This week I skipped badminton on Tuesday because I had a cold and wanted to save my strength for my class Wednesday.
And I’m glad I did! Right out of the gate my teacher said I was hitting it much better. I credit the fact that I was totally rested. (I still had a cold but it was okay.) I wasn’t tired from playing the day before so practice wasn’t the tiring and I just had more strength in general.
So much so, that my teacher could see I had a lot of energy after our lesson and asked a woman to play singles with me. He told her I was his student and a beginner and she agreed. Turns out she is also an English teacher (in a different department) and she had seen me walking to the classrooms before. She has been playing badminton for six years and she also had a teacher, one of the PE teachers at my university. She’s had private lessons for a year and a half. I told her about starting playing in March and how I had a teacher for about 2 months now. She was very friendly and I got to speak English which was nice.
We started playing and while she had some good shots, it was clear that I was much better than her. The score was quickly 4-1 and then she suggested that we just “play casually.” I said sure, and after a few minutes of me still killing her just in casual play, she said she was tired and sat down.
“I’ve been playing for six years and haven’t improved much,” she said. “But you’ve only been playing a few months and are already better than me. It makes a person feel….how to say….depressed.”
Boo-yah.
I ran over to my teacher, who was playing his own singles game, but was taking a break, and told him.
“She also has a teacher, and she’s been playing for years!” I said excited but quietly so no one would overhear my gloating. “But I was totally beating her.”
“Good,” he said putting up his fist for a little fist bump.
“I like to win,” I said.
“Me too,” he said and we basically drummed our fingers together cackling.
This is basically what me and my teacher did for a few minutes.
Thursday was okay. I was still sick and tired from the day before so it wasn’t the best day, but nothing terrible happened. I won the normal amount of games, more than half.
But remember the broken racket from the week before? My friend got a new one…the same one as me! So now my racket has a bestie! (The pic at the top is our two rackets hanging out and getting to know each other.)
