Quick warm ups before tournament and dealing with cold conditions

Discussion in 'Techniques / Training' started by Capnx, Jan 30, 2012.

  1. Capnx

    Capnx Regular Member

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    Hi guys, this has been the second time that my partner and I got knocked out of the semis/finals of a tournament because we didn't warm up properly and other complex issues.

    first is the time of the day and warming up. After a whole day of round robin, the semis started the next day at 9am, so we had to get up at 7:30am and got there around 8:40ish and only had about 15min warm up for everything. It was very hard to get up in the morning, all muscles were sore, and warming up was very slow. We were not in sync, we were stiff, we were not anticipating/setting up the shots, we were making easy mistakes. Our opponents were not bad but we were the favourites.

    second is the court conditions. in the morning, the room was very cold and we could simply not warm up for the first game of the match. the points were all very short and we just never got into a rally or rythem. It wasn't until the 2nd game that we sort of started to sweat and warm up and get into it.

    third, dealing with nerves. This is the second time that i've served a serve into the net (hitting the tape) on game point. should I have served a high one? Should I have not tried to be so tight? Also, there was no variety in our shots. When defending, we automatically went for lifts. there were no blocks, no drives... autopilot was telling us to just lift lift lift... we did communicate. our opponents were older than us but not stronger. we knew wut to do, and sometimes our plan worked when we executed well... but they were just more steady than us, less mistakes.

    I think 2nd and 3rd could've been helped if we had a better warm up routine and relaxed muscles and body. everything just felt really stiff and out of rythem. Anyways, thanks for your thoughts.
     
  2. phili

    phili Regular Member

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    I totally get you, same problem here. What helped me the last few times is to get you blood flowing (takes some time) or do quick footwork on court (this also improves your reaction time). I don't know what your warmp up looks like so it's hard to comment on what to improve there.
     
  3. Aphelion-

    Aphelion- Regular Member

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    This Happen a lots during provincial tournament, where finals are all stack at the last day X.X. did u guys stretch before going to sleep and after you woke up? it helps alot and make u less stiff.for the warm up part, normaly i should just wear my juggling pants and track suit and do jumping rope if i am in a rush or like phili mention, some quick footwork on the court also help greatly.

    about the cold part, was your tournament in quebec? because is EXTREMELY COLD during the last provincial tournament in quebec.

    serving and hitting the net is not a big deal, even pros do it some times (due to stress and such), maybe you should take your time on doing the service, because usually due to stress, u will rush your serve and end up getting kill by your enemy's return, high serve is very dangerous, because you give your enemy a chance to attack if you did not serve high enough. on the lifting part, it happen to me a lots also, due to stress and you are scare of your enemy,my coach tell me during these situation, just relax and think about their shot, if you have played against some one who is stronger than them, then tell yourself that, they are not as strong as the one i play against before, why am i scare? this is my way to remove my stress
     
  4. visor

    visor Regular Member

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    sounds like you should've gotten there half to 1 hr earlier to start your warmup, especially in such a cold venue

    dynamic stretching exercises, fast footwork, longer knock up, fast drives etc...... anything to get your muscles and core body to a functional temperature
     
    #4 visor, Jan 30, 2012
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2012
  5. raymond

    raymond Regular Member

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    Already some very good suggestions.
    If you're serious with your tournaments, you need to prepare at least 1 week ahead of your game days in adjusting your daily routine - get used to wake up real earlier. You can't afford to leave only 15 minutes for warm up.
    Unforced errors in the game, esp. at/around game points is just mental issue. Probably you think too much about the outcomes - what if I win, what if I lose... Don't think about this, and focus on playing 1 point/shot at a time. Stay in the present and here, and control only what you can control. Before every serve, try to take a deep breath, visual a successful serve before you do it. Obviously, you'd need to practice your serve/receive games prior to your matches.
     
  6. moomoo

    moomoo Regular Member

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    if your touney is at 9, wake up by 5/6 to wake up your body. you need to retune your body to that kind of timing.

    also when its colder the shuttles are slower so you should be better off :D
     

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