How Sofia won her first PSA Satellite Title

19th March 2024 • Written by Becky Pryor

Sofia’s account of the day:

I arrived to a cold windy Ireland greeted by a member of the club who was so kind to let me stay at his house with his family.

The first match was against an unknown player from New Zealand. I prepared myself for the unknown and won in a controlled 3-0 which took me through to the semi-finals with an old junior rival from the UK. I prepared myself for a physical battle needing to run and retrieve as much as possible. A nervous start had me behind a few points but I managed to catch up but then sadly lost out in a brutal 15-17 first game.

The second game was another battle but I managed to take the game 12-10. After two more brutal games I managed to stay more in control than my opponents to take the next two games 11-8 and 11-9. Boom through to another PSA Final against Fellow Portuguese Catarina Nunes no.2 in Portugal.

I was very nervous to start with, feeling the pressure of wanting to win. From past experiences I knew I had to focus purely on 1 point at a time which allowed me to stay more in control taking the first game 11-7.

On to the second game I found myself focusing more on the end result allowing Catarina to gain a few points lead. At that point I found myself 8-4 down, it was time to get my head down and focus. I caught up but she also put in some work so I was 8-10 down. I refused to give a cheap point away and I picked up every ball that I possibly could and brought it back to 10-10. It was a good fight, back and forth, and I managed to put Catarina under enough pressure to take the game 13-11.

The third game I was completely focused, and I was so sure of what I needed to do that I went on to dominate the final game 11-5 and win my first PSA Satellite Title!

I was over the moon. I was swamped by messages from my coaches, teammates and family who have all seen the hard work I’ve been putting in both physically and mentally over the last few months.

I am so proud to have completed another goal from this year’s list. Now onto my next one!