So my return to competition was successful but there are many things to work on. My focus was much more up and down than is acceptable and I was too undisciplined in the serves, returns and high balls. I think this is just the lack of competition matches and will sort itself out.

The surprise of the tournament was David Powell who knocked out Robbie Frank and Kyle Davis on his way to the final and played some very good table tennis on the way. He won the first set 11-9 and scores were locked at 10-10 in the second. I got up 12-10 and ran away with the next three 7, 5 and 4. I must say that he played very well in the first couple of sets mixing controlled and mature play with power shots when needed. After the second set he definitely lost much of that as well as his patience.

I played Mitch Allender and Craig Carter in the group and got through without too many problems. Ice baths work magic and my legs were feeling fresher and stronger than they have for months. In the quarter I played Trent Carter who had just scraped through his previous match after being 3-1 down. It felt like he was more relieved to have gotten through that one than put up a serious fight and the match was over 4-0 pretty quickly. Chamara Fernando was waiting for me in the semi. The first set was easy but the next three were fairly close. Chamara can be a nasty player to play against. His game is not as simple as first meets the eye as he varies the pace and length of his counter hits and punches well.

I decided to just play the Open Singles. Unfortunately it appears that few tournaments are going to have the matches scheduled. I remember the Vic Open last year and how I sat and waited around for most of the day and finished by playing 5 or 6 straight matches at the end. Not much fun and not a situation I’m going to put myself in again.

Having played professionally for so many years I knew exactly how to prepare myself for matches and would structure my training, recovery, rest and mindset to make sure I was in tip top shape to win. Now I’m in a very different situation where the constraints and stress of full time work mean that my preparation is whatever I can manage. Last week it was to take the night off training and do ice baths on Wednesday and Friday. I had an awful training session on Thursday night – it was the first time I can remember where I just though ‘stuff it, I’m going home’ and left after 45 minutes of exhausted, substandard play. I went into the Geelong tournament yesterday feeling unprepared and uneasy.

I’ve been trying to remember the last time I went six months without the thrill of competition and have decided that it would have been way back when I was about 9! I’ve done plenty of training in the past six months however training and competition are two very different things and one won’t necessarily prepare you for the other. The pressure and tenseness of putting yourself on the line by trying to win is very hard to reproduce in a training environment.

  My return to competitive table tennis!