Table Tennis Anyone?

The fact that I hadn’t held a racket for almost 5yrs did deter me from taking part in the annual Ramadan Table Tennis Tournament but all the words of encouragement from my friends convinced me otherwise. I had to dig up my old paddle but I must confess it felt great to be playing again. According to buddies who had observed me at my acme, I had a pretty easy draw. There was just the matter of reviving my OLD strokes.

It’s funny how you desperately struggle to stay focus when you face an opponent who probably took his first steps right about the time you were winning your first trophy. It’s not an exuberating experience realizing that you have AGED physically, the spring & vigor of your youth has faded away.

When you are fifteen you are the “King of the World”, the uncrushable feeling “WILL” resonates from within you. It doesn’t bother you that your adversary is a more seasoned player; there is absolutely no sign of respect. In short, I was expecting an EFFORTLESS win but somebody forgot to enlighten the Kid. He gave me hell of a match and made it pretty evident that I am rusty, old and in serious need of game practice.

I was facing First round elimination and an early embarrassing exit at the hands of someone who I could beat with my eyes closed in my hay days. It’s funny how you never realize but in such dire times “EXPERIENCE” always jumps to your rescue. I don’t remember how but I somehow managed to connive through the imminent First Round Disaster.

The Matches that followed weren’t as difficult and with every match I got better. It was 3 Day Tournament. After the First day my body ached all over but after the second day my game had improved immensely to generate a stir amongst remaining competitors. Being the Dark horse places you at great ease, you are never expected to succeed but as you do you are showered with sycophantic accolades & applause.

Normalcy is when you confine yourself to a corner and chant mantras to motivate youself for the next match. The Inner Psyche is motivated to don the image of a fearsome warrior. Sadly, Over-Confidence follows when your next opponent requests you to “take it easy”. An attitude develops within; blinding your concentration and generating a sense of bogus absolute dominance. You have a mile left in the race and you start thinking of your victory speech. A Fall Humiliating fall ensues and the entire fake persona is shattered.I would like to take this moment to blame my Semi-final loss on the intrinsic overconfident rush that consumed me. I still find it hard to contemplate how I stood on 5 Match points and still walked out the loser.

There are no hard feelings, I did lose the Tournament but I succeeded in creating the social rapport that I forever sought. It humbled me when I was asked to coach the junior team. I delightfully accepted and plan to begin first week of November.