Little Wins

Coach Lanier used to tell us at the end of every little league baseball game, "You guys did great! You hustled out there! You ran out every ball! You played hard every inning! You should be proud of yourselves for what you've accomplished! You guys got some little wins today!"

And even though we just got slaughtered 18-0, the game ended in the 4th inning due to the "mercy rule", and poor little Colin Herbert got run over by Billy Burton from Holy Name while trying to protect home plate, there was definitely some wisdom in what Coach Lanier said that day many years ago.

How does this apply to today?

I'll get to that soon - just keep reading. But first, let me re-cap what's happened in the last few days.

On Wednesday, we did the 2nd run for solo. The judges had us do a restricted, free program for the solo which meant we were allowed to chose our maneuvers but they could only appear once. (In an announced program of 5 tricks, pilots will typically put "Tumble left, tumble right, assymetric SAT, helico left, helico right" to garner max points but also to cover for deficiencies in their repertoire.)

My program:

1) Tumble - I've been in a groove with this one, getting 180 over the wing every time - got a bad collapse while the wing was underneath me on the 2nd turn but I exited nicely
2) Rhythmic SAT - took a chance with this one and it didn't pay off as I got a nasty collapse which ended in a cravatte. Felix was also having the same problem.
3) Twister - haven't done this one since Paranoia last summer
4) Helico-to-SAT - a staple in my program that I usually do well, but I missed it this time
5) Helico - I used the energy of the SAT to do a Misty Flip that I changed to helico - got the highest points I've every received for a trick (88)

Because I got a horrible score for the Rhythmic and a low score for the Helico-to-SAT, I finished 16th for the day which put me 13th overall.

On Thursday, we had a day off which was welcomed by all of us. I went to see Chad Bastian compete in microlights but totally missed it. Sorry Chad!

That night, we finally got a proper poker game going other than the heads-up game (one-on-one) Pal and I were playing every other day. I knew there were some pilots who wanted to play but I didn't think actually would, so I was surprised when Antoine quietly asked, "Nova, we play tonight?"

When Pal & I got the chips out for the 10E minimum buy-in No Limit Hold 'em micro stakes cash game at the table sat me, Gabor, Felix, Antoine, Horacio, Hernan, (first timer), Cyrille, and Pal. This was a lot of fun and if you must know who won the most, let's just say that Kid Nova made an easy 30 euros. (Gabor actually won the most when he bluffed me out of a big pot . . . . I really hate it when he does that.)

Back to the point of this post.

So what did I accomplish today? What little wins did I get?

Well, macrocosmically (love that word), I took 10th for the day which I'm pretty proud of considering the level. Microcosmically (another word on the love list), it gets better.
My Tumble (88) was only one point below Felix's and I think our SAT-to-Helicos were the same (88). My Twister score (84) was higher than Pal's which just absolutely astounds me. For the first time, I scored at least 80 in 3 tricks. (Scoring in the 80s is really good as one judge told me.) I have so much respect for their acro that for me to be at the same level as them - or beat them! - even for just a few tricks in single run, is absolutely HUGE.

Overall, I finished 13th in solo which was short of my goal of being in the top 10, but I accomplished one unexpected milestone . . . . I've broken the belief barrier on what's possible for me in acro and that I can be a threat in these comps especially for the World Championships in 2010.

Thanks, Coach, wherever you are.