Around
THEPost
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BECOME THE WALL
hat can you rely on after you lose in an early round of a
tournament? Resilience … and a good tip!
So ~ we’re at a big tournament that we had won the previous
year, and naturally there’s a target on our backs. And, as
happens at every tournament these days, there are new, good
players in the draw. Sure enough, we get a tough draw and we
lose in the very first round!
We knew that we hadn’t played our best, but still it’s a
shock to lose in the first round—especially as defending gold
medalists—and fighting your way back to the finals through the
losers bracket is a pretty long road.
About 10:15 that morning, and while still sporting only
marginally positive attitudes, one of us checks her phone to
take off a little pressure. What we find is a text from a very
dear friend (looking at you, Tony Negrete!) who gives us the
following thought: PUT UP THE WALL.
After discussing this comment a bit, and analyzing some of
the errors we had been making, we came to the conclusion that
our friend was right. We needed to stay at the kitchen line and
just get everything back over the net, as if we were a wall.
After we double-dipped our opponents in the final and won
the gold medal for the second year in a row, the message was
clear: When your backs are against the wall, the only thing
you can do is become the WALL.
Being a wall at the line can be the difference between winning
and losing. Look at the following pictures and guess which leads
to a gold medal, and which earns no medal at all... •
Jennifer Lucore and Alex Hamner started playing
pickleball in 2010, and have competed in numerous
tournaments in the USA as well as Jennifer competing
internationally. Between them they have 21 national
titles, but they are perhaps best known for winning
the gold medal in Women’s Doubles at Nationals for
four consecutive years (2011-2014). They live with
their respective families in North San Diego County.
WALL
NO WALL
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MARCH 2016 |
MAGAZINE
41