SC2SEA.com - Starcraft 2 SEA eSports Community Site

Beating nervousness.
 

I've always been a nervous person in high pressure situations, in some cases I've beaten this nervousness, in some, I can't seen to shake it off.

I played in a clanwar tonight where I played extremely poorly, due to nervousness, where my hands just slow down because I'm shaking, and I forget really important things. In these tournament situations, this is happening in about 50% of the games I play, and sometimes it happens on ladder. When I play in a tournament situation without worries, I usually play extremely sound games, but when the nervousness kicks in, I quiver so much it's impossible to concentrate. This is a major problem for me, since I get extremely frustrated when I lose games because I'm forgetting things, screwing up micro, and just being extremely slow because I'm shaking, it's especially a big problem for me in these clanwar situations, where I feel like if I get the privilege of playing, then I should make myself a viable asset to the clan by winning.

As I said, it happens to me in real life all the time, whether it be any high pressure situation, I'm always that kid that's too nervous to do shit. I'd like to say it's an experience thing, but playing online tournaments and online clanwars shouldn't really be too daunting, but in my head I seem to make it out to be the most important thing in the world, as well as the fact I've played in quite a decent amount of online tournaments, and the ones I seem to do well in, are the ones where I have no cares in the world, but most of the time, I don't have that feeling when I play.

I'm quite keen to start going to LANs next year, and I know it's a whole different story when comparing online cups/qualifiers to LANs, so I'm going to have some work to do to overcome these things, I just don't know where to start.

So I made this blog to ask you guys, if you've been to a LAN and played, played in online tournaments and you were nervous, how did you overcome this problem?

Re: Beating nervousness.
 

Did you get nervous because your cannons didnt work?

Re: Beating nervousness.
 

Must be an nRv thing to get angry when you lose.

Re: Beating nervousness.
 

Hey man! I believe performing in front of an audience and playing at Lans are very similar as far as your thought process in order to calm youself down. For me I've been performing violin semi-professionally (representing NSW, going overseas etc) during my high-school days. Nervousness and anxiety is a natural part when you are wanting to perform your best not only in playing the instrument but obviously for sc2 tournaments (Especially if you are part of a clan you will have a bigger urge to win for them). Greater the urge, greater the anxiety and nervousness. The way I dealt with nervousness was I kept forcefully putting myself in the position where I have to bear alot of responsibility and sometimes embarrassment such as performing infront of an audience and even infront of my mates (whom took the piss out of me just because I play an instrument lol) Also you have to learn to just not care. **** it, **** it all, who cares if you bloody lose? Not caring in the moment whether it be performing or playing in a tourney is probably the most important ;D
Try keeping these things in mind and soon you will have nerves STEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLL (i like steel )

Re: Beating nervousness.
 

Yo dude, I played/watched you tonight, can't remember haha.
Don't worry, most of us would be pretty damn nervous as well, a lot of ppl are unless they have balls of steel.
I myself find clan wars stressful and there is a lot of pressure on you to perform and you dont want to let people down.
Think all you need to do is continually play in these clan wars, get the experience and you'll be more used to it.
Always have a positive mindset also!

Re: Beating nervousness.
 

Nerves are never going to go away, you just need to love being nervous. Use it as positive energy. Some people don't get nervous, that's fine, but it's a waste of time to sit there and tell yourself not to be nervous because you won't be telling yourself to scout, not get supply blocked etc.

It's like playing angry. Anger can be great if you learn to use it to empower yourself rather than blind you.

Re: Beating nervousness.
 

1 word. Mindset. If you worry about losing, you will always be nervous. Always tell yourself to just do your best! Like do a certain strategy and scout at regular times. Tell yourself as long as you play your best, you will win. Regardless who your opponent is. Works for me most of the time unless i'm playing mafia.

Re: Beating nervousness.
 

Game Experience
Get lots of games under your belt so you know exactly what needs to be done.

PrePreGame Prep
Know how your opponent plays, so there are no surprises. Have builds ready focused on this persons play style. Or at least for the map.

PreGame Prep
Focusing on what needs to be done. - Prior to the games i'd just visualize what i'm going to do (my chosen build order).
- What i need to ensure i remember at what times. (what does this person like to do? What do i need to check for so i get info? Does my particular build require me to ensure i get double gas at my expansion at exactly the 6 min mark?)
- The points at which the build will diverge once i get X information of what my opponent is doing. etc.

Mentality Experience.
Not caring about the outcome. - Whats to worry about? You've practiced, you know what to do. Now, just go do it.

In Game
Get it done. Focus on doing things within the game. - If you make a mistake, don't let that mentality snowball. As in:
- Don't think 'omg omg i'm playing so bad.'.
- Think 'okay, i messed up, what do i do now.' or 'okay, i can't do anyworse than what i'm doing now... lets start from scratch' (which is what i thought at the 8 min mark, in my first game vs Frustration at WCS). -- almost have it as the mentality of... it being a challenge... you gave your opponent a huge advantage (by doing so badly at the start)... now lets see if i can overcome that and win by the end of the game.

Overtime, big game experience will build up. Sooo many games in big tournaments, i'd get raped, and just think... well i fucked that up. Reset my mind, and go back into pregame prep.

Also knowing everyone - no matter HOW good, gets raped badly or plays badly on occasion. Particularly first games of the day also helps.

Re: Beating nervousness.
 

That was extremely insightful, thanks Leg!

Re: Beating nervousness.
 

I used to be a very nervous player too, I couldn't even ladder on SEA once I hit gm 3-4 seasons ago. What changed for me was a different mental approach where even if I lost a game I took a positive from it. I.e green points is +ranking/ego, red points is +skill. The reason for this is even if you lose a game you can watch the replay and find out where you went wrong and fix it. Now that I am no longer "afraid" of losing I'm managing to ladder alot more and my mechanics/confidence are increasing rather nicely!

Also you'll notice I put a slightly negative spin on winning, when I play a game now my mental attitude is to challenge my opponent to try and beat me, in my mind I'm going to play my best game possible and its up to him to be good enough in order to win. I'm never worried about whether I can win or not since losing actually has a more beneficial outcome in this situation with finding flaws in my own play. If I play my best and still lose then that's very exciting as I've now got a very clear area to improve on.

Also its not an nRv thing to get angry when you lose its a pickle thing, I don't really appreciate being lumped into the same category as him.

Re: Beating nervousness.
 

Make sure you have your game plan down 100%. Being nervous comes from not knowing exactly what can happen at what times and fearing you're going to lose, and then you play shit. I used to get nervous at lans or big tournies, you always get that little voice in your head that says "oh but what if hes doing this, or what if i just go all in now i can win!!!". Tell that voice to suck a dick and shut the **** up. Stick to your game plan, know exactly when you need to put down which building and then practice it a thousand times so you go into a rhythm. Whenever I play a tournament game with a build I could do it blind with my eyes closed with 1 hand backwards inverted and upside down, because I know the build so well.

little tricks like having a pre-tournament prep help as well. For example, when i play ladder i always listen to a few songs, so when i play a tourney i have these songs playing too and it helps get me back into a rhythm. Or if you like to drink water to distract you from how nervous you might be, anything really. People all have their little idiosyncrasies that help them get into the rhythm for a big match, and it will be different for everyone, try to find yours.

Re: Beating nervousness.
 

Don't be so mean Bard...

Re: Beating nervousness.
 

Wow, thanks for the advice guys, I'll definitely start using this stuff, and hopefully eventually I can get rid of this nervousness completely, or at least better myself.

Re: Beating nervousness.
 

+1 for the not caring, like not caring about winning for your clan or anything, but not caring about being nervous or how you will perform, i did acting all through school, and would get really nervous b4 shows, but i just learnt to tell myself, i have done the work b4hand and things are gunna go well or bad, and it really helps if you just think about your friends who will still love you no matter what happens. your life will be no worse if you lose =P
in my first lan actually i vomited b4 the game, it was only a for fun tournament but some reason i got really nervous, but i just kept telling myself to have fun and enjoy the game.

Re: Beating nervousness.
 

what they have said

keep playing in tournaments again and again (and again and again and again). nerves don't stay with you forever

Re: Beating nervousness.
 

Well, I can kinda say I've made some progress just from the advice from this blog. I played and won an in-clan tournament tonight, and used some of the ideas and advice you guys had for me, and it definitely helped my nerve issues. Much appreciated everyone!

Re: Beating nervousness.
 

Go Malice! XD

Re: Beating nervousness.
 

Legionnaire lives up to his legendary status with his advise.
Having a plan as Tek Kez mentioned is strong because you can "think less".

Nerves are a power for good and evil. If your hands are shaking from nerves its actually more than likely adrenaline. A wonderfully powerful drug it actually makes you stronger and quicker than normal. Flip side it wears you out quickly it also limits your higher brain functions. SC2 doesnt really require strength (pressing keys harder doesnt make units move quicker no matter how much we want it to,) however enhanced speed is useful once things start happening however nerves is giving this to you too soon. However limiting your higher brain functions is not always a bad thing so long as you have planned for it. If you have a set plan in motion and know that you shouldnt "mix it up" mid game if your adrenaline is up because you are likely to hit unpracticed territory which you should be trying to avoid. Pro gamers use memory more than problem solving in a game. If you find you need more mid game strats or to work out how to beat a build work on them between comps or games not in the middle of one.

The second downside of adrenaline is that it wears you out quickly. Keep in mind your adrenaline is up at the start of a game from nervousness as legionnaire said a pre game prep is good at helping limit this, something as simple as taking 3 deep breaths in the lobby or when the count down starts can be enough. Also knowing your build orders for the first few minutes as solid as a rock is good for getting you into the swing of things. Know when and where your going to scout every game before its started. Avoids panic moments near the start of the games which will play on nerves.

With this in mind well attending LAN events try to keep off the energy drinks, water is your friend. If you do drink an energy drink sip dont gulp you want a plateau of caffeine not a massive spike. Be sure to eat as well as you are able, having planned snacks is better than getting something full of sugar when you are past needing something.

The final greatest tactic for "beating" nerves knowing that you have them. Sometimes all it takes is stopping and asking yourself if you are being reasonable with your "fear".