Here's Al's mixed 7.0 team for 2009.L-R (Al Marquez, Shawn, Max, Rudy, Judy, Michelle, Chris)
Well, my day started with visiting Gateway City Church which is located not far from FCC. It's a church that's slightly smaller than FCC and their worship service is more suited to our style though the sermon lacks depth compared to Pastor Bill Buchholz. Their youth service is only on twice a month at 11am and it's on the 2nd and 4th week of every month. But the youth cell meets every Wednesdays at 6.30pm. Will have to make more trips there to get a better feel of the church.
Went to PW Market to buy our lunch. I had pasta, watched some tv and then left for tennis at Oakley. Warmed up with Rudy at the basketball gym at Diamond Hills. Our match was on schedule at 4pm. Today is a very windy day with winds gusting at 40mph.
We lost our match today. 6-0, 4-6, 0-1 (8-10 on supertie break). Found out much later that we were cheated of 2 points by the opponents. Cannot understand why people would go to great length to cheat. How can they sleep at night? Lesson #1 to be learnt: Always check with an official when in doubt even if it means interrupting the match. Lesson #2: Always restring racquet before big tournaments like this coz midway through the 2nd set, my racquet strings snapped. As a result, I lost my momentum and feel of the ball on the strings on my new racquet and the new dampener didn't feel as good on it as I haven't "broken" into the racquet yet.
Our team lost 1-2 to Golden Gateway but they are all cheater bugs. When I was watching the match of our 2nd doubles, Shawn served a good serve and the ball was like a foot in but the opponent called it out. Also, there were so many foot faults and nobody called it.
Though we won the last 2 days, everything came to a crux today. I thought that we still had a chance to Sectionals coz the USTA would do a point count but was so disappointed when told by Al that they will instead, have a lucky draw to see who gets to Sectionals. Out of 5 teams in the 2nd place, only 1 team is lucky enough to be selected and Club Sport Fremont just was unlucky today.
We had our chances when we were up 8-5 in the supertie but we couldn't hold on to it. The last point, Rudy was serving 8-9 and the guy opponent, Kevin aimed the ball right at me. I managed to block it but the ball ricocheted off my racquet and hit my eye. As a result, we lost that point even though the ball was a winning shot. My eyes are still swollen from the hit but I must thank God that I managed to block that shot otherwise, it would've landed straight at the socket of my right eye and the consequences would've been more dire if that had happened. As I walk out of court, my right eye won't open and when I tried to open it, everything looked blur and I was so afraid that I would lose my eyesight. I keep telling myself, it's not worth it and prayed very hard. Then, I got some ice to ice it and the swelling came down and I could open my eyes but when I look up, it was uncomfortable. I am just lucky to have come out of that match with my eyesight still intact, hahaha.
All in all, I had fun at Districts. I think I tried my best today although it wasn't good enough to get us the crucial win. I guess that's why I didn't cry post match. We were just unlucky as the wind fouled us up with balls landing slightly out when it would usually be in. Also, my momentum shifted when I changed my racquet. I had 4 double faults today coz the toss was all haywire. And instead of counting points, the USTA changed their rules this year and decided to have that stupid lucky draw to determine who gets to Sectionals.
But, no point griping about it now. I have had my fun, pressure and tension and I think I handled it well. Gotta learn from all my mistakes. I can still sing and God is still good all the time.....
Yours truly serving away..... Was it an ace? Of course not, haha!
Yours truly serving away..... Was it an ace? Of course not, haha!
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