In the last newsletter we talked about how to strategize to beat your opponent, who in the example was named Doug. Doug, however, is just one of your opponentS. No, we're not talking about the likelihood of playing Jeff in the next round (if you win), or the other players in the round-robin. It's the "other" opponentS, with a capital "S" for plural, that are right there in the court with you - whether you want them or not.

Your "other" opponentS are your other challenges you have to overcome in addition to Doug. Perhaps it's that bread-n-butter boast that you're missing, or maybe you're nervous. Perhaps your achilles is bothering you, or the ref is making some really bad calls. Or perhaps Doug isn't clearing as well as you'd like and his backhand follow-through is bugging you. What if you haven't had much sleep lately, or you keep worrying about that problem at work. Maybe you just had an unpleasant discussion with your spouse, and you can't keep your mind off it.

Oh yea, THOSE opponentS.

But to beat Doug, you're going to have to beat those opponentS too. And this is what challenge is all about. Some of us can beat our "real" opponent, Doug in this example, but don't because we loose to our "other" opponentS. Although it may be difficult to determine the best tactics to beat Doug, we all easily identify the "other" opponents. We know what's bugging us or what's not 100%. Typically these are our excuses for losing, or not playing well.

"Good" players recognize these "other" opponentS, and like trying to beat Doug, they accept the challenge to beat their "other" opponentS. And they do a pretty good job of it. That's why they typically beat the player that they should beat, and occasionally beat someone who is better than them.

Perhaps the toughest challenge is not being able to make yourself try. You thought Doug was a tough opponent! He is nothing compared to this. But you can overcome even this bad apple. And when you do, you can be very proud of yourself.

You will become a "good" player when you learn how to beat your opponentS. And in the process, you will learn to look forward to taking on all of squash's challenges presented by your "real" and "other" opponentS. That's where the fun is, whether you win or lose. And if you lose, (knowing you tried your best) when you shake your opponent's hand you really will be congratulating him for beating a "good" player.

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