It’s Saturday evening, and I’m driving towards southern Sweden for the first SPT of the season — DropShot Open at Helsingborgs Racketklubb. My fifteen #soontobe16 year-old daughter Alexandra sits in the passenger seat. As we listen to Spotify’s “Today’s Top Hits”, we gossip about boys, question why pop-star Keisha hasn’t released a new album in a while, talk about the layers of make-up girls are using these days, debate on what Alex should wear on the first day of school, and so on. I just love having these chats with my teenage girl #qualitytime, and the feeling grows even stronger when she mentions her new serving technique in padel and how she excitedly exclaims that she can’t wait to play in the tournament. #yes #ididit #shesbrainwashedtoo #padeljunkieinthemaking #nextgeneration #future
On Sunday, we go through the morning rituals in order to prepare for a day of competition. We are both a little nervous. Alex is to team up with “veteran” player Mari Andersson #yestheotherasiananderssonbutwithshorthair, and as I mentioned in my last blog post, I am to team up with Ebba Stedt for the first time in 2 years. She’s a solid back-hand player with a great understanding of the game, plus she’s about half my age #youngblood. Other things on my mind — the fact that National Team Captain Dani Dios will be scouting for National Team Try-outs and how friends and acquaintances will be asking questions concerning the future of my padel “career” considering my current partner situation.
Antonette and Ebba Stedt.
At the end of the day, Ebba and I ended up taking second place against team Svedenhov/Arvidsson, who have been storming the Swedish padel world recently. They were just too tough and we weren't able to give them a proper fight in the final. But all in all, Ebba and I clicked well and I’m looking forward to playing more matches together in order to make our games flow. We will try to team up for Gävle Masters and hopefully more, but nothing is finalized yet.
Mari and Alex put in a solid effort and reached the semifinals. As a mom, I always find it a little nerve-racking to watch my children play a sport, especially one that I play myself. I want them to do their best. I want them to have fun. I want them to learn from their mistakes. I want them to remember that tip I gave them…. However, this time I felt more at ease since Mari is a friend, a good player and an experienced coach. I knew Alex was in good hands and it was also a huge comfort to see how she enjoyed being out there on the court with Mari.
Mari Andersson played with Antonettes daugther Alexandra.
I exchanged several words with Dani Dios about my game — he gave me some positive feedback about my development and also told me what I needed to work on. For those of you watching the court 2 live-stream on Sunday morning, you probably heard this whole conversation. #stoodrightnexttocamera #iwastotallyclueless
Throughout the day, people approached me with kind gestures — big hugs, pats on the back, encouraging words and even a bag of chocolate muffins #iwasfeelingthelove. They wondered how the rest of my season will look like since I no longer have a set partner and it was as if they were almost expressing condolences — maybe they’ve experienced this kind of padel divorce first hand #padeldrama. Thanks everyone for showing your support. It was awesome! But don’t worry, this padel nerd has not died. She lives on and has got a new generation to back her up 😉
P.S. If there are any 16 year-old padel girls out there willing to team up with Alex for the Junior World Championships this Fall give me a holler.
Antonette