I'm having a really, really difficult time translating my training performance into tournament performance. Its much worse this year than ever before. I train waay more this year as well. When playing in tournaments my level of play always drops to meet that of my opponent. My tactics become awful, my shots unreliable and my overhead stroke changes b/c my timing seems to always be off. I feel like in tournaments I play to not make mistakes whereas practice I play to win. Also in practice I generally play against players of a much higher caliber than I end up playing against in tournaments. In practice I can beat these players but in tournaments I lose to people I really should not lose to. I thought that this problem would go away with experience but it seems like its getting worse. I am currently looking for a good sports psychologist in calgary. This problem is frusterating and embarrassing.
what are you thinking during the tournament? i think it's just you either trying way too hard or being really anxious it's hard to cool down during exciting moments but you have to.. how bout doing conservative badminton until your anxiety level goes down? don't play at the net way too tight. don't tighten up your drops. don't make a really huge swing for your smash thinking that it'll certainly be a winner. just play some rallies until you're relaxed. sometimes it happens to me too, especially when i go to a new club and trying to look good or something end up screwing up my game completely. just dont let your mind conquer you, it should be the opposite
Trying to hard to hard the perfect shot, or live up to expectations that you've set for your self can greatly hinder your game. Trying to hard leads to forcing your technique. You swinging that much harder, but in doing so, you end up mis-hitting the shuttle. I did that the first time I played Ardy in the tourament last year. I was so keyed up to play him I was sluggish in the end and burned myself out. I suggest you play more tournaments. The more experience you get, the better you feel. The best results I've had are when I'm relaxed with no expectations. The first game of any tournament, I still get a few butterflies until I a couple rallies under my belt and I've been playing this game for 20 years.
there may be a few things working against you: in practices, while you are playing to win, your opponents or practice partners could be playing to learn. while you can beat them in practice games, they are learning from these practice sessions on your game, strategy and tactics that they can use against you in tournaments. in practice, you can also feel that there is a "safety net" in that points won or lost aren't for real. in a tournament, each rally does count (especially more so with rally-21), that safety net disappears, and you may subconsciously start to second guess your every stroke. playing more tournaments will definitely help to lessen the problem, but going to the sport psychologist will help as there may be a more deep rooted problem. there are many players out there that are great during practice, and skill levels are superb but could never translate them to tournament wins.
I've played in lots of tournaments, less this year b/c its my first under the U23 age category. Also I don't get butterflys before i play anymore, and I don't play the people I train with in tournaments 80% of the time. Whats the difference between an expectation and a goal.
Your goal is, we'll say, to make a final. You strive to make it there. It may or may not mean you'll get there. You expectations is setting the minimal requirement upon yourself - which may or may not be the level of your goal. Lin Dan's expectation is the same as his goal as he already knows he can attain his goal. It's when you expectations exceed your goal is when you can have the most internal conflicts. You probably play better against people you train with because you are more familair with their patterns. In a tourney you play against people you've never seen before, some at a way lower level than you. Don't be worried about losing a few points, simply stick to your game.
