Mexico Future Series in Guadalajara in august didn’t go exactly as planned. I played quite terrible all week, struggling with exhaustion, stress, and some personal things. However in the doubles Victor and I were able to make our way into the semi finals. We didn’t’t play our best matches, but we managed to pull together some wins to get the bronze.
If you would like to support me you can do that through: GoFundMe or Buy Me a Coffee
Thanks for all your support!
Austria Open in Graz was a wonderful experience. The city itself is beautiful, and the hall is great. I went straight from the airport to the hall and got 2 separate 1 hour practices in the day before my match. The shuttles we got at the venue were not the babolot shuttles we ended up playing with. They were a mix of Victor and Yonex. The morning of my match I woke up feeling super sluggish, drank my coffee and did my routine, and knowing I was feeling sluggish I went the venue early and did a much longer than normal warm up. However first hit on the court I could tell the shuttles were insanely fast Babolot shuttles that flipped weird. I didn’t control the shuttle well and soon found myself trailing by quite a lot. I quickly let my frustration get the better of me and the match slipped away. I spent a few hours afterwards very upset, frustrated, and disappointed in myself. Right after the match another athlete came and talked to me, and said that he felt I needed to focus on being positive and looking at the things I did well instead of the things that were not going well. I had some good reminders from my coach as well not to waste energy on the negative and to instead focus on solutions, which thankfully I found, at least in part, in the next match in Bonn Germany.
In Bonn the venue was quite small, and we used Yonex shuttles, something I am much more used to. Though my first opponent had had some very good recent results, I was focused on playing well, and staying focused, and keeping the negative self talk at bay. I won my first match quite well, though I squandered a huge lead in the second set, and ended up winning quite close in two sets, I felt I played the way I needed to. Second match I played decently well, and had a close back and forth match where I made a few unfortunate errors that cost me the match in the end.
Sports is hard, and development is hard. Not every day is a good day, and sometimes, even when we have good days we cannot quite manage the win. But we keep striving forward! I have Danmark Masters this week, and hope to bring my best game- but one day at time. First some coaching and training today!
Thanks everyone
Kevin
If you want to support me financially you can donate through my GoFundMe or my BuyMeaCoffee
Luxembourg International
The Luxembourg International has to be one of the most challenging events I have faced recently due to a large number of factors. I flew in from Jamaica, boarded three different flights that I then had to get off of due to mechanical or crew issues, was delayed by more than a day, and missed my scheduled practice. I got less than half an hour on the main courts before my match. Despite my best efforts to plan for a day and a half to practice and recover from travel, and trying to set myself up to play well things didn’t go as planned. I did my best to shake the travel out of my legs, and compete, but I have never gotten on court feeling so sluggish and exhausted. I had 50 hours of travel, and no sleep weighing my legs down and it showed. I had a very winnable match against Spain in singles, but couldn’t pull it off. Lots to learn, and nothing to it but pushing forward for the next one!
If you would like to support me you can send me an email or donate through my GoFundMe
kevinbarkmanbadminton.com 