Bruin Open 2012

In my feeble attempt to balance my teaching and personal life, I've been trying to be more active over the past year.  A few weeks ago, I played in a badminton tournament at UCLA.  I have trained as hard as I could, with whatever time that I have given that I'm a 33 year old full-time teacher and part-time tutor.  I played well.  On Saturday, I won two rounds against two younger less experienced opponents.  On Sunday, I had to face two younger skillful players in the quarter and semi-finals.  They have been trained by coaches who were former Olympians.  I was fortunate to win in both close hard fought contests.  In the final, I lost to another young player.  I'm a little disappointed in losing the finals match, but am grateful that I played a good tournament and making it to the finals in a singles event for the first time.  I showed my silver medal to my students the following week and they were all very happy for me.  I strive to keep pushing myself physically as long as my body holds up.