Need help keeping confidence

well, i think you need to go into the game fired up, thinking you can beat the opponent, BUT with a lot of hard work. that way, you don't go in thinking it's an easy game, but you also have the will to beat them

 

i threw my confidence away in badminton =P long ago, i learnt that my confidence is what was keeping me from going forward. I would look at a person and be sure I would win. However, being this confident made me a little lazy (i end up playing around too much and getting too tired and end up losing). Nowadays, I just play hard from the beginning whether i know i can beat the person or not unless there's a huge obvious skill difference then i play to let the other person learn the game =P

 

btw... don't cry. u should get mad instead and get all fired up like shifty said and win the next game after losing the first =P i seem to always win when i get mad (ex. when my partner hits me or clashes racket). i get mad and redirect my furies at my opponents =P i feel good after too cuz i know i play a lot harder than i would have had the fury not been there O_O hehe =P

 

that's not confidence. that's arrogance. there's a thin line between the two but your confidence maybe going a bit too far. what i define as confidence is having faith that you can win, BUT ONLY by working hard, by fighting for each point, be it who you are facing. arrogance is thinking you can win without trying, confidence is belief in your abilities but knowing you won't get it easy. but you do need to get fired up like drowsysmurf said, you do need to give it your all, and remember, fighting till you lose is better than giving up half-way through. that's the mark of a true sportsman/woman lol

 

sorry if what i posted was misinterpreted. in my case, i am confident that i can beat the person, but because of my confidence, i tend to be more relax (play for fun rather than for win mode) and not as serious therefore causing my lost. if i would be serious (for win mode) starting from the first serve instead of being relaxed, i would do a lot better.
as for fired up (for win mode, will smash when i get a good one), i mean that i am getting really into the game like i cannot give the chance for the other person to make any come back. i become a lot more serious and think about where to hit next instead of just hitting with my instincts when i'm relaxed. when i'm relaxed, i tend to clear and drop only, no smashes which can gain very crucial points given the right time to do it.

btw...she did say she was cocky

 

i think even if i was arrogant, i would not be set back because a really arrogant person would not stand a lose at all.

 

true. but what happens when that really arrogant person meets a person far better than him? then no matter how good you play, you can't win. so it's best to be a little reserved, but retain a little belief in your abilities. i agree with drowsy though, that you do need to concentrate, but not get anxious. it's a fine line and hard to judge others by, so i can only give you my advice. it's best if you learn yourself.

and if she was cocky, then it can come as a surprise when you lose, then you lose some more and it's a down hill slide. best thing to do is to concentrate more.

 

Well, there's a pretty huge difference between being confident and being conceited... and though htey are often associated, they don't always come hand in hand.

Tell me, when you get on court, what is it that scares you, that makes you feel poorly about yourself? Is it the fear you will lose?

I think you are likely going through something I have experienced. When I was the underdog, I woudl show my strength. But when I was going in as #1 and expected to win, I would often 'choke'. It's the weight of maintaining your title that is on your shoulder. You probably feel that because of your previous accomplishments, you are expected to win.

How can it be solved? There are many ways,but different things work for different people. The suggestions generally include:
- trying to focus on the fun of the game. That's why you got into badminton, right? Because it's fun, win or lose, playing hard and leaving it all on the court is an exhilerating experience
- examining the opponent. When you miss a shot, rather than berating yourself for missing a shot, ask what your opponent did that caused you to be out of position, etc.
- keep in mind that your opponent is terrified of you. They will know that you are #1, and will be incredibly nervous to play you. You can capitolize this by trying as hard as you possibly can, running yourself ragged to get to any shot... your perserverence will frustrate them, and they will start to get upset and mad at themselves
- make friends with badminton players in your area, both at your school and other schools. I know this sounds strange, but it's what worked with me. I had incredible confidence problems, and still do, but it was mostly alleviated by knowing that my friends supported me and believed in me as a very good player even when I suffered a bad loss or was playing well. Even if htey're just cheering for you on court... it can make a huge difference.

Good luck. Confidence is a tough thing. Another thing that builds up confidence is working incredibly hard on training... because then you know that you've worked harder than the other player, and no matter what happens, you have a better work ethic and fundamentals than theyu do, and will overcome them in the long run.

 

just keep thinkin i ain't gonna lose. you've got to have faith. just don't expect it easy. rock music helps. none of the death and heavy stuff, just something to get your adrenaline and mind pumpin

 

yeah, what westwood said is important. make friends. i play 200% better against people who i feel are friends than strangers or rivals

 

mental toughness is a very important aspect of the game. u must never lose your nerves and stay cool. to do that, simply play more with strong opponents, and learn to take defeat cooly

 

If you're having an emotional breakdown, you can use NLP technique which is highly successful.
It is like riding a rollercoaster and seeing yourself from afar riding a rollercoaster, which is completely different in terms of feel (the former, you experience sensation, whereas the latter you don't feel really anything when watching from afar).
So, when it happens, see yourself in a TV screen, having a breakdown. Then push that TV screen afar, so far so that you basically cannot see it anymore. Then you look at another TV screen where you see yourself as winning the match, all smile, shaking the hand of your competitor. Get that TV screen near you, as close as possible, so close that you blend with that person in the TV screen and you become that person.

I hope you get my explanation, it might not be very clear, but when you grasp the concept, it is VERY efficient.

 

Actually, NLP, or neurolinguistic programming is a controversial field in psychiatry, with little evidence to suggest it that actually works, as far as I can tell.

Grant J. Devilly (2005). Power Therapies and possible threats to the science of psychology and psychiatry.
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 39 (6), 437–445

Wayne Young

 

your mind is playing tricks on you. If it happen again during a match, just forcefully tell to your brain "I want to win this point" ,"I want to win this point"....... repeatly..

Meantime just do clear and straight but hard smashes, lift to the back.
Your forcus should be back automatically after few stroke.

 

I think many young players often set too much of an expectation and focus way too much on the final scores during their development. Once the harsh reality hits, they can't handle the truth, therefore, losing confidence, or even losing hope of the sport. Just be real, even you are as good as ZN, XXF or LD, you still lose sometimes. The true champion is the one who can analyze the game in a constructive way, and seeking improvement.

I think one of the reasons, was your 1st year was too easy, which let you set too high of an expectation. Remember, now you are against better players, which itself already shows you are better than a lot of others. There are always better ones out there waiting for you, once you are qualified for the next level. So, stay focus, and start from ground zero (regardless how much success or failure you used to have) for every single game.

 

While psychiatry isn't my field, and also because I cannot access the full article without paying (you need to get a critical view on how the study was done, just reading the conclusion is not enough), I can say that it is very hard to quantify psychological results. You can get a score on a cognitive and intelligence test, but putting a score on how you feel is purely subjective and hard to attain. However, there are studies that will attest that NLP is efficient (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=17210507&query_hl=1&itool=pubmed_docsum)

Second of all, IMHO, meta-analyses is not a good tool to evaluate something, especially if study group numbers are low.

So yes, NLP is controversial, but it doesn't hurt to try....

 

so are u still having that problem miss brainy?

 

Psychiatry isn't my field either, so we have that in common. However, I had a quick look through the paper and I must say, whenever I see the terms "homeopathy", and "herbal remedies", I can't help but hear warning bells going off. Having said that, the paper did not report any significant effects from their treatments, so I guess there's still plenty of work to be done.

I'm curious as to why you think meta-analyses are inappropriate. I thought a major advantage of them was the ability salvage useable data from multiple studies, which for one reason or another, had group numbers that were too small for any useful conclusions to be drawn from them.

Wayne Young