BadmintonWAunder15s 2019

Saturday, October 6, 2012

The finals day

Dear readers and El Presidente

The finals day is over. I could not blog as I was too tensed watching the players.

The first match was between Joy Lai and Tiffany Ho. Joy had no problems winning in 2 sets.

Justin then played Huai Dong. Huai Dong also finished the game in 2 sets.

The girl's doubles was worn by Lily Rigg and Joy Lai in 2 sets too.

It was then the start of the boy's doubles.

I had asked Tyzton and Xiang to warm up 1 hr before the match. They had a game against Rao and Jacob from Victoria. I could see that both boys felt nervous.

This is the first time both boys are playing in a finals in a National competition.

The first set did not go well. The boys in their nervousness made so many mistakes they just got 10 points at 21/10.

The 2nd set was more closely fought. The boys went point for point and some of the rallies were quite long. NSW got to 20/18. Our boys caught up and the deuces went to 25/23 before our boys lost.

What a waste. They would have done much better if they got a third set. Their nerves had finally settled but it was too late.

Xiang and Tyzton have to be happy with a silver trophy.

Xiang and Tyzton with their silver medals presented by Glen Warfe

The next match was between Joy Lai and Tyzton against Tiffany Ho and Huai Dong. This was again a closely fought match and Tyzton had gotten over his nervousness.

The first set was won by Joy and Tyzton.
The 2nd set was again closely fought and Joy and Tyzton lost the lead a few times before finishing the game and winning the gold. NSW nearly caught up but both Joy and Tyzton were able to stay calm and finished the game at 21/19 and 21/19.


Xiang and Alex with their plate trophy for the mixed doubles

Joy and Tyzton with their gold trophy for mixed doubles.

Xiang and Alex also won their plate events without any trouble.

This is Tyzton's first gold medal in a national event. Hopefully there will be more as he deals with nervousness playing at higher levels of competition.

For me , I have decided not to attend any more competitions as I cannot deal with the stress. Kanny, who is Joy's mum asked if I had arranged for counseling for myself as she could see the stress in my face when Tyzton was playing his singles yesterday.

At the end of the competition, the players were ranked.

Tyzton was ranked 4 and Xiang ranked 3rd. Xiang had a higher ranking as he won against Justin Lee in the team match. Good on Xiang.

Olivia was ranked 5th.


The ranking which shows how strong NSW is for this competition

The girls ranking with Olivia ranked 5th

The Mixed doubles winners with their coaches

The whole team with Tania, our chaperon

The runners up for doubles

The plate mixed doubles winners

It has been a great day for the team.

The team made history in the team event and also history in the individual events.

Congrats to Kim for a great job.

Friday, October 5, 2012

The 2nd day of the individual competition

Dear readers and El Presidente

This has been a very tough day for me as a parent.

Tyzton began his quarterfinals game against Cedric Koh of NSW. The first set was lost at 22/24. I could not bear to watch the 2nd set. I had to walk away leaving the video camera on. I went to the other side of the court to watch the plate events. In the background I was straining to hear the characteristic "sol--oh " uttered by Tyson every time he wins an emphatic point. There were not many and I began to get worried.

I kept turning around to see the 2 players slogging it out.

It is a terrible time listening and hoping your child's dreams are not crushed.

My mind went to the first time I held Tyzton after his plate doubles with Olivia in 2010. They had finished the semifinals after losing a hard fought match.

He was in my arms and started sobbing saying he did not want the tournament to finish for him as he wanted to keep playing. I think that was the first time he formed in his mind the desire to excel in badminton.

And we have been on that journey together as a family ever since. That journey has brought the family 4 silver medals for the team event as captain, asst coach, umpire and manager. Is it all worth it?

Any way coming back to the current situation, Tyzton managed to scrape to a 3rd set after winning at 22/20. It was a good thing I was not watching.

He began his 3rd set and I wandered to the video camera to make sure there was enough battery before going to the canteen to get a coffee. I then walked out of the stadium to look at the trees and the passing cars so that I did not have to watch his game.

I returned to watch the game from outside as I could see part of the game from the window. I could see Cedric picking up and returning the shuttles a few times. The first set was lost at 22/24. Tyzton came back strongly at 22/20 for the 2nd set.

Tyzton finally won 21/17. This has been his first challenge since the individual events started.

Although the game with Johny Low was a 3 setter, he was not going all the way.

This game has taken quite a bit out of him. However, he must be on a high though tired. He told me Cedric was outside the stadium and very upset. It is such s stress.

Xiang also had problems beating his opponent for his quarter finals game. He had to go 3 sets. He must be hungry as he ate little this morning. He beat Leon Tan 21/11, 17/21 and 21/14.

Tyz now face off Justin Lee and Xiang faces Huai Dong.

The afternoon will I am sure be stressful. I am reminded by the parent who said yesterday that we throw up our guts all over the floor everytime we watch our kids play.

I have just found out that Olivia has been knocked out by Ysabel. She must be devastated. We all try to console her but you can feel her pain. I give her a cup of water as the only comf0ort I can offer for the moment. Her score is 23/21 and 21/19. It was a close match.

They are now starting the quarterfinals for men's doubles.

Xiang and Tyz are playing Kingston Chan and Leon Tan. They beat them easily in 2 sets. They both finally get easy games today. They progress to the semi finals.

Unfortunately Alex was also knocked out from the plate event.

Heer and Rao are facing Huai Dong and Justin Lee in their quarter finals game. They lose in 2 sets.

Olivia and Alexander are playing Chloe Chen and Clara Chen. They just lost the first set as Olivia is not in the best of spirit having lost her singles. They also lose the 2nd set. Olivia is upset and will not accept an offer for a drink.

Sophie has also lost her plate doubles event.

That leaves Olivia facing Joy Lai and Tyzton for the mixed doubles. Oh dear. It is not good day for Olivia and I feel her pain. She subsequently loses to Joy and Tyzton 21/4 and 21/19.

Tyzton played Justin Lee in the semifinals of the singles. Xiang played Huai Dong in the semis.

Unfortunately despite both boys trying their best, they could not overcome Huai Dong and Justin separately.

Tyzton went down in 2 close sets at 21/19 and 21/16. Xiang also went down in 2 sets at 21/9 and 21/18.

Tyzton was so upset and I could feel his pain. Xiang seemed stronger emotionally as he may not have vested as much in his badminton life.

I could not bear to see the games and had to stand outside for most of the game.

Although deflated, they braced themselves for their doubles semi finals against Vincent He and Cedric Koh.

They were good enough to beat their opponents in 2 sets comfortably at 21/5 and 21/15. The 2nd set got me a bit worried. At least they are now in the doubles finals.

They have to meet Huai Dong and Justin in the finals again giving them a chance to revenge their team loss to Huai Dong and Justin.

Olivia and Sophie are out of all their games losing 21/18 and 21/7 to Chloe Chen and Clara Chen.

Alex and Xiang are still playing their mixed doubles plate while Tyzton is still in the semi finals with Joy Lai for their mixed doubles.

At a time like this, you have to admire Eddie Hung for winning all 3 events in the Under 19s as it really takes a toll on the young bodies.

Joy and Tyzton played Justin Lee and Janet Son. They had 2 close fights winning 21/19 and 21/19.

I think I have decided not to follow the teams to the Under 17s as my heart cannot take the stress and pain of watching my sons play at this level.

I am a social badminton player and am now deciding to be a social badminton watcher and not a competition attending parent.

I was watching Sophie play with her partner in the plate and they were playing a regional pair. The opposition's boy had his parents watching and it was just as exciting and stressful at that level for the parents.

For me, I think I have enough of watching my sons play competitively (for the moment).

Tomorrow is another day of stress. Strategies need to be formulated and discussed tonight.

Some action photos from the team event

Dear readers

I was lucky to be able to get some action photos from Julien from Queensland who has been helping at the tournament.

These are great photos.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

The individual events start

Dear readers and El Presidente

The individual events have started.

We tried as hard as we could for the team event. We only managed a silver.

As Jazton was officially recorded as Asst coach, he had a medal too. That was a surprise.

We had Italian for dinner as a celebration.

The players are now focused on the individual events.

Xiang is ranked ¾ in singles.

Tyzton is ranked 2 in singles.

Olivia is ranked ¾ in singles.

Tyz and Xiang are ranked 2 in doubles.

Tyz and Joy are ranked 1 in MX.

We will try our best to make more history. Maybe 2 WA players for the boy’s singles.

Xiang is playing his first singles against David Kang of Vic. He won the first set easily. He had a harder fight for the 2nd set but won too at 21/10 and 21/14.

Heer also finished his game in 2 sets against Matthew Huang of Brisbane at 27/25 and 21/17.

Tyzton is playing his first set against a 10 years old called Nathan Wong from Brisbane. He is giving his opponent a game and the 10 year old player has lots of supporters as he is from Queensland. Everytime he gets a point, there are loud cheers. The kid is gamed and giving everything he has. Tyz is just hitting the shuttle back. Both players are getting a good workout.

Nathan has shown great courage and determination giving everything he has. Good luck on his badminton journey.

Tyzton and Nathan Wong

Heer plays Jacob Schueler and loses in 2 sets bidding goodbye to his singles journey.

Alex is playing Janet Son. Alex loses to Janet in 2 sets and goes to the plate event.

Xiang plays Lachlan Boustead next and despatches him in 2 sets.

Sophie is playing Celina Chen of NSW Dash. Sophie wins in 2 sets at 21/15 and 21/13.

Olivia is playing Lily Rigg. This should be interesting. Olivia won in 2 sets at 21/15 and 21/11.

Tyzton plays Johny Low next. Johny is 13 years of age and has been playing in the nationals about the same time as Tyzton. Only problem is that he has not grown in height but has accumulated a substantial armoury of shots.

Tyzton plays around with him and wins the 1st set easily. Tyzton continues to play around with Johny and suddenly realises Johny is leading at 12/17. A quick catchup by playing his normal game does not give him enough time and Johny wins the 2nd set.

Kim looks worriedly at me. Tyzton quickly finishes off the 3rd set to Kim and my relief.

This shows Tyzton that nothing is to be taken for granted. He told me he was embarrased at having to play 2 players in succession who are much shorter than him. I reminded him that there was to be no more fooling around.

The problem is that Johny Low, although small in stature is actually a very mature player. His badminton records show he started playing competitively in 2009 when Tyz was not even interested in badminton.

Tyzton told me this was a wake up call. I informed Tyzton that Huai Dong despatched one of the Vic Country regional players 21/0. He showed no mercy.

Sophie lost to Olivia in 2 sets leaving Olivia in the main draw.

Heer partners Rao of Victoria and win their first match against D Blaga and Matthew Huang. They now get to play Huaidong and Justin Lee, the No. 1 seed.

Tyzton and Xiang had to play Nathan Wong and Preston Zhong. They easily beat them 21/8 and 21/15. They will play Kingston Chan and Leon Tan tomorrow.

Olivia and Alex win Stephanie fan and Ysabel Say although it was a scary 2nd set that finished at 23/21. They will play Chloe Chen and Clara Chen tomorrow.

Sophie and her new partner C Mashalidis will go to the plate event after losing to Rachel Li and W Min.

Tyz and Joy Lai played their first game together today. They are seeded 1 although they have never played together before. They won Rao and Sam Lee easily.

Heer and Olivia beat J Ang and Ros eXu before beating Marco Ma and Weijin Min. However they now have to face off Joy Lai and Tyzton.

Sophie and her partner Daniel Kasim were unlucky to face Justin Lee and Janet Son. They lost in 2 sets. They now go to the plate.

Tomorrow is another day and another less meal to cook for the team.

The funniest moments in these tournaments are the chats with the parents. First you try to match the children to the parents. Then you listen to the parents talk about their aspirations for their children.

One father told me that his guts and soul are thrown up all over the floor everytime he sees his child play. The things we do for our kids.

Good night.

The Queensland officials having dinner with us

Comments from readers

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The individual events start":

Well done team in all your hard fought battles. Great work Tonia for all the behind the scenes work in washing the teams uniforms,cooking, cleaning,photographer and being there for all the kids in the pressure times no silver for you just gold.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

WA PLAYS FOR GOLD IN THE VAL NESBIT UNDER 15'S TOURNAMENT

Dear readers and El presidente

I am pleased, proud and honoured to announce that in 1 hr, we will be walking into the courts in Queensland to make history.

The history will be written as a golden or silver tinted history.

The players want it to be a golden history and have been dreaming and talking about it for days since they landed in Caloundra.

Please stay tuned for the next hr. My batteries should be recharged. The players are ready.

The first doubles is between Tyz/Xiang v Huaidong and Justin Lee.

Olivia and Alex are playing Janet Son and Tiffany Ho.

This will be an evenly matched game.

It depends on how hungry each player is for the gold medal.

Winning the first set will give everyone confidence.

WA boys are leading 6/3. We are now at 10/6. WA gets to 11/10 first. The score is now 14/11.

We lose 2 pts in a row. Tyz's smash is returned 3 times. Justin Lee is good at defence. We are now leading by 1 at 16/15. It is now drawn. NSW takes the lead. at 19/18 and then get to match point. We lose the first set at 21/19.

The girls are having a tough time too. They also lose the first set at 21/17.

NSW definitely have more supporters than us. We are drawn at 7 all. NSW get to 11 first.

We are at 11/13 and catch one more pt. We are down 18/15. We get to 17/19. NSW boys finishes at 21/19.

The girls just lost the 2nd set at 21/13.

They are now 2 matches ahead of us.

The singles have just started with Alex playing Janet Son.

Xiang is also playing Justin Lee.

The NSW supporters are deafening us. They have 3 teams and parents from 3 teams compared to our 6 players , coach and Tonia.

This is again a tough challenge for Xiang. He gets to 11 first. He is fighting hard to maintain his lead.

Tyz gets to 17/12. Justin's dad who is the umpire asked for a towel down to break Xiang's momentum. Xiang still gets to 21 first.

Xiang gets to 11 again first in the 2nd set. He needs to win to put us in the hunt for gold. Justin creeps back at 10/11. He then draws. Justin gets a 3rd set after beating Xiang 21/18.

Xiang needs to dig deep for the 3rd set.

Alex loses in 2 sets to Janet Son at 13/21 and 13/21. She gave her best and we should be proud of her.

Justin Lee has got a leg cramp. We need to see how much time he gets. The officials are keeping an eye on the time. Xiang needs to work NSW now. He did not play the mixed doubles against Vic 2 and should be strong. Xiang finally finishes the game to get WA's first match.

Olivia is having trouble keeping up with Tiffany Ho who is running all over the place. She goes down 18/21 and 7/21.

Tyz has just started his match with Huai Dong.

HD gets to 11 first. Everything Tyz is throwing at HD is coming back. HD gets the first set at 21/8.

Tyz loses the 2nd set at 16/21. He is visibly upset.

Xiang is injured and has Heer replace him. The NSW team also change their mixed players to Cedric Koh and Ysabel Say.

Looks like we have to be happy with Silver.

The mixed doubles are both going to 3 setters.

Olivia and Heer lose after a hard fight at 21/18, 10/21 and 15/21. Tyz and Alex win the first at 26/24 but loses the 2nd and 3rd at 13/21 and 8/21.

That is the end of the team event and we have to be happy with Silver.