Playing better under pressure?

I think it is purely mental attributes.

One of my coaches is the nicest guy I have ever known (while not coaching - when coaching is evil lol) but when he gets on court he is a demon!

The only way to get better is by training hard even when playing games.

You have to imagine every game your playing is the finals.

Its hard - but is very good and will improve your game

 

everybody react to pressure differently.
rumor has that BCL tense up when he can't find his cellphone.

 

You won guy's doubles at Fraser? O_O

 

im the opposite. Over the years i've been playing i realize that i will totally get destroyed when playing under pressure. When im in a tournament every match i jus pretend its a casual game and i totally play better, but that's just me

 

I personally play better when I am tired... so what I do is go on the tread mill or whatever machine in the gym for a good 30-40 minutes. Than I play the usual 5-8 PM session at school. Weird.

 

Some observations

Regarding playing better either during recreation or at tournaments:

At tournaments, people are watching you, you usually don't know your opponent. So if you're the type of person who likes to show other people what you're made of, or doesn't want to look embarrassed, you'll tend to play with extra energy at tournaments just because there are people watching.

Now if you're the friendly, sociable type who doesn't like to hurt other people's feelings, you'll also usually play better at tournaments because you don't know who you're playing against and don't mind pulverizing them.

In my case, to get my motivation up if I really want to do my best, I pretend my opponent has dissed me and continues to diss my play. This kind of motivation makes me want to kill every shot and not make any mistakes, and to lunge at every shuttle, no matter how unreachable. Then after the game's over, I just turn off the imaginings and am friendly again. Of course, as others have mentioned, you'll behave like a 'demon' during the game but you'll definitely play above your usual level.

In terms of enjoyment, I think playing against someone who's just your level and where you don't need extra motivation to play well, is more fun. Against someone who's really strong and might be above your level, then the extra motivation is needed or you won't have much of a chance to win.

Like what Bruce Lee said in 'Enter the Dragon'--you need 'emotional content--not anger.' This hightened emotional content (the feeling you were dissed) can motivate you to not care about your opponent's higher skill level and experience and thus be able to do your best and maybe even surprise yourself with higher-then-usual play.

 

I used to play calm/friendly first , but after point by point , Im getting violent . But sometime I be friendly/calm back , I not really understand my own situation , but it do help my game . So I think I need to understand it myself and try to fix it if it is wrong .

One of my big problem is during my training with my coach , I always feel pressure/vibration/concussion at my hand during training , and it is also problem to me to play a correct grip and sometime , it make I always play slicing shot during I change back to correct grip . But when I play match(after train) , it come so well . Why is it?

 

too bad I'm not like that, I play well when I train but not as well when its a match .

The pretend my opponent dissed me sorta happened to me, in that I was little irritated inside that my match was called to start right after I just finished eating. To my surprise I wasn't as passive as usual in my match, game went to 3 sets.

 

I realized i played better under pressure, as such tournaments where lots of people are watching. But my physical strength can only last for at most 2 games, indeed the third game would be my loss, unquestionably!

 

Badminton psychology!!

Its al about belief folks, u have to truely believe that once the pressure is on, u play the best, that ur game gets better.

If you ave the belief that u crumble etc under pressure, u will.

So reali focus on saying into urself and believing that the nerves u experience are there because u care and they help u react better and faster and that under pressure, u reali shine and play ur best

 

It remind me to my father's word "When you think like that , then it will happen like that" (translation from malay)

 

Hi ppl
Till few days ago (and since 4-5 years) I was a player that could not deal with pressure and in tournaments and even in training games I ve always been too tense, and that was killing me all the time.
Few days ago during a training match, when I was loosing very hard agains someone with fewer technique but more stamina, I just thought "what the hell ... lets relax ... this game is lost ... lets just play if I having nothing to do with this". I relaxed all, and intended to play if I was just walking calm on the street. At the end I was surprised: the footwork, speed and the hittings improved a lot, I ve never got upset. The results: from losing 16-4 Ive lost the game 23-21.
Second day in other club where the guys (old guys) only play doubles, I imposed myself that kind of state of mind and I saw a really improvment ... everything was flowing better and naturally and even with less effiort, the fun and motivation became much higher and the scores very good too because of my performance.
I know that were passed very few days enough to draw a conclusion, but I saw clearly the beneficts. If you have some similar kind of experience, pls post it.

 

i have the same experience as slives, it happen when i play single,since i was a double specialize player,i play single the way i play double (which is very bad), i explode a lot and just keep attacking instead of setting the game. After i lost the first set , the second set i got tired and i start to play it with almost no explosion and my mind when blank (usually when i play double , i just keep thinking about attack the middle line or open space), and i notice that the birdie goes slower than before and i can see the other player's open space and where to place, and i won the 2 and 3 set with ease.
Now when i am playing single, i keep changing the pace of the game and it work pretty well

 

I think this post has split into 3 issues: pressure, intensity & consiousness.

I would say that everyone plays best at differing levels of pressure. If the level is too low, there is no motivation & lazy shots creep in. If the level is too high, it all becomes too much and everything gets tight. If you're struggling at the early stages of tournaments, set yourself an additional goal: all serves in, no loose shots, try to hit winners more frequently. If it's getting a bit too much, simplify things and concentrate on just the next rally or even the next shot.

I'd say that intensity is more a tactical choice. Playing aggressively may (or may not) intimidate your opponent, but best performance comes from getting the correct balance between taking a chance to win a rally and building an even better one.

Finally, I believe that the amount of 'thinking' should be kept to a minimum during play. Too much noise between the ears leads to strokes that are half of one shot, half of another and none of either! However, the time between rallys is perfect for weighing up the situation and making slight tactical tweaks.

 

I am kind of the opposite. I play better in practice than matches!