Stephan The Man

Garden State to Frou Frou Let Go

The song of the week is Let Go by Frou Frou. This song was one of the songs on the famous soundtrack for the movie Garden State. I was sitting in a cafe in Warsaw,Poland, and heard this song being played. It brought back some good memories from 4-5 years back. I don’t know if I am getting the point of this song, but for me I just like the constant reminder to Let go. This is actually a key word in my badminton in order to let go of all the distractions around me on and off the court.
Enjoy and let go:)

3rd Round Is All She Wrote for the Polish Open 2009

Today at the Polish Open I was able to play two matches. My 2nd round but first match of the day was against Rosario MADDALONI (Italy). I won in two sets 21-15 21-18, however the second set was pretty tight. He was able to get much more back and was challenging me much more. I was sticking to my tactics of moving the shuttle around and trying to limit my mistakes. This worked quite well and I managed to take the match.
In my round of 16 I played against Jen Hao HSU (Chinese Taipei). I lost in two straight sets 11-21 17-21. In this match I was trying to do use the same tactic, which was to move him around the court as much as possible. However in the first set I was making too many mistakes and letting too many of his attacks get passed me. In the second it was very even all the way and managed to get a good rythm. However I found that I did not have very much speed in my legs and so I was not so dangerous from the backcourt. I believe that this made it difficult to win when I was attacking and having to rely too much on my defence. In the end he proved to be a bit steadier and attacking a bit better. I think the things I can take from this match is even if I am not able to attack 100%, I can still use more variations of clears and slices and half smashes. I was playing too much at one speed and therefore made him too comfortable. With more variations I think I would be more dangerous and cause him to make more unforced errors.
I will be off to Finland next week but first I have my last team match of the season against Odense on Monday!

First Round Polish Open 2009

Today was a close one…as usual..but I am glad I can say that I was able to pull it out. I won my first round against Zvonimir DURKINJAK (Croatia) 20-22 21-17 21-17. As predicted Zvonimir was using his biggest weapon which is his MEGA smash. He was able to win many points with his smash or making me always conscious of it. This sometimes leads me to play the wrong shot and then he can capitalize. However where i was successful was in trying to push him around the court as much as possible. When I was using my drops,slices and clears as well as good lifts then I was making life miserable for him. Also using my smash to get some easy points:) But it was a long faught battle and I am happy that I won. Tomorrow I will be playing against Rosario MADDALONI (Italy), I have never played him before nor have I ever seen him play. So I will take him as seriously as anybody else and play my best. I hope to have a better feeling of the back line tomorrow so that I can counter his attacks as much as possible.
To follow the results please click on the link below
DRAW

Polish Open 2009

Tomorrow will start the first rounds of the Polish Open 2009. I arrived in Warsaw yesterday with my father. Yes my father is Polish…not so surprising with a surname like Wojcikiewicz:) Today I was able to go to the hall have a light hit and a short footwork session. The tournament is not held in the same venue as last year. That is a shame because last year’s venue was very good. This year the hall is also ok but there will be a few things to watch out for. First the courts are slippery, which is strange since we are playing on portable courts and not wooden floors. Usually the portable courts are known for NOT being slippery. This means that I will have to remind myself to wipe my shoes after every rally. Also the lighting is tough on some of the courts since there are bright lights that goes up and down one half of the court. This means I can either use it as a weapon and try and lift it into the lights or if my opponent does the same to me I must be patient and hit a safe shot back into the court. Other than these two things the hall is fine. I look forward to playing my first match tomorrow at 13.00.. and then talking about it of course:)
Wish me luck!

To follow the results please click on the link below
DRAW

Black Eyed Peas – Pump It

Pump It by the Black Eyed Peas are is this week’s “Song of the Week”. I think in general the Black Eyed Peas are a fun group and this song is no exception.
Hope you are able to role with it and let it kick start your morning:)

Polish Open 2009

The draw is out for the Polish Open 2009. I have been doing my best this week to bring myself back to health and get fit for my tournament next week. I am the 7th seed coming into the tournament and will be playing Zvonimir Durkinjak (Croatia) in my first round. I believe he is more of a doubles player but that can make him quite tricky to play. I also know he has a big boomer of a smash…so I will have to be ready on my defence.
I leave on Tuesday for Warsaw,Poland, and I look forward to competing.
This weekend will be more gearing up for my match on Thursday. This means some running, some weights and then back on court on Monday.

To see the draw please click on the link below.

DRAW

Nursing My Training Back To Health

I am now taking baby steps in order to get my fitness back. I think after being a little more alive than a vegetable these past 5 days I have lost some strength and conditioning….or so it feels. So I plan on doing shorter sessions and not too hard so I don’t put make myself sick again. Easy jogging or biking, light weights and on court training that is more rhythm and control based instead of power and speed. I think if I keep this up I be back to do some hard matches next week…..I better..since I have the Polish Open next week!

Herlev vs Solrod

Today we played Solrod at their home club. We were hoping to win 3 matches today but only ended up with one.So we have to thank Michelle Chan of New Zealand for that win. My match was long and hard faught. As I mentioned before I got VERY sick over the weekend and have not been training at all since Thursday. So during my match I was not able to play fast. I lost 21-14 in the first set but found the right rythm to play. I thought to myself “If I can’t play fast then I will have to play ULTRA slow and go for a run” which really worked and I took the second set 21-17. In the third we were all even at 18-18 and then I made a bonehead mistake by serving out! I then lost the next two points and lost the match 21-18 in the third. Given the circumstance I did the best I could but I am cursing myself for letting it go at the very end. At the end of the evening the team lost 12-1 but almost everyone played quite well. Now i will be going to bed and having nightmares about that serve at 18-18.
One more team match left until the season is over and that will be against Odense in Odense on the 30th of March.
Till then I will try and get healthy and get my training back on track.

Santana – Put Your Lights On [TheWraith]

I was in a taxi a few weeks ago heading into town on Saturday night in Croatia and this song was playing. I asked the driver if he could play it from the begining since it was on a CD. It was one of those moments where I truly got to enjoy the moment. I feel this song gives me hope and that’s why it is the Song of the Week. So I suggest to close your eyes, sit back and enjoy the melody.
Keep your lights on:)

Chong Wei Lee Wins Swiss Open 2009

Well well well…It’s always nice to see when your predictions come true! I had a feeling Chong Wei Lee (Malaysia) would defeat Lin Dan (China) in the finals this week. I don’t really know why..perhaps after Lin Dan’s first round match against Arvind Bhat (India). I felt that Lin Dan was somehow not as sharp or tired from the previous week at the All England. At the same time Chong Wei Lee is a formidable opponent and I am sure that if Lin Dan is just a little bit off his game then Chong Wei Lee is more than capable of taking him out. So that is how it ends two super series finals with the same two players but both of them winning a tournament each. In the end Chong Wei Lee took the championship by winning 21-16 21-16.
I hope everyone enjoyed watching these great players duke it out for a couple of weeks and I will be looking forward to update the next two Super Series in Singapore and Indonesia. I am also planning on attending those tournaments to test my mettle!