When I arrived at Classic, about forty miles from my apartment, I took the above picture. The times that I went for lessons I thought it was an ok club. Now with the tournament, I see it's a really nice place to play. It doesn't have spectator seating like some of the places on the Pro Tour, but still nice.

All the courts have a drive serve lines and a real receiving line, they are also air conditioned, but by the way I was sweating you wouldn't be able to tell. Some of the courts have windows so you can see the match from the lower level. All of them have a balcony where you can see the entire court and it's a pretty good vantage point for the referee and spectators to watch.

They also have a full gym, aerobics, indoor basketball courts, tanning, and massage salons. So I took a walk around and explored most of the club, I was an hour early for the match. I also got my tournament shirt which cost me $45.00.

They had a spread of bananas, bagels, and Gatorade. So I strongly suggest you eat breakfast and bring a snack. A lot of people knew each other and it was a family like atmosphere. I pretty much sat on a mat and stretched cold--bad idea. I spoke to Bill, Tournament Director and my instructor, once in a while. Then it came time for my first match in the C Division, which had fifteen players.

C Division -- First Round
My first match was against Eric Leonhart a right handed player, his wife was watching from upstairs. My wife had a work related event to go to, so I tried to dismiss that as best I could. I was pretty stiff still and during warm ups I broke a brand new green ball. I might of just hit it wrong or something. I gave it to Bill and he joking said stop hitting the ball so hard.

My bread and butter drive serve wasn't at full strength and he was able to return it most of the time. I sneaked in a forehand drive serve for an ace. I lobbed it most of the time so I can move to center court and get into a rally. Eric didn't drive serve too much and sent me mostly half lobs, I rushed most of them. To make a long story short, Eric won 15-4, 15-6. He was a good guy and we talked in-between games. He played a few tournaments before and lives in South Jersey.

I wasn't aggressive enough and wasn't thinking. Relaxing was impossible. I wasn't there mentally.

D Division -- First Round
My second match in the D's was against Antonio Hernandez from Atlantic City and also right handed. He's been playing for a year and a half and was about his second or third tournament. Again he had some support in the balcony area. Looking back he was a pretty low C Player almost always giving me a setup off the back wall and avoiding drive serves to my backhand. I think he realized I was left handed, but I doubt he practiced what to do about it. He was pretty fast and could cover the court well. I almost always controlled center court, thanks Mike.

First game wasn't so good. 15-7 in his favor. Second game I really made him work for the win, but just couldn't score 15-7 again. I was breathing so heavy and my heart was thundering in my chest. I actually thought I was going to drop dead.

We had some spectators for a few minutes, so I did my best to ignore them and focus on the game. It's different having people watch you, so I think it's just best to acknowledge they exist and give them a show. Impossible to ignore them, but might as well have them root for you and not the other guy.

I got hit by Hernandez's racquet on his follow through, I was so pumped it didn't even hurt. It still feels sore to the touch. Later, I accidentally hit him on the upper back, so we were even. It was one of my notorious off the back wall swings where I'm looking at the ball and not where it's going to go. Always seems to go the left side of the court and right into someone. I think I'm contacting the ball early and my feet aren't in the right place. I want it to be a down the line shot or a cross court pass to my backhand side.

D's only had seven players, so again with the round robin to even things out. I thought I had a better chance to play someone with about the same experience about six months to a year. I scoured the USRA website looking for a time limit on D's. When I got home I almost posted to the racquetball newsgroup to see if I was sandbagged. I was angry, but eventually calmed down.

Met my first Racquetball Celebrity
I think I was eliminated from my divisions when I saw Ruben Gonzalez walking down the stairs. I did a double take. I have two matches on video tape of Ruben and his doubles partner Mike Guidry. I had nothing to lose so I went up to him and asked him for his autograph and shook his hand. He signed the back of one of my score sheets! It was really cool to meet him. He came to the tournament to play and to sell his gear. I was broke and wasn't going to drive to an ATM machine and come back.

I don't think I would of been happy to see him if I was playing in his division though. :-)

Semi-Pros Match
I watched three of five games of a semi-pro match between this guy Neil and Brian. I spoke to Neil a bit before his match and he's been playing for twenty years. He might even be Bill's doubles partner. Anyway I watched him take on a young kid--Brian--who's very good, but would yell and congratulate himself during a game. Very annoying.

Anyway the strength in which they hit the ball is incredible, but doesn't do much good to expel that much force only to have the ball come off the back wall and have your opponent hit a roll out. I didn't like Brian that much since before a serve he raised his racquet to signal he wasn't ready and then lowered it before the serve. After the serve, he turned to the referee and said he signaled not ready. Lie!

So how I'm hitting the ball is a far cry from semi-pro. They can just rifle shot after shot at full speed and they make it seem so easy.

The Longest Walk
Leaving Classic down this corridor seemed to take forever. My body was already sore my mind was numb with the pain of two defeats. All the visuals in my mind I used to get psyched now seemed laughable. People always say to visualize the win, visualize the winning serve. I think we need to believe in the images we see, they must have some basis on fact, or else the brain is going to dismiss them and may make matters worse.

For next year I'm going to do these things differently and add them to my weekly workout sessions and practice.

• Not playing before the tournament was stupid. Need to play and practice to some degree.
• Using the Green Ball once in a while as One Lee likes to do is not a bad thing.
• Doing a drill with fifty or even a hundred repetitions is not enough.
• Need more cardio endurance.
• Need more speed drills in my workout.
• Need to relax getting all tense and nervous did nothing to help my game. Lucky I wasn't hurt.
• Need to arrive earlier at the club and do more activity like ride a bike. Something.
• Need to get orthotics for my flat feet.
• I need a bigger bag! Backpack doesn't hold anything.
  

I enjoyed watching a show on Discovery called Human Instinct that described "The Will to Win." Basically we're programmed to never forget mistakes and our brain punishes us for the defeat and rewards for victory. We suddenly feel exhausted and hurt. I will never forget yesterday. I will be back. Playing the tournament was exciting and a lot of fun. It stretched me as a person and as a racquetball player. I felt totally alive.

Thanks to everyone who helped me prepare mentally and physically especially Dennis, Joe B, John, One Lee, Mike, Tony P. and my wife Karen. Lastly thanks to my instructor Bill Serafin for his lessons.