Summer Smash Episode 4- Shadows and Dust

SUMMER SMASH

Alex Boyajian

9/2/202310 min read

Make sure to like the video and subscribe to get more content like this! After the hot handed rookie dominated Jaxon Greer, 2 division rivals battle as Chaotic Division Champion and #2 seeded Kevin Steinfeld takes on last year's runner up and Commissioner, Alex Boyajian, who is on a mission to keep the throne in the family, but avoid any repeat champion. The Boys of Summer are back! 7 Players square off in a high stakes Table Tennis tournament, the second annual Chaotically Intolerant Classic as they all try to take the trophy back from defending Champion Armen Boyajian. Commissioner Alex Boyajian, reeling from his loss in the 2022 Championship, is learning to balance his duties as Commissioner while keeping his game sharp for his own title run. This season features 4 rookies, including Michael Scarlett, who enters the playoffs on a 21 game win streak which includes sweeps of Armen Boyajian and Alex Boyajian. Starring: Alex Boyajian Armen Boyajian Lleyton Verheul Kevin Steinfeld Jaxon Greer Michael Scarlett Ivory Upchurch Produced by: Tyler Cook

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foreign

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last year I was the golden panel winner

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and the runner-up I got swept in in the

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finals last year and

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you know that was frustrating

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um

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especially to lose to my dad you know I

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think that's that he's my biggest rival

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I would say me and him have kind of the

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strongest rival we have the strongest

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connection I think I think two

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competitors you know I'm I'm very

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competitive so

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two competitors going at it you know

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it's

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that's what's gonna happen

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um we're gonna

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add battles with each other

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and

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you know to go down to him that I was

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glad to see the title be kept in the

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family but at the same time

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you don't want to see him win

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um you know I love my dad

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but

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you don't really I don't really want to

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see him win when it's when it's against

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me especially if it's against me you

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know my dad said I have too high of

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expectations for myself he's probably

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right heading into this I I did expect

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to win

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you know uh I I do have high

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expectations for myself I believe in

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myself

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um I believe in my my athletic ability

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you know I'm an athlete I'm a competitor

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and I want to win more than anything

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that's

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you know a lot of people say having fun

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is the most important thing

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I think winning is the you know that's

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the whole reason you play the game right

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it's the whole reason we're here is is

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to win and

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play the game

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um obviously it's fun but

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you know I see it as the whole purpose

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of playing a game

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is to try and win that's why we keep

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score you know if we were just hitting

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back and forth I'm not keeping score

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Kevin's a better player

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I don't think he has better skill he's

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just a better player

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because Alex

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takes it too seriously he needs to have

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more fun out there I think Kevin had a

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better game record on Alex

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um and during uh League Play Alex is

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very competitive but that's expected you

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know I think this was the closest

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matchup by far

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um

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I didn't know who was going to win going

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into it

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um it was very intense I think this

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besides the championship match was

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I think the most that we were quiet and

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focused

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because it was just very exciting it was

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back and forth you know I know I knew it

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was gonna be a good matchup

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um of course I just I've played with

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Kevin for so long I obviously thought

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he'd be a little favored the one problem

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I think with Kevin's game as he gets in

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his head a lot like if he's having a

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couple bad points he'll really get in

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his own head and then

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become a little more relaxed in the game

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and maybe like not care about it as much

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and just look forward to the next game

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um I definitely noticed that when I play

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him that was a great game I feel like

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both of you guys play a similar kind of

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game uh

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there's some extremely long points I

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watched which probably longest points of

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the whole tournament I've seen just

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point after point would be at least 20

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ball rallies

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uh both you guys are just not missing

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it really came down to just really my

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new things and it was neck and neck the

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whole way through a very entertaining

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match to watch yeah I think Alex and I

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might be you know and maybe with Jackson

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too but I think Asteria are in a very

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similar pool of talent

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haha

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I played Kevin in our final game of the

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regular season I was able to get into a

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more defensive mode and and say I'm

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gonna let Kevin make the mistakes and I

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played well against him you know I took

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one or two I probably should have taken

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two or three

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Kevin had trouble adjusting uh in that

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game he couldn't he couldn't really

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adjust well with going with the win he's

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in a lot of balls long you know I think

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he was trying to get a little too cute

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with it I just found myself you know

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kind of being frustrated that game

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uh you know I just couldn't deal with

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the conditions for some reason I wasn't

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really able to

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to get a get over that Hub that game at

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all and of course I was you know playing

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very well he wasn't giving me a chance

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to so

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credit to him for that

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foreign

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environment out here but um you know

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good player makes adjustments right yeah

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yeah I got to make adjustments you know

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got to make adjustments and not let that

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happen again how do you plan to adjust

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to the outdoor venue

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um you know I just gotta hit it a little

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less soft you know I've been hitting a

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long uh gotta just focus more on the

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touch the Finesse not just the power not

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just smacking it you know gotta

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according on the specifics and uh should

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be able to get it done next game never

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all right how do you feel about that

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person

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um you know it feels good to win the

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first one I mean I beat him I beat him

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in the last one my last game of the

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regular season honestly last week so

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um it really feels good to uh get a dub

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and have a lead you know

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um I'm ready to go I'm I'm the fifth

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seed but I'm looking to make some upsets

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I'm looking to really show people that

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uh not as bad as as my regular season

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denoted

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um it's definitely a different

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environment out here I mean it's

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definitely harder to see

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um the light definitely reflects off the

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table more but I mean listen I'm pretty

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uh it you know yeah I'm gonna win

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no matter what I don't care uh where

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we're at we've been playing in the

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pouring rain I'm still gonna win um I

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don't accept failure I don't accept

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losing so you know let's go out and get

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the get the brooms out let's go how do

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you plan on adjusting to the outdoors

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I don't know I'm just gonna I'm just

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gonna play how I feel you know I'm

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pretty good right now I have a tough

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matchup again against him I mean whoever

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I play next is gonna be a tough match up

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too so

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um just just play how I feel you guys

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buy it or what all right

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foreign

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foreign

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foreign

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I had to make better plays you know

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um

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I straw I couldn't adjust

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I struggled to adjust and you know I got

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beat pretty bad and I think that that

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probably hurt me a little mentally

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because I started to I probably freaked

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out a little bit

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I probably got a little bit

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uncomfortable I I doubted Kevin too much

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in my head I didn't have enough faith in

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myself as well you know I really got my

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ass kicked in in game two and

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I was probably just a little bit like uh

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like what what the you know what's

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going on here try to take a deep breath

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but I just got a little too aggressive

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and I couldn't keep it on the table

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again I mean I just struggled I freaking

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struggled man

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um

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I was disappointed in myself I was upset

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you know and it felt the confidence

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going to the other side too because I

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felt the the side that um

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that I started on the house played on

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the second game was disadvantaged a

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little bit at least definitely in those

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first two games uh I definitely felt

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that like I felt like I had to you know

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kind of like a natural Advantage with

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just the wind in that second game you

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know it was kind of heavy at that

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specific point in time and you know Alex

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I'm never really

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beating Alex by that margin otherwise

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so that kind of goes to show that

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there's some you know extracurricular

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factors so to speak that uh can affect

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you know game of ping pong especially

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outside

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so yeah so that obviously you know gave

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me confidence to go for it because then

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not only not just the score but just the

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fact that I was able to tie up the

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series at one to one you know

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make it a new series going forward

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foreign

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I don't think it was quite as strong of

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a of a wind at that for that game so I

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didn't feel as a disadvantaged really

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but I definitely focused on that

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extending too much not you know putting

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too much like actual muscle into getting

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the ball I was kind of just tapping it

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more and trying to worry about placement

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Spin and all that you know those factors

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more than more than just

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try to hit it harder or something

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because that's you know where I

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definitely fell short in the first game

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my dad thinks that

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that I have

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too high of belief in my abilities but I

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know I'm an athletic person you know I'm

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obviously not the most athletic person

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um in the world otherwise I'd be playing

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some sort of professional sport making a

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living doing that

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but

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I consider any error I make any point

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that I lose it's an unforced error in my

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opinion you know if if my paddle can get

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to the ball

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then I should get it over the over the

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net I'm My Own Worst critic going into

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game three I kind of thought the person

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on on the side going into the wind was

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going to win every single one because it

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was just gonna be too tough to play with

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that wind at your back I would start in

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a fume a little bit you know it's it's

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it's sort of like a frustration that

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that'll simmer right and you know after

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game two it was simmering it was

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you could start to see the bubbles

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coming up a little bit but I was still

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simmer and I was just trying to just I

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was almost trying to force my way to win

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and I just couldn't I can't do that

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against Kevin he's a great player and

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backs against the wall right

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you just just play really well at that

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point in time

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it was very exciting

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well Kevin does really well with is he

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doesn't give up on the plays

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Kevin's a better player

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it's a little bit of a gust of wind

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it just Clips it off that table

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what are you supposed to do you know you

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lose it's frustrating um I got a fire

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under my ass to do it next year next

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year is going to be

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bigger it's going to be better

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um and you know I

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I believe in my game

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