Not exactly sure if this is the right sub forum for this topic, but anyway: For almost a year now, I feel like my performance pretty much sucks. I usually train 2 times a week in our club with a more than decent coach (won a youth national championship as a player with his team) and take pretty much every opportunity to play badminton, and still it seems like I'm not improving at all. It's not only that I'm not improving, to me it feels like I'm actually getting worse, since I make so many stupid mistakes. Right now, my win percentage in games is about 20%, maybe even less. For some reason, my coach still thinks, I'm one of the better players in our group, therefore I'm often matched up against other good players. And then I get completely crushed. As you probably can imagine, this is pretty frustrating. My big problem is, that in game situations this frustration often turns to anger/aggression towards myself and I simply can't handle that. To me it feels like "getting pushed around" and there's nothing I can do about it, and I absolutely hate that feeling. This is a general problem of mine, I've experienced the same when losing in video games. The thing is, it often becomes a downward-spiral: On the one hand, it makes me wanna win so goddamn badly, on the other it stops me from staying calm, focusing on a proper technique and thinking about things I could do better. Which of course leads to playing even worse, and that again, leads to more frustration and aggression. At the end of the day, I have to actively stop myself from smashing my racket to the ground. Unfortunately it happened twice, both time they didn't survive it, so I destroyed two really expensive rackets within 3 months. I know it's incredibly childish, but in that particular situation, I feel like it's the only thing that helps. Now the point is, I somewhat wanna "use" this aggression: As much as I hate that feeling, I feel like it lights a "competitive fire" in myself: I pretty much forget about everything else around me: other people, my own physical exhaustment, everything. Winning that game and proving my opponent, I'm a better player than that, is the only thing that actually matters for me in these situations. And I think, that in general, this competitive mindset and will to win, is something positive. However I must learn to control it to the extent, where I can still concentrate on the actual game, my technique, my opponent etc. Do you have any tips for that? If you've experienced the same problem, how do you handle it? Thanks in advance, all tips are appreciated
Lol, your screen name seems appropriate... Let me be the first of many posters to suggest that you read one of the most famous book (if not the most famous one) that deals with sports psychology and how the mind works in competitive sports. It's called "The Inner Game of Tennis" by Timothy Gallwey. The examples used are for tennis, but the concepts apply to any sport. There are many summaries around but definitely read the book yourself cover to cover. It'll open your eyes and mind.
Also right off the bat, first thing you have to do is give yourself permission to lose and embrace that it's not the end of the world when that happens. You'll begin to enjoy the game much more once you tell yourself that. And you'll relieve yourself from the self imposed pressure to succeed. And then paradoxically, you'll perform better.
Couple of things in addition to visor. Winning is damn important . But you need to realise the winning can only be done by training and building up from basics and honing technique and tactics. So do you know your deficiencies in training, and able to play the techniques consistently in training? If you cannot, then expect ups and downs during games. Next, take an analytical approach to games. A shot goes wrong and you lose a point. Was it that stroke? Was it the stroke before? Was the opponent simply too good. Played the wrong stroke? Then you will start to find specific things to work on in training. Next, there are games for practice and there are games that matter. Remember that even pros play practice games for training and are not full out all the time. So all these practice games build up your game sense. Don't worry about the other guy outperforming you. Just concentrate on yourself, your balance, footwork and then your shots. Once you see patterns in your play where you consistently have difficulty, then talk to the coach and work on those areas. In a way, we all have the expectation that we can play one hundred percent because that's how we see the pros play. In fact, they have their ups and downs but fewer downs because they are pros. Us amateurs will have more downs than ups. Badminton is also a game that takes a long time to develop the skills. Otherwise we would all be playing on the pro circuit Usually it is the guys who lack knowledge who will get most angry.
To be honest, the sole fact that I'm losing is not what really bothers me in that situation. It's the fact that my performance outright sucks and I should be able to play better: There are people in my club, who are clearly better than me, and I know that. Losing against these people is not a problem for me at all, if I feel like I was able to play up to my potential and match my personal standards. When I'm playing against people, who are roughly on the same level as me, it's basically the same: If my performance was good enough to make it a balanced and entertaining match, I'm happy and don't care if I lost it in the end. The problem is, that this rarely happens, because my performance has become so goddamn bad. I play against people, who I were able to outperform or who should be on the same level, and I lose in 2 straight sets without even reaching 10 points. Usually our coach chooses the pairings: About one year ago, he matched someone against me and his reaction was something like "oh god please no, thats gonna be really tough". And now it is "ok no problem" and then they completely destroy me in the match. It's not about losing, its the fact, that I'm not able to match my own standards. Winning against me isn't even a real challenge for my opponent. That's what really bothers me.
Try to look at the bright side of it; at least you know that you need to improve and hopefully you can find where you need to improve
Let me be the second one in the row to warmly recommend you "The Inner Game of Tennis". Just reading through your posts makes me 100% sure that you will find a lot in there which you can use. Also, reading your posts gives me two impressions of what is going wrong with your game right now: 1) You are putting way too much pressure on yourself and trying to force your success far, far, far too much. 2) I feel like you are currently having ZERO fun at all when playing badminton. Combine both and you have completed a deadly cycle for your performance on court. The more pressure you build up, the more you will be blocking yourself, the worse you will play, the less fun you will have stepping on court the next time. Repeat. You need to find a way to break that cycle and personally, I feel like what you need right now is plain and simple a minimum 1-2 weeks break from badminton and first of all, to rediscover the reasons why you play the game. And well... you need to find the fun in badminton again. In the end, that's what it's all about. If you start feeling better and more confident on court, that's the moment when you might be able to use some of your anger in a positive way. With your current mindset, it will only lead you into more trouble.
Hmm, I used to have this aggression about a year ago. Let me share my story and hopefully it helps. When I started training, I always wanted to win; be it if the opponent is stronger or weaker than me (also when I make silly mistakes). I used to hit my leg with my racket therefore causing injuries and I also hit myself, punching my own face or face palm myself really hard. My coach told me that i better stop badminton if I continue on like this as I am not loving and enjoying badminton. This is what my coach taught and remind me even till now (might change into my own words though), "everyone make mistakes, even the pros make mistakes, even the most simplest one, serving for example. How many (thousands and millions) times have they train serving and still makes a mistake during tournament. Don't let that one mistakes ruin your entire game. If you make a mistake, just adjust; the angle, speed, strength, etc. Just let the mistake go and learn from it." And yes, you may feel like you've become worse (as I have) but in coach's eyes, you improved. And don't worry about who you used to beat cause everyone is improving itself. Don't stop improving yourself just cause someone said you're good, that's what I coach said. From my experience, I've been losing ever since I started in my trainings and practice (only won about 10 matches? That's a year) and actually won my first tournament match about 3 weeks ago but had to dropout due to injuries . Still happy I won though Just keep trying and adjusting, practice and training isn't about wining. If i may suggest, find places to play, in addition to your training, it'll help a lot. Go to practice early and do footworks, correctly and smoothly. Don't go rushing. I'm not saying that I've controlled my aggression, I still have it but still learning P.S. Keep the aggression down, once your opponent saw it. They've already won you mentally and will start to "play (or push) you around. Instead try reading the game, that's what I did Good luck and don't forget to enjoy! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
You're putting too much pressure on yourself when you say you should really win against a weaker player. Read that book. Get your mind away from your game and just let your body (which is well trained) do it's job without interference from your mind. Wait till you get a chance to play golf. Now that is really a game where you'll battle against yourself if you let your mind get in the way.
This. I am the third person to recommend the book I hope that people understand that this isn't a "new" or "unique" problem. I would say at least half the people out there feel this way about whatever they do. Some quit the sport and you never bump into them, others get "stuck" and become the angry player at club, others just get on with it and realise they can choose how they respond to any given situation because its only a game. I used to be very similar to you all: deep inner anger at my own game, and my inability to perform. What I really wanted was: to play as well in matches as I can in training. (thats what the book is about) For me, that required me to think the same way in matches as I do in games. Which is where the sports psychology bit comes into play. Now, there are also sometimes technical things I need to improve; its important I accept that I have technical problems and that I need to actually go away and improve (I am not as good as I thought I was, including on some things I know I used to do better but have stopped training). In my experience the only thing that creates a problem is my own expectations. I think I should win, that makes me nervous if I lose a couple of points. I think I am better than them, that makes me play badly if I think people are judging me when they win a point. I think I should play better than I am now, that makes me frustrated that I can't. I get lots of coaching, therefore I should be better than I am. My expectations used to create all sorts of problems. Here is the truth: I am a very well trained badminton player, and I love playing badminton. Sometimes I play really well, sometimes I play well enough but not up to my own high standards, and sometimes I play like garbage. In any given situation, a thousand things affect the way I play. Sometimes I can control them, sometimes I can't. In all of those situations, I still like badminton, and I still want to improve more! Good luck!
Okay, this is me being completely off the wall, but since you mentioned video games... Play FTL. It's the perfect way to observe how your own psychology screws you over. You can pause at any time, all the better to reflect on your collapsing mental state. FTL is notoriously hard. Most players think it requires very good luck to win, yet expert players will win consistently. FTL is a masterpiece with a deceptively high skill ceiling. I am not entirely joking when I say there are interesting parallels for badminton. But even if I'm talking bollocks there, play FTL anyway. It's brilliant.
I agree with what everyone else has suggested in this thread. Don;t beat yourself up! Make sure to have fun! Don't feel guilty to your partner if you lose! Etc, etc, But I'd like to bring up the point of anger. I use anger in my game as one of my best tools. I find anger sharpens me, makes me quicker and and mental "F- you" screamed in my head when hitting a smash or net kill definitely adds a bit of speed to my arm. But it's not anger at myself. It's anger at my opponent. Anger in a "There is no way I'm gonna let you beat me, punk." And if my opponents are a bit ahead it's like "B* please. Don't you dare think you can win." I don't think I'm unique in this. My coach will often say "I'm mad! I'm mad!" if he's losing or something and then he always gets the next few points because he also uses anger to focus him. But to get this anger, you need confidence. Confidence in yourself and your ability as your anger comes from "how DARE you think you can win." If you are angry or frustrated in yourself, then that kind of anger will destroy you. Good luck with the mental game!
Talking about books and golf, another good book which is about sports psychology but used in a golf context, however i feel it can be applied to all sports is "Golf is not a game of perfect" by Dr. Bob Rotella Would require some golf knowledge to truly enjoy the book, when it was published in 1995, it changed the lexicon of the game, adding phrases like "train it and trust it," and "stay in the present" All sports require 3 forms of training, body(muscles,stamina, etc), skills/tactics(technical skills required to execute and play the game) and mind( mental training, mental strength, visualisation,etc)
On the converse side, people can use it too much resulting in a performance decline. Badminton is not like other sports which you can use power to overcome many obstacles. Anger and anxiety affects accuracy, hitting point and speed by making the player stiffen up their muscles. Thus, shot quality will be affected.
To follow up on this. Being visibly frustated/angry can also calm the opponent, since they know what they're doing at the moment is working and YOU are the one who has to prove something / change something. So if you want to use anger, try to keep it in your mind and don't let it show too much.
I was once playing socially at a club run by an absolutely lovely coach in her 70s (she was still playing). It was a bit like playing badminton while your favourite gran gave you tea & biscuits and asked if you had been behaving yourself lately. Not only did you get good badminton tips from her, but also comforting "mother hen" cossetting. Generally it was a pleasant group, except for one player who looked like he belonged in a Guy Ritchie movie. He wore a permanent scowl and a dingy tracksuit. He looked like he'd just come out after sinking White Lightning and beating the wife. He had the hardest smash in the group, and was not used to it coming back. I could defend it easily, and my defence was crap back then -- so really, it was a case of "big fish in a small pond". He got so angry that, after the game, he threatened to beat me up! As in, "I'll f***ing kill you, you little s**t". That's when the rest of us were shaking hands. Now there was a player who had problems with aggression.
Any chance that has he moved to New Zealand afterwards and now earns his living as professional backhand coach?
I don't know if I can help you, I just share my emotions and things which I do, if it helps you - good, if I waste your time, I'm sorry. First of all, I'm also one of this emotional players who get into rage mode. I don't throw rackets etc. But when I feel exactly the same like you (Opponent dominates and I have a tough time on court, even if I know that I'm the better player) maybe he is smiling and I suck, I came into the same spiral. I experienced that I need to find an exit. And found one. Before I found out what helped me, I also get into the same situation, I wanted to win, tried to hard, rised the anger, hate and frustration and could forget everything. I saw a tunnel and even couldn't hear correctly. IMO this mode has a benefit, because I perform with negative emotions the best. It has the downside, that you easily also drift in a brute force mode and smash out of the court or into the net and these mistakes will bring you down. So I decided to control my anger and hate. And read a few books and found my psychological own damn interesting. It's difficult to find the right amount of it. If you have the sting to go hard, everything is fine and will work. You have so much concentration, speed and can smash trough bodies. Just a bit too much and you got out of control and get faulty and one mistake after the other will follow.. Maybe it sounds too easy and stupid, but I scream some of my hate and anger out of my body. It's a valve to prevent that it's getting too much. I don't scream any sentence or word. Just an "AH". I experieced that some people thing I'm awkward or something of a freak, but it helps me and I don't need to scream after every rally or something, just one time, when I know it gets too much and leads to errors. FME it don't brings me anything to think about my balance, footwork and etc. If you think about it, if you do it right or wrong and try to make adjustments in a hot situation, I will lose. You will get easily totally insecure, I promise. Until I start to think about the technique and what I'm doing I'm out and I will lose. I'm not talking about tactics. I think that also an additional kind of sports can be beneficial. I cycle a lot and can put some agression in it. While reading books is a good idea to reflect what's going inside yourself, it's also important to find the right keys and valves which work for you and only for you. While these books are great and a real experience to read, just reading a book don't change much. Every person is different, the areals of the brain are flood differently in same sitautions and the reasons why are also different. It's absolute hard to describe a feel, so no book or person can bring it 100% on point for you. I think that these books are great to start to reflect your own and get intouch with your inner demons and think more about yourself and your personality, but what works or not and how good is a very personal thing. I hope you will find a way.
