Hi, I have been playing for a few years now, and I consider myself to be an intermediate-level player. I play competitively. I am male, I hit quite hard, and my stamina is slightly above average. I my height is 170cm. My problem is that whenever I am playing competitively, I play absolute rubbish, because I am under pressure to try to win my game. It is because my nerves overcome me and I am not in a clear state of mind. Once, I almost lost to a player that had only been playing for a few months. My shots go way out, or into the bottom of the net, or I miss them altogether. I often can't reach simple shots (ie drops at the net). However at practice, I play fantastic, when there is no pressure. When practicing my footwork, or my shots, I play absolutely brilliantly. When I have a hit with my friends, I hardly hit shots out, hardly hit shots into the net, and my footwork feels really smooth. So how can I just relax, and play my best on the competitive court? Tips, please?!
And, no my friends were not going easy on me. They are better players at badminton than me, and I gave them quite the challenge.
I also have a nerve problem. Whenever I play against someone competitively I play badly. However for some reason when I play against someone that I know I will lose to I tend to do better or play normally. I think the only way to deal with nerve is to try and relax and play like you normally do for the first few points. After the first few rallies you might get the feel. There is also a psychology portion to it. If you are losing during the first few points you will feel like you want to make up for your mistakes. This may cause you to make more mistakes causing you to snowball. Anyways try your best to stay relaxed and positive. Maybe the more experience you have by playing games will allow you to lose the nerve issue.
Same, I also play pretty good against someone that I know I will lose to. But I play terrible against someone who is of the same ability as me, or lower.
simple... you just have to play more serious games to get used to playing under pressure visualization also helps a lot, especially in the first 3 shots, ie. serve and receive and when you play against someone you don't know, you should always be assessing his weaknesses in the first few rallies. once you've uncovered their weak points, then you just keep on hammering at them
Visor is right with regards to visualisation. I want you to twice a day for 5 mins each time do a visualisation of you playin ur comp nice and calmly and playing out of ur skin. Make sure and see the game as if you are actually playing it urself. See it through ur eyes feeling calm. See the court, the net, the shuttle, ur racket. Make as much detail as possible. Also change ur attitude to the game. Dont try and win the game, thats impossible to achieve as its in the future, that is making ur nervous. Go with the attitude that u will play ur best and give 100%. Focus on the current point, the current shot. Not the outcome. Never focus on the outcome, only the here and now. Good luck
Deep breaths. Before you get to your tournament destination, take deep breaths. As you are rallying, take deep breaths. As you wait, take deep breaths. It slows down your heartbeat and allows you to calm your mind. If your partner usually plays in tournaments and doesn't have this problem that is another added bonus. Tell your partner to calm YOU down if he or she notices you are getting anxious/nervous. I had this problem too, played horribly at my first couple tournaments. Thereafter, I literally took deep breaths and it solved my issue. Basically, I allowed myself to calm down and play serious while keeping my game as well.
I used to have the same problem but now i dont have that pressure. my two cents tips are I told myself that my opponent is a lot better than i'm so i'll have to give my 120% and tell myself that i'll give him a game to remember. another tip that helped me was i just relax and careless about winning or losing, but i'd still keep my competiveness at a very high level also when i lose a point i'd give my opponent full credit for it and keep telling myself the next point he's going to score a point a me is going to be brudal. I hope these tips can help some of u out there
I'd agree 100% with the last post, I used to get terrible nerves about 6 months ago, to the point where I'd serve 25% of the first 5 or 6 points really badly, sometimes even into the net, and just not rally. Getting yourself into a focused frame of mind can really do it, put on some music/ headphones that you find gets you going REALLY helped me, almost trance like state by visualising- blocked out everything else going on and focused on how I was going to play my game in the match, but most importantly enjoy the moment. As a result over the last few months I have found I get a confident start and started to develop a big lead with minimal error. If you think too much, then you get stressed, and everyone knows they their best when you just enjoy the game!
Few ideas: Make your practice more competitive, e.g. play friends, all put some money in, (small fee) winner takes pot Find out what your optimum level of tension/stress is, some people need to "psyche up" loud music, others need to relax Concentrate on the points and performance not the outcome The more you compete the more normal it becomes and nerves decrease Keep some perspective, its only a game!
Whoever looses, do the lindance... lol. Just get your feet moving and chase the shots. Return safe shots at least to the left and right to begin with and slowly front and back. Not risky ones. That will get you going.
