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I didn’t get to watch the final of the All-England badminton finals, saving myself the heartbreak of watching my country’s hero go down to an exceptional opponent. I didn’t see the match, but just by looking at the score line, it was obvious that it had been a closely fought encounter.

The thing about closely fought encounters is that you don’t often regret the way you played or strategised because you accept that you were just outclassed by your opponent’s extra edge. On the other hand, there’s plenty to regret if you lose out by a large margin or surrender a huge advantage and end up on the losing side.

At badminton, last night, I probably experienced just that. The first game I played was up against a mixed pair and I was paired up with another guy around my age. On the other side of the net, the average age was probably double of mine. The matchup was begging for a one-sided victory from my end, no? Two young guys against a much elder mixed doubles pair doesn’t sound like a fair fight.

It started off well, as much as I expected. We were nine points up, when I crumbled. The veterans started to rack up the points and they hardly had to work for it. My mind became totally clueless as how to complement my partner’s positioning, my feet were stuck to the court and the shuttle was always going back straight to to our opponents. To top it off, I actually clattered into my partner at one point, reaching for the same shot.

The loss soon arrived and I couldn’t help but walk off the court in some disbelief at what happened. It was probably the worst game I’d played ever since I’d joined the group. It was even more disappointing knowing that I’d been slowly improving in the past few weeks. A thought immediately came to my mind, “I only missed one week, and suddenly I’m like this?”

I tried to shrug it off for the next game against another mixed pair, who were younger. I remembered winning against the guy from the opponent pair when I played him in a men’s doubles match. Badminton is something that I do for fun, but while I’m playing, I’ve got that competitive mentality. Anyway, that distant memory was enough to put me in some confidence before it began. All that went out the window when five points were lost right from the start.

This time, my net shots failed me miserably and probably my insistence to keep playing them got us trailing helplessly. I started thinking, “This is ridiculous,” When you’ve lost one game and are well on your way to losing another, its very possible to get frustrated and angry with yourself. When that happened, I started to make simple mistakes like keeping my racket down instead of up that made me miss a couple of shots. Again, poor positioning also got my partner and I flat footed, and I was guilty of simply watching the shuttle hit the floor numerous times.

I sat down on the bench, rather disgusted at my own game. I’d played with my partner before, so why was I so poor this time? Two excuses came to mind. I hadn’t played for a week, so I was probably out of touch and the other being that I was seriously hungry the whole time. I told myself though, I didn’t even give that a thought when I was up nine points in the first game.

The break in play gave me a chance to sit back, reflect on the first two games and watch the other two pairs in action at the same time. It’s quite amazing how a little time off can make a difference. When you’re taken away from the action, its so much easier to observe and learn without being caught up in the moment. Fifteen minutes, and I was better prepared for the next game.

With a lot less impatience, better positioning and movement got us going again. The first rematch was up against the younger mixed pair. It wasn’t by any means a magical turnaround, because there were still mistakes. Nonetheless, the performance was definitely better than the last game and it would be enough to win that rematch. Finally, my partner and I had good reason to be confident and win the next one. Another loss would’ve probably killed all hopes for me.

The last game was the same as the very first, with us youngsters against the veterans. The beginning was hardly fairy tale material, careless mistakes came again and a third loss was looming in the background. The difference this time was that my partner and I were a lot more determined after winning the previous game. In perfect contrast, the last game played out totally opposite of the first. This time, we trailed behind, then picked it up and kept the momentum right up to the winning point.

Honestly, it was a really sweet way to end the night, after a huge lot of frustration then. Reflecting afterwards, there were a number of life lessons I relearned from the whole thing:

1. When you’re losing, making excuses is easier than breathing.

2. Brooding on mistakes produces more mistakes, so just stop.

3. When losing in life, its good to step back for a while to reflect and re-evaluate yourself, staying away from the chaos before stepping back in, better prepared than before.

4. Confidence breeds confidence, not invulnerability. Confidence still needs ability and persistence to pull through.

5. Determination precedes victory.