Newbie Blog: The Only Way Is Up

I reached the pinnacle of my sporting career on Sunday. That's not as impressive as it sounds.

The problem is that it makes it sounds like my life has been packed with sporting successes, which it hasn’t. The previous pinnacle of my sporting career came when I got a rosette for coming third in a gruelling 50 metres sprint at a school sports day. My sporting pinnacle doesn’t tower like Mount Everest. It’s more like the minor undulation of a molehill on a well-manicured lawn.

But let’s ditch the self-deprecation and get onto the facts.

On Sunday, I played my second competitive korfball match, and only my third full-length match. In both previous matches I’ve played in my team has lost, which sets off dark thoughts in a newbie.

“They won their first two matches, but now we’re losing. Is it me?” “What else could I be doing?” “Am I letting my teammates down?” “Would we have won if I wasn’t playing?”

Yes, it's a team game and it's the team that loses but, as a new player, you can't help but think that a loss might be somehow your fault. That’s what I was thinking as I headed into Sunday’s match between City 2 and Oxford Uni 2, and probably why I spent the first half apologising to the other members of my division – Charlotte, Taissa and Dan – for most of the things I did.

But that changed at half time. We held a 3-2 lead against a combative and fit team, and I had been run around and shoved a lot, but I now felt like we could win. I just had to keep going.

For me, the second half continued just like the first, and I was knocked over a couple of times but I didn't care. I managed to keep doing my job until the end - just - and we ended up winning 9-2.

It's a great feeling. I’ve never been proud of anything I’ve done physically – except my supporting role in the creation of my daughter – and Sunday is definitely the new pinnacle of my sporting career.

And as long as I keep improving and stay confident, there should be plenty more pinnacles.

Rich Heap