BLOG - ALISTAIR
I arrived back to Europe last week after 2 weeks in Tahiti, 1 week there for the International and then a 1 week holiday, not the worst place to take a little R&R but doing nothing for a week and completely unwinding lent itself to the inevitable shock of getting the game back up to scratch asap in time for my next club match, on the other side of the world in 5 days! A bit of a tiring week last week full stop, the feeling of being rushed at all times. Had Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday in the UK after arriving back, Monday was spent sleeping in for a training session with Ray in Glasgow at 3pm (SORRY AGAIN RAY !!!) .. The 12pm “cat nap” that turns into a 7hr sleep …. don’t cat nap when you have jet lag .. I of all people should know that only too well.
Tuesday spent all day down in Shirebrook, Nottinghamshire for a studio photoshoot for Carlton, jumping off trampolines, pulling poses .. the usual malarkey im led to believe happens at photo shoots. Wednesday spent back in Glasgow and then Thursday off to Madrid to play against my old club IES La Orden (Huelva) on the Saturday.
It seems that La Orden have gone from strength to strength since I left 3 years ago, some might say because I left 
but in honesty because a couple of the young players at the club have really come of age in the last couple of years, some strong coaching and sparring happening in the South of Spain. Youngster Carolina Marin playing Ladies Singles for example still only 16, European Junior Runner Up and winner of this months Irish Open, backed up by strong Indonesians Hendry Winarto and Sylvinna Kurniawan.
We went full strength this weekend fielding our full foreign contingent, myself, Richard Vaughan and Sarah Thomas. Of the 7 ties, registered foreigners with residency permits can only play a maximum of 3 ties, this domestic ruling to discourage/encourage clubs from relying soley on foreign players/developing the domestic game. It ensures that to do well in the league, you have to have a good balance of strong domestic players as well, but doesn’t discourage from the benefits of foreign players competing in the league and in turn bringing up the domestic level, a good balance.
Richard & Sarah took the opening mixed doubles, Richard struggling badly with bird flu (sorry bronchitis) had spent the previous night infecting me in the hotel room, always for sharing is Richard. Punished in return though for forgetting to bring the biscuits (AGAIN!) the laborious task of covering my reckless behaviour on a doubles court did indeed beckon.
Richard “I refuse to take the net at all costs” …… ohhhh sorry, thats not right, let me re-word that more accuratley …. Alistair “I refuse to stay at the net at all costs” giving compatibility problems at all angles. MINE, YOURS .. MINE !!! YOURS !!! Okkkkkkk … Mine, SORRY ! All problems quickly rectifed when I started staying at the net. Lose the first set from a winning position, then win the next two, keep the crowd happy and BOOM! here I am still undefeated in doubles all season 8 for 8 …. Don’t mock my doubles, I believe it is I that carried you !!!
At this point the match was looking like it was swinging in our favour, 4 ties to win the match, the Mixed and the Gents already in the bag and the Ladies were up the first set in their doubles, we could have had us heading into the singles ties with a commanding 3-0 lead. The ladies doubles turned, many clears were being hit and patience was being tested the tie eventually going the way of La Orden, but in seriousness a gritty dig back from Haidee and Carolina to bring the Match score to 2-1, shuttles are always slow in this hall, the person/team prepared to play the nastier rallies nearly always wins.
Singles … first out on adjacent courts were 2nd singles Beatriz Corrales and Sergio Llopis, here we were 2-1 up in the tie at this point and both Beatriz and Sergio against Slyvinna and Hendry respectively took the first set, we could have been heading into the final singles ties with a 4-1 lead. Both these games turned, the Indonesians digging it out for La Orden, 3 setters going their way and now 3-2 down !!!
Last 2 singles matches went out, with Patrica Perez up against the strong Carolina Marin and myself up against Jesus Cebey, my match a comfortable 21-8 21-8 result proved of no consequence as Carolina on the adjacent court was dismantling Patricia in similar fashion. Match over 4-3 La Orden.
Realistically what this does now for the league and our position, is that we will go into the playoffs (hopefully!) in 2nd position in our group, no bye to the semi final stage, a quarter final tie first over two legs and two more weekends into the calendar. For me then now a crazy month of January and February beckons with 8 weeks of consecutive competitive play, flying every week between Club and International event commitments, likely more than that .. I haven’t got as far as March yet … working out the flight connections for January & February is keeping me occupied enough.
Video and match overview below…
Match overview - 19th December 2009
C.B. Torrejon Saglas Paracuellos (3) C.B IES La Orden (4)
