badminton CALMNESS kobe mentality wow... its so nice

 I went to play badminton with dad, mo ut and cau ut.  I was having fun hitting around.

Then we started playing matches and i was not playing well.  I tried to focus.. but just wasn't feeling like a factor.

The team was me and dad and we lost both of the first sets.  And he's really good, so it was basically me lol.

Then i remembered the mentality i had when i used to play NBA 2K with the guys.  I remember I had this really tall guy... and before one of the nights, i came across a video of Kobe talking about Steph Curry and how he's deadly cos he sees a CALMNESS

"Theres a calmness about him thats extremely deadly.

Hes not up, he's not down

He's not contemplating what just happened before

Or worrying about whats to come next

He just THERE

And when a player has trained themselves to have the skills to shoot, dribble, left right, etc, and you mix that with this calmness and poise, you have a serious problem on your hands"

Well i basically took the he's not up or down... and did that when i was playing NBA. ... and suddenly i was like.. a force!!  I was like player of the match so often.. and so good! but the thing was.. i was just even!  i wasn't up when i was playing well.. i wasn't down when i missed.. it was just the same the whole time. hehe

well it worked.

and so today, i suddenly remembered that.. and did it. and you wouldn't believe the turn around.  everyone on the court could feel the difference!  i was winning points... and my dad was saying that ive woken up! ehhehe...

and we went  on to win sets after that!  And the whole time.. the only thing i had on my mind was be even.  I dont care about the score.. im gonna feel the same no matter what is happening.  Whether we are down, or up.. i just will not think.. and be relaxed.. and just play.  it was so good!!

and the thing is.. i wasn't WANTING for that to happen.  it just happened.  but i was just focussing on not getting too emotional... and just being not up or down :D

Remarkable.  The mind is an amazing thing.  i remember when i was reading Golf is not a game of perfect.. and i hit my first hole in one during pitch and putt.. and played very well hehe...

i can tread water now! wow

 okay... this is really huge for me.  for much of my life i couldn't swim.  i remember being in high school, and seeing 3 of my friends, i think one of them was Tam, maybe Phillip was in there too.. but they were treading water while talking to us or the teacher or something.  I remember looking at them.. moving their arms and legs in the water and thinking its something i couldn't do.  how could they do that?

well a few years ago, merv askeed me to do tough mudder. and one of the requirements was to be able to dive from a 5m height into water, then swim 50m.

and so for months i kept going to the swimming pool.. and taught myselft to swim!!  i could do freestyle... backstroke.. and breaststroke.  and even on the day of tough mudder, i still remember.. i just did it! I jumped into the lake.. i knew that i would come to the surface.. and then i swam! i tried freestyle but the water was so murky.. i wasn't used to not being able to see.. or maybe i was tired, but i flipped onto my back and did backstroke all thway to shore!  i'm stillso pleased with mysefl about that :D

anyways, flashforward to this year... and Jo invited me to her bday holiday to the gold coast!  she wanted to try this thing called Flyboarding.  At first when i looked at it.. i was like.. errrr.... you go up high and you are in the deep water... i dont think i should.....

i was really close to messaging her to say i'm not a strong swimmer and im not conformatble doing that... but it just felt wrong.

i said nothing.  i decided instead, i would learn how to treadwater... until i was comfortable as a fish in the water!!  and so a few weeks ago, i took the plunge (ahah) and started going back to the clayton pool..  Before i went, i looked at a youtube video on how to treadwater.  this one taught about how to move your arms in the water, and some methods you can use to kick.  They said the flutter kick was the most tiring.  and so i went with the 2nd one, the same kick as the breaststroke kick.  and so i went to the pool and tried it.  i gradually practiced and got more comfortable.  i swear at first, i could only manage a few seconds! like i was thrashing and staying up.. buit just a few seconds and i was buggered.  

but.. i just kept going back to the pool, after work.  and slowly,  it clicked.  

i eventually got to 15 seconds, trhen 20 seconds.. then 30
!!

and eventually.. i go to a minute!! (as in i could to 60.. not full seconds).  but i was so happy.

and after a few days of doing that... it just kinda 'clicked' for me.... and one day i was imagining i was waiting to catch a ball... like in water polo... and i was able to concentrate on that.. and tread water!!

i can do it now!!! ... you dont understand how huge this is for me.  previously... i just could not fathom how people could do that.

now i feel... like i'm floating in a jelly or a layer of something... and its more unconscious.  i feel so much happier.  today i could get to 60 seconds.  well i count to 30 twice ahah... and plus another 10 seconds..

I think also having this confidence that i can tread water... it means i can expend less energy.. cos initially i was literally thrashing hard...  

but... you dont understand how happy it makes me feel.  And i feel extremely confident with the flyboarding now... cos i literally will have a lifejacket on.. and i wont even need to tread water... so its like i'm a better sswimmer than i need to be.  anyways... this was such a good thing.  i'm gonna keep treading water until i can do it for ages... like maybe 20 mins??? haha... 

cos actually before this... i could swim... but i felt like.. if i stopped in the deep end.. i would be a goner if i didn't swim.  but now i feel more confident.  a little confident at least.  i'm gonna keep doing it!

like literally i spend my entire siwmming time just practicing treading water.  and if i swim, its just at the end when im swimming back to get my stuff.. and i use breastsroke, to get more and more comfortable with the kick that i need.

so this is a case of me... staying in it and never leaving..... and look at the results.  it makes me feel so good.

no care factor led to best day ever at tennis with troy and suze

 i was so chill and relaxed about the whole thing./  Even the day before i was due to see the tennis with troy and suze, i was up till 1 or 2am playing games ahaha

i headed to richmond station, everything worked out and i arrived comfortably early.  i hadn't even checked who is playing.  the night before suze messaged and said medvedev is on the day  we go (she knows hes myh fav!)

how lucky is that.  i was like, oh, i hope we can go see him practice.

so in the morning, i check the practice schedule, and medvedevs practice is at 10am. perfect!  his match was on at 12pm.  so perfect! we entered the tennis at 10am, went to the practice court.  There was so ppl there and troy said we can stand over there, the fence is empty there.  We got there, and then medvedev arrived like just a few minutes after ahahah!! He stays on our side of the court the whole time!! so we got totake great photos and videos hehe! yay!

and then suze suggested we try upgrading our groundpass tix to margaret court arena tix to see him, and i was like yes! we went to the booth.  and suze hoped to get an aisle seat.  but the lady at the counter said she cant  choose the seats, its automatic.  And so we were like, sure!  we upgraded our tix.. and whoa we got seats very close to the front, in the shaded side, and aisle seat! wow ahahah... i sear we didn't plan anything, but ended up with the best day hahahaha

and i got to see my fav player playing! and he won! yipppee!!

so thats what happens when you dont really care, and are just happy and go with the flow hahah :D 

I leterlaly had not planned a single thing for that day.  i hadn't even looked at which matches were on to see who's playing lol!

people are loving medvedev yay

 daniil medvedev is my fav tennis player (after sharapova retired).  I started liking him years ago, when i saw that he was so honest in interviews and uust says what he thinks.  He said nice things about Novak during the time when novak was being blasted by the general public for coming to the aus open but having not been vaccinated(
i was fine with ti).  and there were times the medi showed medvedev cracking it when he was playing against tsitsipas and he was angry his opponents dad was talking to him the whole time.  I remember whenever i would post support for medvedev, id often get some ppl commenting that thye hated him etc

anyways, hes still my fav and always has been. even if i m the only one that i know that supports him.  even angela messaged me last week and asked me an honest question and asked whjy i liked medvedev. and i told her  basically cos hes honest and doesn't give politically correct answers just to be liked or to avoid controversy.  and also because he never gives up.

she thanked me for giving my perpective on it.

i'm thankful that Suze knows i like medvedev and she told me he was playing on the day we decided to go tot he aus open.  and we got to see him practice yay! it was so great!  and i asked Suze's bf who his fav player was, and he said i guess medvedev. and i was really happy he said that.

anyways, medvedev has really been gaining so much popularity this tournament.. and he isn't even trying to be loved.  He said that hes trying to change somethings since the end of last year.  He said it used to be like theres 10,000 people in the audience and there might be 1 person who claps a double fault and it would annoy him.  and he said by the end of the season he was so tired mentally.  But hes been doing a lot of thinking and now his focus more on himself rather than on external factors.  Like he knows what he wants, where he's going, what he needs to do.  

Even when people ask about how he feels about the finals match where he was up 2 sets against nadal but somehow nadal came back to win it.  He said that he is 100% left that in the past now.  He onlyu focusses on the present and where he's goiing.

Hes got this happy content smile on his face that really nice to see.  HE's been having some great on court interviews with jim courier that have been so great! and even mcenroe talked ot him today and it was so good too.  The crod loves him.

OH! i just wanna day the day we saw medvedev, suze suggested we upgrade out ground pass tickets to margaret court tix so we could see meddy. and when he entered the arena, i whistled for him and during the match when he won sets and at the end!  i wanted him to know he had some supporters in australia!!

and now when i see interviews, he getsw big applause and ppl love him! its great!  basically, this post is about... how ii am 100$ sure that his change in attitude, has led to his success this year and also people loving him.

like now when hes down 2 sets and its 2am in the mrning, hes thining i dont think i could get a 6 hour flight back home, ill stay another day in australia. and during his 5 set win today in the quarters, he came to the net a bit for crucial points. and he said its cos he was tired and he thought, i either make iit or i go home tomorrow, its not a big deal ahah!!

like...  its so cool for me to see him so chill now.  like a few years ago he did crack it... but now i feel like he does his best and its not life or death to him anymore.  i makes me really happy...  and lieterally he is not trying to make people love him.. but people just like him now! yay.