Stephan The Man

Song Of The Week Wham Last Christmas

What would my website be without my ritual song of the week. And what would christmas be without George Michael. That is why I have combined the two to make the ultimate Christmas song of the week….which is Wham’s christmas hit “Last Christmas”.
Merry Christmas Everybody!

2009 Atlantic Senior Elite Series, Champion!

Yesterday in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, I played in the finals of the 2009 Atlantic Senior Elite Series against Alexander Pang of Alberta. In the local press and talk of Moncton there was alot of hype about this finals and me winning it. I felt that there was alot of pressure for me to win it and was very much in the mood to be champion. The first set against Pang started off very well for me and was able to take an early lead of 11-4. The rest of the set was relatively smooth for me and was able to keep the lead and won 21-14. The second set however was a different story. Alexander was very smart in changing his tactics by keeping the net and getting the attack. He took an 11-5 lead and was looking like he was going to take the second set. At the 11 point break I also made an adjustment of my own which payed off…big time.. I stoped playing soft at the net, instead I was pushing the shuttle into the court which made it very difficult for him to play tight. This got me more lifts in the end and allowed me to attack him more often. I was able to comeback and take a 20-18 lead. Pang was able to save one match point before giving me a 21-19 victory. I absolutely elated and proud that I could come home to give my mother a gold medal for christmas:) I would like to thank the organization and the incredible family that took me in and treated me like family. I had an amazing time and look forward to returning next year.

2009 Atlantic Senior Elite Series, Through to The Semi’s

Day 1 of the 2009 Atlantic Senior Elite Series was under way. I had 3 rounds to play today in this Canadian Demestic Grand Prix. My first round was against a player from Nova Scotia, Andrew Harding. This match went pretty smoothly for me. He came out strong in the first few points of the match but then had to eventualy give in to the high speed that he is not used to. I won in two straight sets 21-10 21-10.
Second round I played a player from Quebec, Maxime Tessier. This match also went well for me and had control from the very begining and won in two straight 21-10 21-10.
In my quarter-finals I played another player from Quebec,Pieric Langlais Gagne. This match was a little tougher since the rallies were a bit more complex. But in the end there were too many mistakes from my opponent and I took the match 21-10 21-13.
My semi-finals tomorrow will be against Philippe Gaumond of Quebec.

The organization here has been very strong and I have been doing several interviews, radio,television and newspaper. The picture above is me and Alexander Pang doing a photo op with the Mayor of Moncton. Now I know we have reached the big times

Song Of The Week, Nickelback – How You Remind Me

Well yesterday I started my travels back to Canada and was almost at my destination when my plane had to turn around back to Halifax,Nova Scotia instead of arriving at my destination in Moncton,New Brunswick. So this morning its take two for my flight. In respect of being back in Canada I chose a good Canadian band to honour my return. This week’s song of the Week is Nickelback world wide smash hit “How You Remind Me”. Enjoy.

2009 Atlantic Senior Elite Series, Draw

Today I am leaving for Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. I will be playing the 2009 Atlantic Senior Elite Series which is one of 5 domestic Grand Prix in Canada. The tournament will be held from Friday the 18th to Sunday the 20th of December. I am first seed in this tournament, so the pressure is on:)
To see the draw please click on the link below
DRAW

Lyngby On Top Of The World/Group :)

Yesterday Lyngby Badminton Klub played against Vaerlose Badminton Klub in a showdown between the top two teams in the group. Vaerlose is a massive club with many teams, so we were not sure what their line up was going to be but we knew that it was going to be a battle. However we also knew that all we needed to do was to get one point off of Veerlose in order to have a very good chance to stay first in our group. And if we got 3 points then we are guaranteed to be first for the play offs. We started off very even against Vaerlose by spliting the first the mixed doubles and the women’s singles. But then it was the men’s singles and we took 3 out of 4 which means we went up 5-3. Then it was the ladies doubles time to shine, and they did. They won both matches which meant we were up 7-3, which also means that we had achieved our goal of getting minimum 6 matches. But we were not done yet, we wanted all three points, which means we have to win 8 matches. So my men’s doubles was the first to play and we took it home for Lyngby in 3 sets. In the end we won 9-4 and we partied like it was 1999!

Our next team match will be after the new year’s in January against Taastrup. So that means the team has time to enjoy the holidays and put on their winter fur:) After our match against Taastrup the play-offs will start and we will see if we can go up into a higher division.
Good job Lyngby and get the rest you deserve:)

Song Of The Week No Stress Laurent Wolf

This week’s song of the week is No Stress by Laurent Wolf. This song was recomended to me and I feel that it reflects exactly how I feel today:)
Enjoy

Irish International 2009, Ups and Downs

Today I played two rounds at the 2009 Irish International. My first round was against Morten Spurr Madsen of Denmark. I had never played him before and I had never seen play either. My guess was that he was a very technical player and would want me to challenge him in the more techincal aspects of the game. However in the first set I played a simple game by moving him around as much as I could. This strategy worked since he ended up making alot of easy mistakes and let me run away with the set 21-11. In the second set the reverse happened, he was moving me around the court and waiting for my mistakes…also he was quite used to my game at this point and was just waiting at the backline for me to lift. I lost the second set 21-7. In the third and final set it was a battle. I decided to take the net as much as I could and attack with variation. This worked very well and took an 11-5 lead. At the switch I started making 3 or 4 easy mistakes and let him back in the game. At around 14-14 I pulled away with some good digging as well as playing a few unexpected shots to get some easy points. In the end I won 21-15.

My next round was against a giant of a Russian, Vladimir Ivanov. This match was unfortunatly a dissapointing one. Playing this tall Russian was quite tricky since he has a great attack but can also play very good flats. But in the first set I really had his number and was able to stop all of his stuff while also getting my smashes down. I took the first set 21-11. Then in the second I was up 8-5 when everything started to go downhill. He started playing very good net and then attacking the crap out of the shuttle. We were even at 17-17 when I made two easy mistakes at the net that pretty much cost the game, which I lost 21-17. In the third I could not get away from him always taking the net and could not make the necessary changes in order to win the match. I lost the third 21-11. Its a real shame since I felt great and had the game to beat him but could not change my tactics and ended up losing.
Hopefully lesson learned:)