Nationals

I was petrified. The nationals were in a day's time, and I felt like I was going to my death. I didn't want to lose the first round and I was scared that I was going to let my trainer down.

Everyone was telling me to calm down, and I really was trying. I was listening to soothing music and getting in lots of last minute practice, but none of it was helping. I had a few long talks with face, about pre competition nerves, and she said that she felt the same before her first big race, and that after this one was over, it would get better. I liked Faith. We talked about sports a lot, and I often went out running with her as art of my training. Rhyd used to say that badminton was a lazy sport, but the amount of movement is quite shocking.

Soon it was the big day. I got up at 6:30 and I ran to the leisure centre to meet up with my trainer, Fish. Well, he was actually called Anthony Fisher, but he had always been fish to me. It took half an hour to get to the centre, and I waited another 10 minutes for Mike to arrive. He had insisted on coming with me, but he didn't like the idea of running to the centre, so he took the car. He drove us to Edinburgh, where the Nationals were being held, and he made his way to the stands, so that he could see all of the action.

I tried to forget that these were the most important matches of my life so far and I played to the best of my ability. I lost myself in the game, and acted on impulses, and did some pretty dangerous shots. There was one fierce rally where the shuttle was being hit back and forth with such force, that even the shock absorbers on the rackets couldn't stop my arm from taking the blow when I hit.

I was so engrossed that I lost count of the score. I wasn't wearing my hearing aid, so I couldn't hear anything that was going on. I managed to persuade myself that I was losing and so I upped my game. I won my first singles match, and Faith was right, from then on the matches didn't make me as nervous but I still did my best. I got through to the next day of the singles and Mike rushed onto the court to praise me.

It was the best feeling I had ever experienced. Even though it wasn't the end of the nationals yet, I was further than I had expected. I was doing myself proud. Fish came up to congratulate me, and we all went back to the hotel that we would be staying in.

The next day it was the singles finals. I played harder than I had ever played before, and once again I was oblivious to the wold outside the game. That's why I like badminton. I could forget about everything, and make it seem as if I was the most important person; something that I didn't get to do very often.

The day after was a rest day. There were no more matches, and the umpires were putting together the scores to see who had one. That evening I would find out what the results were, and I would spend my last night in the hotel.

By the end of the three days I was exhausted. I had played what felt like hundreds of matches, and I had barely stopped for rest. When I got back to Elm Tree House, I was not expecting what awaited me. They had put up massive banners saying well done, and they had baked a whole load of dairy free snacks, and we had a little party to celebrate. Even with the party it didn't strike me till that afternoon. I had just won the national under 18 badminton competition. I was going to be part of the international team. I had won. I was the best feeling of my life (again) and I was probably the happiest I had ever been. Everyone was congratulating me and telling me that I was amazing, even though they had never seen me play. Even Elektra seemed impressed, and that was saying something. I wished that Jack could have been there to see me at that moment. He had always supported me, and I decided that I was going to dedicate my victory to him.

I guess that even in the most difficult of lives, there are some really great moments

Author's Note: Thanks for reading! Ideas would be appreciated, I will try to update soon. Please review and be nice