Today is the last day of the girls' competition. They played 2 matches, 1 against Jurong, and the other against Nanyang.
After my lesson at 2+, I took a cab down to watch them play. When I reached there, they had just won Jurong and were playing the 4th and the 5th matches. I was then told that my 2nd singles was sick and wasn't there. Was really SHOCKED to hear that... because that meant that we would be 'giving up' a point.
Upon cooling down, I decided that there is really nothing that can be done. Player is sick and does need a rest. We just had to make do with what we had, which was still a decently strong team. All we needed were 2 points from the doubles and 1 from the singles, which was highly realistic.
UNFORTUNATELY, our first doubles lost a match which 'should have' been won. They must have been overcome by their nerves, for it is true that the pressure was on them to 'deliver'. Alas, I was disappointed not so much by the loss, but by one of the players who continued to attack despite repeatedly reminding her not to attack and just get the ball over as her attacks were just not getting in today. Also, what a last way to end the last ball(it was deuce)... that player attacked and the ball got out. Really didn't know what to say but well, I didn't scold her as it is just not me to flare up at others. After all she must have been feeling bad too.
In any case, it was just unfortunate... during that very crucial match, the opponents won 2 very crucial points 'by luck'(which most people would agree), as they 'cha1 bian1'(ball hit the edge of the table)... its obviously the worst time for this kind of balls to occur at crucial times as such. Considering such good luck that the opponent had... I guess there is just nothing we can do but to just say that they are the luckier and perhaps the better 'performers' of the day.
After that our 2nd singles seemed to be not in the right mood for the game. She played the first set pretty well and won it, but lost the next 3 and hence lost the game. I guess she had lost the motivation to do well as it was already quite clear that our chances of winning NY was slim. Nevertheless she had already tried her best I believe. It wasn't as if she anyhow played her game. Could also see that she was nervous, from the way she received the opponent's services. I often let her practise receiving similar services during trainings, but her timing was just slower today, which is something that often happens during competitions. The reason being when a person is nervous, her muscles tend to contract and get stiffer. Therefore, reaction will be delayed and once the reaction is delayed and the legs fail to step forward to receive the ball, the timing of receiving the ball will be wrong(too slow) and the ball has a tendency to be high and slow... Oh well...
Then our 2nd doubles played and finally won a point. They played rather well in the first 2 sets and their opponents were just not used to their balls hence they won those 2 sets quite easily. However, in the 3rd set, the opponents started to get used to their playing style and they got more aggressive. They managed to get quite a few good balls over and hence we lost the 3rd set. Our players then changed their 'style' in the 4th set, making adjustments to the way they hit the balls over, and YL also started to attack a little which proved to be quite effective. We then won that set and the game.
Our last singles then went up and lost to the opponent. She tried her best to win some points and that I applaud but ultimately the opponent was better.
That sums up the west zone competition for the NH team. Though it was disappointing that they could only manage a 3rd, I think it was heartening to find out that their standard was very close to the standard of the champion team and the team that came in 2nd. We could have won both of the teams on another day. Alas, it would take a lot more effort should we want to have a similar standard next year, for 6 out of 8 of our current team's players would be graduating this year, leaving only YL and YR in next year's team. Oh well...... the future is just uncertain. I don't even know if I will continue to coach them next year due to my Exchange Programme... *sigh* I just hope that if I do get the chance to prepare them for next year, I will be able to train up a few young players from scratch... which will definitely need lots of time.
Been sneezing quite badly ever since I came back from the competition venue. Hope I haven't passed the flu to anyone in the team... =X