Doing as same as practice in the game

sina abolhoseini Asked 14 years ago

Hi,

first of all sorry for my poor english.

I'm a semi-pro player. I know the playing very well. I've been practicing for 4-5 years and I learned everything. I am practicing very well with low mistakes. The problems start when I am playing a game, I can't play well comparing to my practice. I don't know what should I do to make my practice and game so close and do as well as my practice in my games... Can you please guide me?

Thanks

Alois Rosario Answered 14 years ago

Hi Sina,

There are a couple of things to think about first.  Remember that everyone gets nervous.  So if you are feeeling nervous that is normal.

Secondly find ways to deal with that feeling.  There are several things you can do.  A simple thing like taking a long deep breath when you are starting to feel nervous can calm you down a little.

Also remember that you are working at playing good Table Tennis.  If your focus is only on winning then you will find yourself getting tighter.

Try to recognise the feelings in your body when you are starting to get nervous.  These could include, shallow breathing, tightness in the shoulders, legs feeling wobbly and that they don't want to move, a funny feelign in your stomach.  When you can recognise these feelings you can start to do something about them.

Take a few seconds between points when you feel like this to reassure yourself and calm yourself down.

Also take a look at the Mental Preparation questions in Ask the Coach.  There  may be some more ideas in there for you.

We are plannig a DVD on Mental Preparation in the future.