I am really excited to be playing the SWT Polish open, which has over hundred and ten players entered this year. I am playing doubles with Stine Jacobsen, mixed doubles with Anant Gupta and women’s elite
singles. There are many great entries across a range of categories with a highly competitive field, specifically in the Women’s A and Men’s A, where there are five of the world’s top ten men playing and four of the world’s top ten women. These include Leon Griffiths World number two, Kresten Hougaard, who is the current FIR singles race champion, and Stine Jacobsen, who is current women’s singles World Champion.
In order to prepare for the tournament I have been playing a number of Badminton England tournaments and senior county badminton matches, as well having weekly lessons where I focus on singles tactics and
gameplay with my fantastic coach, Vikkie Primmer, who I have known since I was nine, and who plays multiple sets of singles against me every week. I also play in local league Table Tennis and Squash teams, where I play a game every other week against other teams in the county.
Alongside this, I often play friendly squash matches with other members of my club, particularly with James Knight who has hit with me from the day I started and still gives up his time now to play with me. I also aim to play tennis at school at least once a week, as it is the sport that I am currently finding the most challenging and would like to strengthen. I also played in a Uk Racketlon tournament last month, which was great preparation for Poland.
We are really lucky in the UK to have a series of great tournaments to play in throughout the year. I try to play more competitive matches in the build up to the tournament, as I find it helps me to get up to game speed and develop my match fitness. I find I improve my game more from playing a series of matches in tournaments and I can develop my match strategy and fitness, which will help me in a physically tough tournament like Poland. Generally, in the week before the tournament, I will have a quieter week in order to let my body rest, and will spend more time catching up on work that I am going to miss for the tournament, so that I can focus on the tournament over the weekend.
I am travelling out to Poland with my mum, dad and sister, Emma, on the Wednesday night in order to give us time to go sightseeing on Thursday and get a good feel for the city of Warsaw. Last time I played in the Polish open, I unfortunately became ill, so was unable to explore as much of the city as I hoped. I am looking forwards to making up for it this time, as I like to use the tournaments as a time to experience other cultures and look around new places. I am really looking forwards to returning to the amazing venue, seeing the players I know from all over the world, and playing with both of my fantastic partners. During the tournament itself, while I will be focused on the matches during the day, I am particularly looking forwards to the Players’ Dinner!
By Holly Ranson
