I’m writing this blog from Tonbridge, UK where I am spending a week with Marcus’s sister’s family in-between tournaments.
I left Dublin, Ireland on Sunday the 27th of April, where I had a disappointing first round loss. I’ve been having difficulty writing this blog because it’s difficult to be positive and upbeat particularly when you get knocked out during the first round of an event.
Trying to find perspective on why things didn’t go as I had planned is sometimes difficult. But you know you lose some and you win some and sometimes your opponent is just having a blinder and on a winning streak!
The past few days I have spent on my own thinking about things and just planning on how to tell you all about my performance at the Cannon Kirk Homes Irish Open.
I watched a film yesterday called “The Fighter” (film based on a true story, about the perseverance of a boxer, despite his unfortunate environment), and it gave me the will power to get back on my laptop and write this blog.
You can’t be a part of the game if you’re just hanging back and leaning on the ropes, trying to take cover and not really applying yourself. It definitely takes considerable courage to put yourself out there, new country, new environment, new climate, all on your own exposed to the unknown.
There are certain things that can assist with dealing with the unknown, like having and committing to a plan that works for you and sticking to it, even when doubt arises.
In the film, the main character had to discover his own identity as a boxer and be able to accept this, and believe in his own plan before he could have his breakthrough win.
My next WSA tournament (Women’s Squash Association) is the British Open and it starts on the 11th of May but I have a Squash Australia Pre Commonwealth Games doubles camp beforehand from the 2nd to the 7th of May. I’m certainly looking forward to that.
The “Fighter” was a good reminder to embrace the struggle, by rolling with the punches. I think trying to qualify for the British Open will be a great opportunity for me to discover what might be possible if I just maneuvere my way off those ropes and put myself out there, in the open, vulnerable to the big hit.
Maybe, just maybe, I might find I’m in a position to get that KO I’ve been preparing for?
Either way I think I’m ready to fight!
