretty much the same route I just spent 1.5 days driving. Packing with little care for size and weight.
I'm travelling with 10 other UT racquetball club members to Tempe, AZ for the intercollegiate racquetball nationals tournament. It will be four days full of racquetball (but just three for me as my games do not start until Thursday).
Greg's friend picked me up at 5:30pm from San Jacinto garage. I was the fourth and final pick-up on the way to the airport.
Traffic was heavy, but we still arrived at the airport at 6:15pm. Alex was there, and Natalie arrived soon after us. But we still had to wait 30 minutes before the last two guys arrived. Our reservation did not come up automatically, so an agent had to help us. One guy tried to use his UT ID as identification because he did not know better... We seriously have multiple people in our group that have no flown in a really long time. That seems crazy to me - but if your family is in Texas and you do not otherwise travel, I guess it is not that surprising.
Security was not bad, and then we had about 15 minutes at the gate before the A zone was called. During this time, I saw the British Airways Dreamliner depart for its daily trip to London.
There were a lot of people in the A1-30, and A1-50 was pretty filled in. Hence, I was extremely surprised to get a window exit row as A50! A47 got the window seat behind the left exit row! Lots of stupid/naive As on this flight...
The majority of our team does not fly much, and we ended up being the group everyone hates. They talked loudly the entire flight. Multiple people cheered and/or loudly exclaimed when then engines kicked in for take-off. One of the girls loudly whined "I'm scared" during turbulence. They sat 3 per row despite entire rows being open on the plane. And they took multiple flash photos in the dark plane after sunset. When the plane landed, someone clapped. I'm sure they are excited to be at nationals, but still!
The baggage came out quickly, and then we went outside to wait for the Holiday Inn Express hotel shuttle. It came quickly, but could not fit all of us. Hence, 4 of us stayed behind to wait for the shuttle to come back. It only took 20-30 minutes to return. The driver was a nice ASU student.
Natalie and I are rooming together in the only 2-person room. After dropping our bags, most of us went to a pizza place near our hotel. We bought all of their remaining pizza, but I think everyone was happy with what they got. After dinner I returned to my room, unpacked, talked to JT, showered and went to bed.
I'm travelling with 10 other UT racquetball club members to Tempe, AZ for the intercollegiate racquetball nationals tournament. It will be four days full of racquetball (but just three for me as my games do not start until Thursday).
Greg's friend picked me up at 5:30pm from San Jacinto garage. I was the fourth and final pick-up on the way to the airport.
Traffic was heavy, but we still arrived at the airport at 6:15pm. Alex was there, and Natalie arrived soon after us. But we still had to wait 30 minutes before the last two guys arrived. Our reservation did not come up automatically, so an agent had to help us. One guy tried to use his UT ID as identification because he did not know better... We seriously have multiple people in our group that have no flown in a really long time. That seems crazy to me - but if your family is in Texas and you do not otherwise travel, I guess it is not that surprising.
Security was not bad, and then we had about 15 minutes at the gate before the A zone was called. During this time, I saw the British Airways Dreamliner depart for its daily trip to London.
There were a lot of people in the A1-30, and A1-50 was pretty filled in. Hence, I was extremely surprised to get a window exit row as A50! A47 got the window seat behind the left exit row! Lots of stupid/naive As on this flight...
The majority of our team does not fly much, and we ended up being the group everyone hates. They talked loudly the entire flight. Multiple people cheered and/or loudly exclaimed when then engines kicked in for take-off. One of the girls loudly whined "I'm scared" during turbulence. They sat 3 per row despite entire rows being open on the plane. And they took multiple flash photos in the dark plane after sunset. When the plane landed, someone clapped. I'm sure they are excited to be at nationals, but still!
The baggage came out quickly, and then we went outside to wait for the Holiday Inn Express hotel shuttle. It came quickly, but could not fit all of us. Hence, 4 of us stayed behind to wait for the shuttle to come back. It only took 20-30 minutes to return. The driver was a nice ASU student.
Natalie and I are rooming together in the only 2-person room. After dropping our bags, most of us went to a pizza place near our hotel. We bought all of their remaining pizza, but I think everyone was happy with what they got. After dinner I returned to my room, unpacked, talked to JT, showered and went to bed.
Pretty sunset over Austin, TX
Credit to Jonathan Lanford
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)