I've been studying and practicing NLP for a while, and thought something up. Originally, the founders of this technology have studied the strategies adopted by highly successful people in all sorts of endeavors and professions. Using these techniques, the layman can build a much higher level of skill through practicing what works. For example, some professional golfers take small swings before the actual one, watching where the imaginary ball would go, and wait for the green to get smaller and the hole to get bigger. Some professional short-distance runners picture themselves in a small corridor, aware of the crowd and the other runners, but focused on staying in "their corridor". In short, they have a way of going about going in altered states of mind to be able to picture their experience in ways that enhances their performance at the activities in which they excel. It's about figuring out what works. Telling yourself to "be cool" and "focus" and "win this point" simply doesn't cut it. Some rituals re-establish comfort (when I make mistakes, I tap my racket head against my pants, feeling the sting and making a noise; it gets me focused), but it's not oriented towards the end result. In short, I was wondering if anyone has accounts of how badminton pros manage to get such consistent results mentally. Out of all those athletes in amazing physical conditions and with amazing coordination and technical prowess, what do the top do to give themselves the mental edge? As an extra example, I find it helps me swat flies and the like when I think of the swatter as a racket and the bug as an out-of-control shuttle. It's not much of a strategy, but at least it gets me excited about the task.
I ave been going to sessions of sports psychology and clinical hypnotherapy for my badminton game. Hypnosis is used to put in suggestions to improve my confidence and relax me. I can now relax or become aggressive at will just simply by counting either from 10 - 1 or 1 - 10. I also ave visualization techniques to practice everyday of playing perfecting. I figured my best game is when I am relaxed so therefore I visualize myself relaxed playing badminton. I was always too hyped up for matches and I found I made a lot of mistakes due to mistiming or just missing the shuttle cause I wanted to hit it so badly!! lol. This has been greatly reduced but i jus need more practice at visualization to make this go away completely. Jus doing it 2 weeks, I have found that my best game is a relaxed game where before I started this process, I jus played aggressive from start and couldnt calm donw if I wanted to!! I dismiss any mistakes immediately and move on so therefore I dont let them affect my game whereas before I wudve put myself down etc! and I was mistiming my smash quite badly & this has now completely went away. Jus my 2 cents (If any1 is serious about badminton competitive, the mental game is so important!! It brings out the best in your play. It is not a quick fix, it takes hard work and time but once it clicks! it clicks!! )
