Kailua Night Doubles Tournament Update and Tips for Future Tournaments
Kailua Night Doubles Tournament Update and Tips for Future Tournaments | 
Hey everyone, it’s taken me a while to put together all my thoughts concerning the recent Kailua Night Doubles tournament, I hope I can share my experience with you and offer some ideas on what I learned and what I hope to do in the future in similar money-based events. First of all, The Kailua Racket Club, operated by Bruce Nagel and his wife Bev, treat players, members, and non-members with the utmost care and respect throughout the event. It was a pleasure playing the event in front of hometown fans every night. The turnouts were amazing, with hundreds of tennis fans and local spectators nightly. It was great exposure for each player and gave me an opportunity to meet a lot of new people.
Down to the nitty gritty. My partner Ikaika Jobe, former Boise State star, world ranked professional, and now law student and I lost in the finals to the #1 seeded team. Throughout the tournament, we looked like the stronger team each around up until the final, but on that night, things just clicked for them and we couldn’t seem to make enough first serves, first volleys, and returns. Credit the winning team however for stepping up and returning our serves well and matching us during volley exchanges. It only came down to a few points in the first set but we just couldn’t keep the ball in the court. It was a disappointing loss that took a few days to mentally recover from.
Okay, time for some better news. This tournament provided me a great stepping stone to finding some “solid ground” here in Hawaii in terms of fan support, recognition, and respect. I met a lot of new faces who came up to me and actually remembered me from when I was child living here some 10-15yrs ago. Those types of exchanges can definitely lead me through new doors of opportunities and I intend to be fully available for any such chance. It also gave me my first real chance at promoting my sponsors! Right now, 10sballs.com patches are displayed on my tennis bag and attire that I wear on court. Plenty of people asked me about it and were interested by the name and content of the website, (Game!) On top of that, Solinco, my string of choice, provided me string and a bag to carry around Hawaii to help promote their growth. Again, I had a lot of people come up to me and ask me about my “blue” string (Solinco’s Max Revolution String) and what “Solinco” even was. I hope I did a good job representing these two brands! (Set!) On top of all the tennis hubbub surrounding the nightly matches, the Honolulu Star Advertiser ran some stories throughout the week showcasing the tennis talent on display. I tried to keep a tunnel-like focus, but when people started telling me about a massive picture in the sports section one day, I have to admit I got a little anxious and over-confident. It may have contributed to my poor performance in the finals… Anyway, these types of things are priceless to me and I couldn’t ask for a better turnout in terms of local support and recognition. (Match!)
I’m currently spending most of my days playing tennis at University of Hawaii, Punahou School, and some of the local tennis courts around the island. I work with a few of the juniors out here preparing them for their fall semesters as well as trying to fit in my own training regiment (Lifting weights, surfing, and eating!). I’m here for a few more days so I have to remain diligent and strong in my efforts to get better and stronger on the court. This tournament was a good first step with plenty of obstacles that had to be overcome but I still need to make a greater push to have my “break out” result.
Always trying to improve,
Shubert
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