Just another little Asian Girl

So I decided last week that against the will of my parents I would check out the badminton team here at UT. Thinking back to this time last year, I was trying out for 2 varsity teams and it quickly became the bane of my existence for at least the next 2 months. I had practices every day and tournaments to go to almost every weekend. Naturally, I'm going through a bit of withdrawal here so I felt the itch to see what the team was like. I went to a pre-tryout practice session where I learned more about the team. Practices are scheduled for Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 7-9pm. You are expected to be there for 3 of the 4 practices. So I played around a little and I quickly found out how rusty and out-of-shape I was. Having not played much this summer, I don't think I was mentally prepared either. When I entered the gym, I felt really awkward to be a "Varsity Blue" and I immediately noticed something else...I actually really blended in, appearance-wise. The gym was crawling with other small Asian girls and there were even a couple of girls that were shorter than I am! I guess that constantly hearing how small I was really made me think that I was unique, but not that day. Despite the encouragement of a couple of people there, I decided not to try-out. The try-outs spanned a week, consisting of 3 separate tournaments (singles, doubles and mixed) as well as fitness testing. The Black Knight freebees as a part of the team were pretty tempting but after using some of their shuttles, that became a minor factor in deciding to play for the team. Then at the end of the practice, we all had to get-together in a circle and scream "Blues" on a 1,2,3 count...weeeeird. By the time I got home from the practice, it was almost 9:45pm! I don't think I can handle being home that late 3-4 times a week. The coach said that practicing on Fridays shouldn't be a problem because Friday is practically the weekend and nobody should be studying on a Friday. If they do, they "need to get a life", but hey, I'm in med school now, we should be studying on Friday nights. So instead I joined intramural volleyball, ultimate frisbee and flag football. I hope that's enough to fill the void. Afterall, there are plenty other little Asian girls to take my place on the team. GO STANGS!