2009 Orem Open - Racquetball tournament - game 1

This week is the Orem Open in Orem, Utah. The rec center is where we often play racquetball as a family and where I go during the days now on lunch break to play twice a week. So its familiar territory.

I signed up for this tournament, the first since separating my AC joint. I have not been playing as much racquetball as I did last year, due to the injury and changes in my schedule. I sure miss it. So this is my chance to test my body and endurance at a tournament level. I entered this tourney in a higher level than I was playing last year. So, I was a bit worried how the shoulder and arm would hold up.

To make matters worse, Monday at lunch I went to the gym to run on the elliptical, then Monday night I worked extra doing releases, and was tired. The next day, Tuesday, I played racquetball with a buddy of mine at lunch time, then went to a Racquetball League form 7pm until 830pm. After the league, I started backing up databases for an hour, then proceeded to work on a Billing Staged Run for work, until 2am in the morning. The next morning, Wednesday, we had a Company Kick Off event, that started early, at a distance from my home, so i had to go a bit earlier than normal to 'work'. I ended up working until 5pm that day, and ran home to eat some dinner and take a nap. I was so tired. I didn't see myself playing well at all after the last few days, and what was four 8 hour days of work already by Wednesday.

So, I'm tired. But jazzed about playing again. The nap was awesome, and actually helped incredibly. I showed up to the tourney, saw old friends from the rball community, caught up on what we've been doing. Soon, it was my turn to play. I got ready, and started warming up. I was able to use my free ipod nano I won from SQL Server Central.com as SQL PASS last November from Steve Jones. I warmed up and we started to play. My shoulder isn't in the best shape, but held up well, and I was able to bang out some great shots. I led the first game for my first 11 points, then gave up the lead, and kept the game close, until my opponent ended up winning me by a couple points. I was ecstatic. I had done so much better than expected.

The next game was on. I ended up running 11 points with my opponent not scoring at all. But i couldn't hold it, and gave up a few points, maybe 6 or 7 points, before winning the second game. Woohooo. I'm on a roll now.

The tie breaker was a game to 11 points, where the other 2 games are to 15 points. So, its nice to not have play as long on the tie-breaker, since I'm usually so tired by the third game. I started the tie-breaker strong, but as usual, made mistakes, and let a lot of points get away from me. I was able to nail down some solid serves, and even got quite a few aces. The last point, I could taste it, but ended up skipping my shot, giving my opponent a chance to loose. I was able to gain the serve back, and was excited. I stood up to hopefully get my last point, and pulled out one of my favorite serves. A Z drive serve with my forehand, from the left side of the court. The Z ends up in the back left behind me, and hopefully bounces oddly in the corner, preventing a return, if any. I aced this serve. Last serve of the game, and it was over. Woohoo.

So I won my 1st match in the Orem Open in C division. This is a huge accomplishment for me, and I treated myself to a chocodile from a gas station on the way home. My entire family came out and cheered me on. They always are such a great support to me, and help me and coach me and simply love me, no matter the outcome. I love to play this game, and am excited that I'm doing it again, even with this shoulder injury nagging at me. I am sitting here now typing this with an ice pack on my arm. Soon, I'll put it on my shoulder, and cool it down.

I play again tomorrow at 6pm. I'll post those results in a new post.