What I learned from badminton...

I am very, very tired. The thing is, it's nothing work-related.

I've made a habit of hitting the gym at lunch time on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to address my growing gut and my relative lack of fitness and verve around the Taraflex. Lately though, I've picked up one more opportunity to play badminton on Tuesday nights at Magallanes Village's Magdalena Park with Bong, an acquaintance from HCP and Jazz-City United.

The trouble with my first time playing there though was the lack of grip. Even my fresh gum-soled Mizuno Wave Smash RGs had trouble on the dusty wood parquet floor. That meant a lot of premature wear on the left foot's inner portion on what are essentially four-day-old shoes, as I tried lunging around on the slippery court. My soles and left ankle got so sore as a result.

That did not stop me from working on my leg power at the next day's gym session, though. And when the day was done, I played a lot of rounds on Sheridan Badminton Center's Taraflex courts, which my legs and feet missed very badly. Even after just two weeks at the gym, I could notice my old zest returning as I moved around better on court.

I learned a little life lesson while playing last Wednesday. I found I had success at net play, drop shots and pushes. This was different from my usual big-hitting "clearing, driving and smashing" play style. Perhaps we could apply this in real life.

"Ang badminton, parang buhay. Hindi lahat nadadaan sa gigil at pwersa."

Toot the horn, blow one fuse

While Paolo C. and I were at Yonex Sunrise Badminton Club for the 4th Accenture Badminton Club Cup, a paged message bearing the plate number of my car called my attention. Apparently someone spotted my car blowing its horn by itself in the parking lot.

When I walked to my Jazz, it had already gone silent, so I took a look at the fusebox. Sure enough, it had blown a fuse due to the prolonged horn blast. My steering wheel's horn pad had developed the habit of getting stuck. Strangely, it had to happen when I wasn't even in the car!

The blown 15A fuse protected two circuits: the horn and brake lights. With new fuses at hand, I tried the horn again. A faint but ominous click was audible, but the horn kept silent. Driving around with no brake lights is pretty dangerous, so I put in a new fuse and resolved not to use the horn for the remainder of the week.

The long and short of this incident is, my quest to customize my Jazz might have taken another unexpected step. The short-circuited stock horn wasn't much good at making my presence known, anyway. This might be a good chance to get a set of more powerful air horns.

If only those new horns don't short from the horn pad getting stuck again...

Much to look forward to...after rest

Overtime, lousy sleep and my colleagues' illnesses have finally done me in. Last Wednesday, while getting ready to take the morning shower, I felt horrible and feverish. I had a bad cough, a massive headache and none of my energy.

That set off a whole week off work. Most of the flu symptoms were gone by Friday, but my heavy, dizzy head absolutely refused to cooperate. A thirty-minute spell in front of the computer to check my email left me drained and dizzy.

Consequently, in those five days of sick leave I rediscovered the value of sleep. Oh, how I neglected that most despised of my physical needs. I slept abnormally frequently, especially in the afternoons. This is payback for the long nights and incessant hotel insomnia of my last project, I reckon. I don't enjoy sleep, but I had a lot of it and it did me a world of good. I gained weight, swilled my pills, lay in bed watching new cable channels and slept like a bum.

When I mustered the will to report back to work this morning, I was still quite weak. My eyes spun in their sockets after the morning drive to Mandaluyong and my forehead glistened with the sick pall of cold sweat. As the day went by, I gradually gained back my strength. While waiting my turn at the toll booth intersection tonight, close to home, I felt grateful to feel...normal.
===

I recovered just in time. This was almost a repeat of last year, when I got sick on the day of the Accenture Badminton Club (ABC) Cup tournament. I'm grateful I recovered with three days to go before this year's tourney.
===

My plane tickets to Leyte have just been booked. This takes the honor of my first-ever credit card transaction, and I did the booking and purchase online too. To my chagrin, the ticket price has gone up from last month, but I don't mind.

I'll be greeting my "best fwend" a happy happy birthday in person, after four years. I'm certainly looking forward to it, Cher.
===

Joy's also made our coffee date when she visits from the UK. The 16th of December it is.

The last time I buy new sneakers this year...I hope

The day Paolo Cruz and I became level 6 champions was the same day my trusty Adidas Samba Millenniums finally gave up. Two years and a few months after buying them from Santa Monica in California, the soles sheared themselves off their uppers.

Unfortunately this means I have to spend again...and I'm hoping this is the last time I buy footwear in the foreseeable future. I had grown tired of Yonex's poor durability and arch support, and by now I knew I shouldn't be slapping the Taraflex with futsal shoes that, while good to play with, trap an intense amount of heat in my toes. I also suffered for a while with shoes that fit my right foot fine, but made my slightly bigger left foot sore.

This time I went to SM Megamall and dropped by Mizuno's store. I looked all around Makati for a badminton shoe of theirs in my size, in vain. I got the Wave Gate II and found the size-27.0 pair a little loose, but tightening the laces and performing some light footwork at the shop yielded a surprisingly good fit. I got them for PhP2750---still cheap for any pair of sneakers nowadays, let alone a purpose-built badminton shoe!

Badminton is hard on the feet and hard on footwear. Ahh, the price of my favorite sport...

A loser no more

Today was the culmination of all our preparations. Today was the first Accenture All-Men Badminton Cup, held at Yonex Philippines Badminton Club along Shaw Blvd.

Paolo Cruz and I didn't have any idea what we would be up against. This is literally our very first tournament as partners, although we've been playing together as a tandem for at least a year. We were put in Level 6, squarely in the middle of the 11-level field of 166 competitors. After signing up, we each got a spiffy white and gray sweat-wicking jersey.

Before each game, we traded our usual lines of pep talk...with respect for two of the greatest badminton players of our time.

"Go, Lin Dan," I call out.

"Go, Taufik," he hollers back.



Things in Level 6 didn't get off to a good start. For the three elimination rounds, only two games will be played per match, so if you lost one the best you could hope for is a draw...and pray you scored higher in the points tally. Our first match was just that---a draw, although technically we won by two points.

We were feeling the pressure of the tournament. I couldn't hit and smash the shuttle as cleanly as I wanted, and Paolo was having trouble moving around because we were always worrying about the score.

Our second match was a lucky break. The pair we squared off with was apparently mis-leveled, because in their words we "massacred" them with straight wins. Paolo and I really think they should have been in Level 8, but we won't argue with a legitimate win.

The third match pushed us both to our bending points. Thrice, the referee made very wrong calls in favor of our competitors. The frustration and disappointment were obvious on Paolo's face, while I got incensed enough to throw my racket into a flat-spin after the bad calls and a particularly bad play. We almost lost that win for a draw, considering our opponents weren't really as good as the first pair of the day. We ended the elimination round with two wins and a draw, which meant we were in the semifinals.



We finally found our groove in the semifinal game. This time, it was two out of three games to a match, which is how we normally play. Our opponents were much older, but they were quite good. I was enjoying myself so much it took me a while to realize I was chasing shots I should have been ignoring. They were traveling too long and already outside the court. A hard-fought victory was ours in two straight games. Already Paolo was elated with the thought of reaching the finals.

Just as we were about to watch the higher-level players in the semifinals, we were called for our final game. The same friendly referree from the semifinals was calling the game as fairly as he knew how, and it was reassuring to see none of the third-game fiascoes would rear their ugly heads.

Our opponents this time were very good, and technically they had a larger arsenal of moves. Twice, Paolo and I were caught out by a cleanly played cross-court net shot, in near-identical fashion. Unfortunately, my defensive clears and smashes, paired with Paolo's agile feet and scathing kills, were more consistent. I even managed to spring surprise responses to their serves. Not even my Adidas Samba Millenniums getting doubled-up soles in mid-game stopped us from taking the hard-fought victory.

We hugged each other in exhilaration. So this is how winning feels like. We are CHAMPIONS!



We arrived as wide-eyed tourney newbies. We went home as Level 6 champions. And I really could not have done it without Paolo.

He busted his ass out there by chasing the shuttle as diligently as he could, while I mostly remained at the back court for defense and an occasional attack. He has a wider range of shots than I do, too---I'd be in hot water if I tried any of his net play so I'm content with power shots.

We talked about joining future Accenture Badminton Club tournaments, notably the ABC Cup this December. By then we'd have to improve our game---more so for me than for him. But as early as now, I'm sure we won't have any problems working with each other.

We're best partners.

Thanks, Lin Dan.