The Southern Arizona Racquetball Championships are back and I was nervous as nervous could be. I had a chip on my shoulder about my ranking. Im currently 158 in the state, 6486 of all the people who have played in the last 13 months and 19052 of all the people who have played in the last three years! I really feel that this number is not indicative how good I am, yet I hadn’t proved to this anyone. So instead of going into the place calm, cool, and collected; I went in with heart racing and high blood pressure.
Friday
Left work early to get there on time. Due to traffic and lots of rain it took me almost 2 hours. It should have taken roughly 1 hour and 20 minutes. I get there and they tell me to get warmed up. So I quickly change and get onto the court to hit around. Trying to get warm and trying to get settled. I was playing an older guy in the first round. I made the mistake of looking at his ranking before we began. He was ranked much higher than me. As my number is not reflective of me, this too could have been the tale for him, either way I let it bother me. I managed to win the first game. Pretty quickly too. Then in the second game he made a call against me, but let it go, I took advantage of it and he got mad. Then once he was mad he started making more and more mistakes. And would you know it I was into the round of 16; just like that. I thought all was well in the world, thinking I didn’t have to play the rest of the night, but I had a match in about 1 hour from that time. I was playing this dude who was a walking billboard for a manufacturer. At this level it doesn’t mean much, it just means he paid the money to represent them. A marketers wet dream!!! It doesn’t me he’s so good that they give him stuff. Well I quickly dispatch him in the first game. Hes ticked, especially because his partner was video taping him, and I waxed him up and down the court. The next game we are going back and fourth pretty good, and one point he hits the ball, falls down, doesn’t get back up, I continue the play and put the ball away. He takes his time and getting up and then takes a medical time out. He came back in the court and is saying its his turn. Sorry, but falling down is not my fall, not getting back up is not my fault. I stood my ground and he got pissed. I was up three points and quickly comes back and goes ahead. We eventually are tied at 14 a piece, not wanting to go to tie breaker I manage to get back in the servers box. I serve ball, he returns it, I hit it pretty hard, so hard that hes waiting for it to come off the back wall, it hits the back wall and dies. Hello quarterfinals!
Saturday
I woke up pretty tired and pretty sore. I had to be at the gym by 9. I show up and Im delayed. I end up being delayed for 3.4 hours. I mean come on. The reason Im delayed is that kid is playing back to back matches and they allowed him to eat and rest. Stipulations of playing two divisions means having to play back to back possibly. I would have appreciated the courtesy too, but its never been afforded to me. So I finally get him on the court and he warms up for forever. Finally I said lets go. He was a young guy from Hermosillo, but the end of the match he turned into a young punk from Mexico in my mind. I beat him in the first game and hes screaming all sorts of profanities in Spanish. Its like a home game for him too, his whole family is in the gallery hooping and hollering for him. Encouraging him, whistling for him. In the first game he comes back and kicks my ass….handily. So now Im kind of worried. Im thinking here comes the same ol Jacob who cant close. Keep it up, play smart with finesse. That’s the key right there. I imagine power and precision would generally win out. Most people who have power don’t have much precision and vice versa. So you have a cannon, so what. In my case I can hit the ball somewhat, but more importantly I can aim it. Plus, Im older and not so easy to get flustered. So I just stayed calm, tried to hit high percentage shots and came away with a win. I later found out that that dude was 13. Suck it 1997!
After the match I was making small talk with people. I met his uncle who I ended up playing in the next round. He was nice. Not intimidating or anything, just as courteous as could be. I didn’t really care, I was on cloud nine.
I got some lunch and headed for my next match. The guy I was playing was so tired that I didn’t beat him easily, but I beat him fast. I think if he were more rested he would have put up more of an effort, but Ill take my W.
After I beat down the 13 year old I was really tired. I had no more gas and my deltoid was on fire. It hurt and it was hot to the touch. My next match was against the uncle and he beat me down. He beat me down because he was better than me, but also because he had to stand up for his family. Even on a full tank of gas I probably wouldn’t have beat him, he was that good. He was definitely playing open racquetball. I tried to conserve energy; every once and awhile I would exert myself but I felt it was futile. I had made a statement by getting out of the first round. To whom? I don’t know, mostly to myself. I had to prove I could do that. And since this was a sanctioned tournament everyone will now know. So I finished up the match, shook his hand and began to get ready for the B semi-finals. I was dog ass tired. The guy I was playing had just ate and they allotted him 2 hours to digest. WHAT. THE. FUCK. No where else would this have happened. I was pissed and so were the racquetball gods. I came out guns ablazin and won the first match. And then I was through. No one else was watching us. It was us and the tournament director. I had no more gas. I lost 15-3 and 11-1. He ended up winning the whole thing which sucks, because I know had I more energy it wouldn’t have been a problem. Then I can tell myself I would have won the whole thing. Had someone told me I would be playing for Bronze on Sunday I would have told them to shut the fuck up, but I was happy to be playing for third. They say the happiest people at the Olympics are the Gold and Bronze medal winners. Gold because they won, Bronze because they are thankful to get on the podium.
Sunday
I now know what it will feel like to wake up at 72. My left calf hurt, both ass cheeks were sore. My right shoulder hurt and everything was stiff. Any amount of stretching required grunting and sighing. I went to church that day, said some prayers and headed out to the gym. There was nothing I could do to loosen up. I did get warmer, but that was about it. The guy shows up, Man I just want to go home, Im tired, Im sore, Im cranky. Ahhh good. I beat him easily in the first round. Even tired Jacob has long arms and can hustle a lit bit. Come back and he wipes the floor with me. Damn, was he sandbagging I think. Hey man were you sandbagging, Nope I was just asleep. I always play well in the second round. As we are between matches he goes back to the lobby. There was a certain individual their suffering from sour grapes. Hes trying to tell this guy that Im no good, keep him in the back. The guy defends me, says hes quick and hes long and I cant pass him. Nah hes no good just keep after it. As he says that last sentence he sees Im in earshot and quickly walks away. The last match, which only goes to 11, lasted for about 30 minutes it seemed. No one wanted to concede but no one could get any points either. It was all due to lack of energy. Finally at 8-8 I get some momentum after a 10 hit rally. I finish up 9, 10, 11. Walk out a victor in my own right. That dude and I talked for awhile afterwards. We made fun of all the “sponsored” kids. We made fun of the dudes who get mad. It was a lot of fun, I got my picture taken. The tournament directors were very proud of me. Jacob…playing on a Sunday. I don’t believe it. Everyone was much nicer to me too. I guess no one wants to talk to a loser.
So I ended up winning 5 of 7 matches. Placed 3rd in B’s, placed 5th in A’s. I think this is going to be the tipping point for me. I think winning begets winning. I think that most of my exhaustion came from my brain not shutting up and shutting off. Thanks to everyone who believed in me, but more importantly thanks to all the people who doubted me. “Why do you even play” “Why do you enter tournaments” “Why are you entering that division” “You should be playing two divisions down”
Well fuck you, and fuck her too.
All my love,
jacob
OLD JACOB NEW JACOB
STATE 158 66
NATIONAL 6486 3129
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