Mid Season Thoughts

Well, I suppose it is time to check in and reflect as we're at about the half way point for this season. It started way back in March, practicing on cool windy days in the sands of Santa Fe and Albuquerque, leading to our first tournaments in Southern California at the end of the month. Coming into the season, we were both highly motivated, thanks to a few last minute slips at the end of last season including losing a 14-11 game three lead late in the Aspen tournament and giving up a similar lead in a Phoenix final. We both worked hard in the off season, in the gym, the sand and on our mental game. Some of my personal goals coming into this season included being able to side out a very high percentage of the time and being able to compete as a team at a very high level. I feel as though both goals have been met, and I am very pleased about that. Travelling to California early helped set a strong pace. We did well in the first tournament, before running out of steam from a lack of playing on the sand at that point. The second tournament didn't go as well, as we were pretty tired (turns out one of the teams in our pool, Mayer and Keenan, finished 3rd recently at an AVP event). That helped us to focus and push harder, meeting up weekly to practice together and focusing our skills. As the season has been progressing, we've done very well locally. The Sneakerz events have been having good turnouts, with new and changing combinations of competitive teams. Matt Valencia has been playing particuilarly well, making the finals in all three events, two with Thomas and one with Rob. Chris' short retirement has been good as he has finished well with a few different partners. Thierry and Colin have played a couple events and done well. Jeff and Desi have put in a number of strong matches. After finishing 1 & 2 at the King of the beach, we've gone on to win all the Sneakerz events and have not dropped a match as a team. More importantly, we haven't allowed teams to go run points on us and have been very steady. Our conditioning has been paid off, as we have been getting stronger at the end of events rather than becoming tired. We spent Memorial Day weekend back in California, playing a big CBVA event. After a shakey start, we pulled it together and defeated numerous teams before dropping a well played close match at sunset, finishing 13th of 43. This has given us the confidence that we can indeed compete at a high level. As Loric has been spending a better part of the last month in Phoenix, I picked up a partner for the big King of the Mountain tournament in Vail. We worked through to another strong finish, 4th out of 29. Loric's been keeping up with playing some good ball in Phoenix. Best part has been the most fun I've had playing in a very long time!
So, here we are, halfway through. The first half has been very good, most importantly, lots of fun. We've gotten support from some sponsors and supporters (see left column) and have gottent to do some great travelling. Looking forward, I think the goals will be a little loftier. I will be working one day a week in Albuquerque, so Loric an I will have lots more quality practice time together. We'll sit down and figure out a travel schedule. Aside from local events, we'll be at the Motherlode in Aspen, possible the EVP event in Tempe and more. Of course the blog will keep going, for better or worse. Thanks for reading!