Anna Leigh Waters here! This 2021 calendar year has been CRAZY and its not even over yet! Throughout this year, I have been traveling around the country with my family playing in professional pickleball tournaments. With this year’s schedule, I have been playing one to two tournaments a month and almost every single one has been at least a two-hour plane ride. Although this may sound like a lot, I love getting to visit new places that I have never been to and exploring different, unique towns around the United States. When I travel to these pickleball tournaments, my family and I are making memories that I will never forget. Even though I am having an amazing time during these trips, ultimately, I am there to play in the pickleball tournament and there are still good days and bad days.
What determines a good or bad day? Well, actually, I don’t ever think that I have ever experienced a “bad” day per se, just some bad moments. For example, if I lose a match this would be considered a bad moment at the time. Usually, after a loss, I am really angry and need to be alone for a little while, and I reflect on what happened and what I could’ve done better. I need and use this time to get out my emotions and feelings on the match. On the other hand, after this time passes, I try to forget about it and move on, and my family and I will go out to a nice restaurant and talk about all of the positive things. I may also drown my sorrows into ice cream, haha.
Now, a good day may include winning an event or a really tough match. After this, my family and I will still go out to a nice restaurant and I will definitely get dessert! Also, my mom may take me shopping to celebrate. Yes, we are also a mom and daughter professional shopping team (in addition to a mother-daughter professional pickleball team)!
On another note, good and bad days may not have anything to with how well I did in a pickleball tournament, because I am 14, a teenager, and we all know how that goes .
