Pre Tournament
This would be my first Senior Division try after competing as a Junior for 2 years. I was so nervous I was almost wishing I was born later than I was so I could avoid the “big league” for a little while longer. To me, the seniors seem overwhelming, so experienced and so much better than the little kids I had battled.
I had been really busy with school and rocking out with my guitar, so I didn’t get in as much time to prepare as I would have liked to. (Maybe it was just trying to avoid the Senior situation mentioned above). But there was no way I was going to miss the Newark qualifier. My OCD mom made us take a dry run to the expo center the week before and even picked out a parking space a week early. The plan was to get there super early to make sure I got a spot
Day of Tournament:
Saturday morning I was up at 6:00 a.m. (2 hours later than originally planned, but I was exhausted). I grabbed my Rayquaza hat, plush Latias and my lucky Turtwig stylus. We got to the center at 7:00 a.m. and saw a huge line going from the front door stretching around the parking lot. They looked like a mixture of juniors and seniors so we just joined the end of the line. When the doors opened and everyone went inside, we realized that a senior line had formed inside already. It wasn’t too bad and we ended up about 150th or so in line. The wait seemed like forever and I was feeling so nervous. I knew this drill really well, but this time it was so much different. This time I wasn’t in the 8:30 junior line, I was in the 1:30 senior line. Let me tell you that those 5 hours seem like a lifetime.
My Team:
Dialga
Smeargle
Abomasnow
Kyogre
Hitmonchan – my boy
Lapras – always have Minnesota on my team
Round 1:
My Dialga and Smeargle came up against a Mewtwo and Giratina. I got my TR off and kept using follow me with Smeargle while my opponent kept using Shadow Force. It was the longest my Smeargle ever survived. Typhlosion and Kyogre rounded out his team and I used blizzard and grass knot to take down Kyogre and a OHKO on Typhlosion with Dragon Pulse. I survived a round!!
Round 2:
Kingdra and Kyogre were brought out to face my Dialga and Smeargle this time. I got TR off again and put Kyogre to sleep with Dark Void. He switches out Kingdra with Abomasnow and I put him to sleep too. I was like a sleep easy adjustable bed! I get rid of Abomasnow on the next turn with one Flamethrower. The rest was a blur but I survived one more round!
Round 3:
I wish I could forget this one….
The other team was a Shiny Abomasnow, Hitmontop, Giratina, Kyogre I got TR off again and a few turns later my Dialga got frozen. Ok - this freaked me out. I think he froze my brain with that attack too because it came down to his Giratina and Abomasnow and my frozen, half HP Dialga and full HP Abomasnow and I went to make a move, changed my mind and hit cancel……twice! Yes, in the moment I would like to forget forever – I fled! Never before in my poke-history have I fled – either on purpose or mistake. It was the stupidest mistake I ever made and one that has been haunting me for days. I will never know if I would have won. It would have been better to just get creamed and die than to totally blow a whole game. My first year as a senior and I folded under the pressure.
I’m down but not out……watch out for me in 2011!
Thanks:
To the Ducks for cheering me up when I wanted to crawl into a hole and die.
To Duy for helping me survive 2.5 rounds.
To Huy for battling every time I asked (which was all the time, I was a PITA)
To Chris for trying so hard
To Matt for being there from day one back in 2008. You never let me down; I hope I never let you down.
To the GREAT ONE – my mentor – the one to whom I one day aspire to be like (you know who you are) – You are the best!
To my mom for just being flipping awesome and for paying for the therapy I’m gonna need.
This would be my first Senior Division try after competing as a Junior for 2 years. I was so nervous I was almost wishing I was born later than I was so I could avoid the “big league” for a little while longer. To me, the seniors seem overwhelming, so experienced and so much better than the little kids I had battled.
I had been really busy with school and rocking out with my guitar, so I didn’t get in as much time to prepare as I would have liked to. (Maybe it was just trying to avoid the Senior situation mentioned above). But there was no way I was going to miss the Newark qualifier. My OCD mom made us take a dry run to the expo center the week before and even picked out a parking space a week early. The plan was to get there super early to make sure I got a spot
Day of Tournament:
Saturday morning I was up at 6:00 a.m. (2 hours later than originally planned, but I was exhausted). I grabbed my Rayquaza hat, plush Latias and my lucky Turtwig stylus. We got to the center at 7:00 a.m. and saw a huge line going from the front door stretching around the parking lot. They looked like a mixture of juniors and seniors so we just joined the end of the line. When the doors opened and everyone went inside, we realized that a senior line had formed inside already. It wasn’t too bad and we ended up about 150th or so in line. The wait seemed like forever and I was feeling so nervous. I knew this drill really well, but this time it was so much different. This time I wasn’t in the 8:30 junior line, I was in the 1:30 senior line. Let me tell you that those 5 hours seem like a lifetime.
My Team:
Dialga
Smeargle
Abomasnow
Kyogre
Hitmonchan – my boy
Lapras – always have Minnesota on my team
Round 1:
My Dialga and Smeargle came up against a Mewtwo and Giratina. I got my TR off and kept using follow me with Smeargle while my opponent kept using Shadow Force. It was the longest my Smeargle ever survived. Typhlosion and Kyogre rounded out his team and I used blizzard and grass knot to take down Kyogre and a OHKO on Typhlosion with Dragon Pulse. I survived a round!!
Round 2:
Kingdra and Kyogre were brought out to face my Dialga and Smeargle this time. I got TR off again and put Kyogre to sleep with Dark Void. He switches out Kingdra with Abomasnow and I put him to sleep too. I was like a sleep easy adjustable bed! I get rid of Abomasnow on the next turn with one Flamethrower. The rest was a blur but I survived one more round!
Round 3:
I wish I could forget this one….
The other team was a Shiny Abomasnow, Hitmontop, Giratina, Kyogre I got TR off again and a few turns later my Dialga got frozen. Ok - this freaked me out. I think he froze my brain with that attack too because it came down to his Giratina and Abomasnow and my frozen, half HP Dialga and full HP Abomasnow and I went to make a move, changed my mind and hit cancel……twice! Yes, in the moment I would like to forget forever – I fled! Never before in my poke-history have I fled – either on purpose or mistake. It was the stupidest mistake I ever made and one that has been haunting me for days. I will never know if I would have won. It would have been better to just get creamed and die than to totally blow a whole game. My first year as a senior and I folded under the pressure.
I’m down but not out……watch out for me in 2011!
Thanks:
To the Ducks for cheering me up when I wanted to crawl into a hole and die.
To Duy for helping me survive 2.5 rounds.
To Huy for battling every time I asked (which was all the time, I was a PITA)
To Chris for trying so hard
To Matt for being there from day one back in 2008. You never let me down; I hope I never let you down.
To the GREAT ONE – my mentor – the one to whom I one day aspire to be like (you know who you are) – You are the best!
To my mom for just being flipping awesome and for paying for the therapy I’m gonna need.
