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Snx.FigJig · Thu, 6th-Sep-2012, 10:24 PM

Did you get nervous because your cannons didnt work?

Malice · Thu, 6th-Sep-2012, 10:27 PM

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

FsDronesInJail · Thu, 6th-Sep-2012, 11:27 PM

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

)

RicocheT · Thu, 6th-Sep-2012, 11:54 PM

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!

iM SundeR · Fri, 7th-Sep-2012, 12:18 AM

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.

ProAnnn · Fri, 7th-Sep-2012, 12:23 AM

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.

Legionnaire · Fri, 7th-Sep-2012, 11:39 AM

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.

AxSGRiM · Fri, 7th-Sep-2012, 12:02 PM

That was extremely insightful, thanks Leg!

x5_Bard · Fri, 7th-Sep-2012, 12:32 PM

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.

SLCN.Kez · Fri, 7th-Sep-2012, 12:42 PM

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.

Snx.FigJig · Fri, 7th-Sep-2012, 2:28 PM

Don't be so mean Bard...

Malice · Fri, 7th-Sep-2012, 3:21 PM

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.

mirth · Fri, 7th-Sep-2012, 4:47 PM

+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.

xGKingdelete · Fri, 7th-Sep-2012, 5:30 PM

what they have said

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

Malice · Sat, 8th-Sep-2012, 12:53 AM

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!