Badminton Grassroots Championship
Badminton Grassroots Championship…the one we all dream of!
At the end of it all, I vowed it wasn’t for me – the atmosphere was huge, the jumps were massive and the crowd was completely overwhelming.
Dressage is usually my biggest stress point, but this time it felt surprisingly calm. Stan had a lovely warm-up in the morning – he felt so relaxed and was working beautifully. Our test was late afternoon, so we warmed up again later before we went in and Stan still felt great! In the test, Stan was with me until midway – I’m not sure if it was flies or pollen but I lost his concentration with some snorting and headshaking, but we kept it together as best as we could. It wasn’t our best score, but we received a few 8’s! and as I was reminded, the championship isn’t just about the dressage test.
The next day I chose not to watch any show jumping, as the 100 class was running before and the course would change, so I would have likely got myself confused. When it was time to walk the 90 course, my goodness there was 108+ people in the arena – you couldn’t see the fences! There were hundreds of people spectating and I could feel myself starting to get a bit on edge. The fences looked big and wide. I did have a little wobble and say “I can’t do this” through a few tears, but I knew we had to give it a go. Stan warmed up really well and was full of beans, but he stopped at the last warm-up fence. In hindsight this was the best thing he could have done, as it reminded me that I couldn’t take anything for granted and he would only hold my hand so much. We headed into the ring and I tried to ignore the crowd, riding like my life depended on it; Stan got the memo and didn’t miss a beat. It maybe wasn’t our most graceful round, but we dug deep and made it with just one pole down. I came out crying; I was so happy and the relief of having finished was overwhelming.
As I was getting ready for the XC I was still buzzing from the show jumping – all of my mindset work was starting to pay off. We came out of the start box and Stan didn’t question the first few fences, until we came to a wide skinny with brush. The next thing I knew we were on top of it and the crowd were all making “ooooh” noises. “Christ, where did they all come from?!” – suddenly I was very aware of the crowd and started to panic. We represented and Stan was back with me as we were flying a big open ditch brush and then there was crazy terrain to skinnies. Unfortunately we then had another stop at a skinny brush on top of a hill, and I lost my nerve and decided to retire then and there.
Looking back I’ve tried to figure out if I overrode it or did I just not ride it? I’m still not sure! However I wasn’t too disappointed as we withdrew on my terms. I just think it was all a bit too overwhelming – nothing can prepare for you for the crowds or the undulation the course offers.
A week has passed and I’ve had time to reflect on the whole experience. The biggest eye opener was talking to other competitors and realising that 90% of them were on their 4th and 5th attempts. There is usually something that doesn’t go to plan, after all it is a Championship, it’s meant to be a challenge, and Badminton is exactly that. It’s not your usual BE course and you shouldn’t be fooled into thinking it is.
We already have a ticket to the regionals, so maybe it would be silly not to try again next year?!