I'm playing the us national public parks tournament this week.

[EdWeiss]

I think it is great that you are competing and are still so excited about the game! Best of luck.

[GeoffWilliams]

The truth is, these guys are 50-70lbs lighter and 30-40yr. younger a lot of the time. My weak points in the past have been fh/serve, consistency, and movement now is a major weak point. For me to beat them, I have to attack the net and keep points short, and still keep a high aggression index. My serve is improving and so is my fh, in large part to reading this site. I am finally beginning to understand both on a fundamental level, which is translating to overcoming my memorized physical blockages.

But it's been a long hard road to overcome the set in concrete ways.


They have me scheduled for two-three matches a day, five in two days. Tough to do if you are in shape. I am hitting with the holy names player on Friday, who beat the #2 seed last week in a tourny: 10-8 third set tie breaker. So he knows how to play him, and maybe that will give me a window. If i win that match, I'd be against the university player in the semi final. I customized his frame for him with silicone.

The one thing going for me is that lots of these young guys just don't lob at all.

I intend to serve better than I ever have, and hit better more attacking fh than I ever have in any tournament stretching back to 1970. I believe. I see myself doing it. I see myself smiling and accepting the trophy from the wormy td.

[gzhpcu]

Good going Geoff. My tournament career (40 years) ended 5 years ago when I got married. Life is full of compromises. I peaked at 5.5 and terminated at 3.5...

[GeoffWilliams]

I've been with my wife for 23 yrs. Each year she made the delicious dinners bigger! Ha, ha. (Along with my belly!) Boo hoo.

[GeoffWilliams]

Yesterday I played the holy names player a set, and lost 6-2, but the frame had become too loose from all the serves I was hitting. So that gave me a heads up. I had him down twice on his serve but didn't break. I put away a lot of volleys but anything I didn't put away was put by me more or less. So now the tournament starts this morning. 327 people total entered in var. divisions.

[gzhpcu]

Good luck Geoff! Reminds me of the city of Zurich championships I used to play, we had close to 1,000 entrants. Is your tournament subdivided into categories by ranking, or just seeding by ranking?

[GeoffWilliams]

Tournament directors base seedings on recent results, but have discretion if they know you. I won my first round in three sets today, but it was hot out there, and I started to cramp up. It went to a tie breaker, 10 point. I got down, 4-2, but decided to make my first serves and returns at all costs, and then won 8 of 9 points to win that match, but went into post match cramping badly. I had to eat a lot of salt to get back to normal, then faced the #2 seed. He won the toss and let me serve first, and I held and broke him to go 2-0 up. Then he won 4 games in a row, and I broke back and held to go 5-4 up. We won the first set breaking me twice. Missed too many simple volleys, and he began to return better. Then I lost 6-2 with no more energy left to hold serve with. Broke him once in each set, but got broken 5 times of ten games served. My serve and fh let me down again. Now I play in the mens 55 singles on Thursday, but at least I have some match play. Body is hurting badly. Pain teaches us. Loss teaches us. Losing even while hitting a lot of good and great shots, still hurts badly, but I could have beaten him if I held serve. Sv game is not complete yet.

[don_budge]

"Roadhouse"...

Body is hurting badly. Pain teaches us. Loss teaches us.

"Pain don't hurt"...Patrick Swayze in "Roadhouse" and borrowed by James Scott Connors in "Outsider"..

[GeoffWilliams]

One of the biggest issues in playing is how to deal with pain of loss, pain of the inability to improve your game, or your emotional responses to it.

We put ourselves in the line of fire on purpose, and are surprised by just how much it can hurt beyond physical pain. The physical pain of playing matches is bad enough, but does not compare to the mind.

So how do you impose the will to bend the pain and disappointment of the loss of improvement/and or victory? That loss is magnified if team mates are involved, as your status decreases if you lose in the eyes of others who live around and with you.

IN the next round a guy I know lost to the guy who beat me, but he got dusted 0 and 3, so after the match, I went onto the court, grabbed his shoulder, looked into his eyes, and said, "REpeat after me. Pain is good. LOss is good. I hit a lot of good shots. I will remember those, and forget the bad ones." He said,

"I'm not a pussy.", ha, ha.

If you realize that the more you hurt, the more you are helping your opponents the next time around, then and only then, will you really stop the mind game imposed on your own will not to participate any more due to the excess.

His buddy was playing in the other semi, another guy I know, but before his match began, I said to him, "If it comes to tie breakers, get your first serve in, and make your returns at all costs, and cut down your unforced errors." He played the #1 seed, and beat him in two tie breakers, 7-3 each, and only missed one first serve and one return in each breaker. Those who take my words to heart benefit from them. The entire difference in his 2.5 hr match was that he was not trying too hard in those breakers, and his opponent was.

That's what a coach does for his charges, give them a clear and present road map to make it easier to relax and play without stress and worry.

[johnyandell]

Hey that tiebreak advice sounds like a Tennisplayer article from this month...or is it that competitors think alike?

[GeoffWilliams]

That's where I got it from! But played the same info. One year I played 21 tie breakers, and won 14 of them. Take what works. That article condenses into: At all costs:
#1: make your first serve.
#2. make your return.
#3. cut down on unforced errors. This forces the other guy to try hard, not you. You are the one relaxing while he is stuck hitting aces/faults/missing returns, and ues. Trying too hard locks us up in tie breakers.

Practice all sorts of tie breaker situations.

I play 10 pointers, 24 pointers, 7 pointers as a regular part of practice. All my 4.5 partners go along with it.