Monday, May 26, 2008

TWO SIDES TO A SHINY PENNY

                                                                                                                                                                                Seoul, May 16th 2008

 

TWO SIDES TO A SHINY PENNY

 

We felt unstoppable!  Confidence coursed through our veins as we flew into Seoul, Korea!  We had experienced an uplifting training week in Hiratsuka (a beach town 3 hours outside of Tokyo where we were invited to train with the Japanese National Beach Teams) and felt that invincible feeling when things just come together…

 

Imagine that it is the day before the tournament: we practice with a top 10 team in the world from the USA and we experience how we are matching up to the best of the best; our team meetings center around the confidence we all feel and the MOMENTUM we are all experiencing (coaches and athletes alike).  Winning would be inevitable… right?  And then a twinge in my (Sarah's) back emerged out of the nowhere and expanded in the next hours into a full blown disc irritation!  Suddenly, that confidence was rocked out to sea (not only by my own worry for my physical health but by the Team's injection of DOUBT) and uncertainty replaced it.  If you ever wondered what attacks confidence most quickly, it is its counterpart: DOUBT!  Like a virus, it spreads and creates stories that seem so plausible, only a really alert spirit can detect it.  Distracted we were, and DOUBT planted itself within our team unit leaving only memories of the confidence that had seemed so impossible to crack hours earlier! 

 

We made a go of it on court with some major physical limitations BUT it was not a physical ailment that caused our defeat in the end.  It was our thoughts about the physical limitations that did us in!  When we faced South Africa on the other side of the net, we won the first set working together with what we had on the day.  The second set saw them make some adjustments and our thin layer of resolve began to crumble.  Amidst all that, it was 12-12 in the third set and winning was there for the taking.  A crucial "soft" sideout by me (Sarah) and a lack of warrior fight in the end saw cheers from the South African girls and tears for Team Canada.  One result…very different emotions!!!

 

It was only one loss but we attached a lot of meaning to it.  Tears flowed where once there was all smiles and laughter!  It became clear to us that identifying with a state of being (for example: being confident) has two sides to it; one moment the chest is high and the shoulders back and the next its yucky opposite can be take its place…bringing sadness, disappointment, anger, and despair!

 

How do you recover from this?  Get upset and frustrated for  a while is how we dealt with it and then the watcher within began to observe it all going on.  Next came breathing and letting go and then more letting it go and then waking up the next day ready to choose your next move!  Injury healing for me (Sarah), lots of practice for Marie and on court mental work, and Coach William to support and bring out the best in us for the next tournament!  A new day dawns…

 

Team MtotheMax



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