I have been playing pickleball twice a week over 3 months.
Since most people I play with are eldery person, they praised my agility and quickness.
This makes me think I'm a superior player for my short experiece of pickleball.
It turned out that this was completely wrong idea.
My partner was chosen on the day of match.
Fortunetaly he was skilled, so I thought we could aim for the championship.
I made it through a group stage, but lost in the quarterfinals.
The opponent was a pair of women.
In pickleball, gender does not really matter when it's coming to winning or losing.
After scoring three points in a row, we got overtaken and had to play catch-up.
I can't perform a play which I usually do. It's really a battle of mind.
But I got so nervous in actual games that I cannot perform at even half of your ability.
One mistake makes me nervous, which results in another mistake.
It's my execuse, but skipping a lunch might affect my performance.
Since it was beginner-level tournament, I underestimated a bit, but overall level was higher than I expected.
The pair who won the championship was really solid and clearly experienced.
Above all, they seemed to know each other inside out, which was something our pair didn't have.
This time was a great lesson for me. I should always practice with the mindset of winning a match.
And I should play with more advanced player in match to be competitive in real match like this.
Everytime I play a match, I realize how competitive I am.
I'm looking forward to playing next tournament.