27th – 28th February 2016
With a good number of entries received for the February tournament it was encouraging to see that those that registered were prepared to give our different format a go. Some of us had played the format on a couple of previous occasions when numbers were low and then only on the Sunday. Playing American Doubles for the full weekend with that many players was therefore a new approach and something we had to try in an endeavour to find out if players preferred this format. Putting players of similar levels into 4 different groups certainly gave most of us games that were played on an equal level and I think this was indicated by the number of games that were fairly close when the last shuttle was hit for a winner.
The higher level players had some fantastic rallies and it was good to see that when these players were pitted against each other, the speed at which they were played, and the length of the rallies was great to watch.
A few rumbles were however heard on day one from the less skilled levels as they couldn’t help but feel that they were being relegated into a “them and us” group. “Them” being the elite players and “us” being the lower ranked players and never the twain shall meet.
I guess BMAQ was never set up to create a division between skill levels and it was always based on a format where each and everyone had a change to play together regardless of skill levels and thereby promoting the social aspect of getting together for a great weekend. Playing with someone of a higher level also gives the lower level player a chance to learn skills they are not familiar with and I believe when in that situation you can get into a state of mind that is more focused allowing you to play shots that you wouldn’t normally play when your opponents are of the same level. No doubt we all like to play our best and when we play we all like to play to win. That is the competitive spirit in us all but it is not the be all and end all.
Towards the end of the tournament, general discussion about the format was opened up during the AGM and with a show of hands the majority of players indicated that we stick with our normal Teams Events and perhaps introduce the American Doubles format on the odd occasion when the right situation arises.
One formality I sadly missed was the getting together after the last shuttle was played and the scores attained were read out for each team and prizes handed out to the lucky winners who then grouped together for a “Happy Shot”.
Everybody was gone when I went to grab the camera!
