Although no prizes nor big wins were involved, my padel weekend was a success. For one, I finally got the chance to get the padel experience in Northern Sweden. Thanks Gävle Padel for a nice tournament day and the delicious lunch! #foodisthewaytomyheart
Secondly, this was the tournament that marked our debut as Team Andersson — mother-daughter team. Alexandra has been training with the few juniors here in Gothenburg for quite some time, but has very little match experience both recreationally and competitively. After her first tournament in the Women’s A Category (highest level in the Swedish system) with Mari Andersson in August, we decided to give the potentially sensitive mother-daughter combo a go. It was time to take the next step, plus it was a bonus weekend alone with my middle child.
Before the weekend, I wondered what sides should we take? Was I to give up my corner on the right side that I’m just starting to become friends with in order to be able to dominate the majority of the court from the left side? It would make sense since I’m the more experienced player, and I would get more chances to hog the middle with my forehand, but after one practice match of playing on both sides, Alex felt more at home on the left. So, that was that.
We also tried to get mentally prepared for the fact that she would be the one under pressure. She would probably get 9 out of 10 shots. We knew that would be one of the challenges of the weekend. She would get grilled over and over again and I would have to stand to the side passively and hope I could do something useful with the 1 out of 10 shots I would receive. And as we expected, this was pretty much what happened. It was trying because not only was it frustrating to feel like I couldn’t do enough when I had the chance, it also put a little dent in my heart to see her working her little *ss off in the corner while I stood and watched #anyonegotpopcorn? But, it’s all part of the game and I’m proud to say she was a trooper and handled it very well. And she actually thought it was fun! #alsoasuckerforpain?
We ended up winning one match pretty easily and lost two tough three-setters against up-and-coming padel stars. It felt like those matches could have gone either way and it would have been nice to have won at least one of those, but we’re still happy we drove 12.5 hours for those 5 hours of padel matches. It was a great mother-daughter experience, perfect match practice for Alex and a huge test of patience for me. So, I’m exhausted mentally and she’s exhausted physically, but here in Gothenburg the sun is shining and our souls are smiling.
Soon, I’m off to Spain for Camp Padel. You can follow me on Instagram @antopadel for updates, but until then…
Have a great padel week!
Antonette
