Racquetball Tournament

So I played in my first racquetball tournament on Saturday.  I’ve been playing really well at the club recently, beating Helga for the first time (and by seven points), getting twelve on Bill, so about a week before I knew that the biggest obstacle I was likely to face would be myself.  When I visualized myself playing in an unfamiliar court against unknown opponents while being watched by strangers I’d immediately feel my stomach clench.  

I’ve had a problem with nerves since I was a child.  My anxiety attacks started young, and they continued to flair up, becoming especially bad in high school.  I used to wonder how I could be so prone to them, that is until I learned that both of my parents have suffered from them (yet they gave me plenty of shit about them), and the inheritance appears to stretch back to at least my maternal grandfather.

If you’ve never had them before, you’re likely asking yourself, “How bad can they be?  You get the jitters and then you take a deep breath.”  Unfortunately, the jitters we’re talking about are accompanied by intestinal cramps, nausea, diarrhea and cardiac arrhythmia.  

I hoped that this competition wouldn’t flip my freakout switch.  I considered medication, but Amanda said that Atavan would overly relax my muscles; I’d lose every match and just not care.  It was my first tournament so no one really expected me to do well, it wasn’t a major tournament in terms of its size, the only other person from the club with me was my doubles partner, Ron.  I had been playing better than ever in the run up to the event.  I felt there was a reasonable chance that I would be ok.

I realized I wouldn’t as Ron pulled into Nashua, NH and made our way down the streets to the Nashua Athletic Club.  The cramps and nausea arrived and I could tell the other symptoms were rushing to join them.  I hoped to spent my first fifteen minutes checking out the excellent facilities that Nashua offers, but I got a closeup of a bathroom stall instead.  

I took timeouts during the matches to try and relax just enough to better my very tense game, but for the most part that didn’t help.  I won one and lost three, one of which I likely would have lost regardless.  The guy who won my class was the son of an Open player, and he went on to play Cs and do reasonably well.  

Doubles was actually fun, and Ron and I didn’t win any of our three matches but we had a good time.  

Speaking of racquetball, I need to head to the club now.  Next time I’ll tell you about the matches I watched and some of the players I met.