Nerves in tournament

I recently played a tournment in which i got very nervous, the guy i played was city number 4, i played an awesome game but only 60% of the game, all games on deuce, however i was jittery, i had energy shots and have been having them for 2 years.. 2  months ago i played a tournment in which i was fasting (ramadan fasting for muslims) and had faster from dawn to sunset since the last 13 days and this day i was fasting too... i played supremely with no jitters or fears, what i wanted to ask was, that is it possible that i was detoxyfied from cafine and that is why i played with no fear, and does caffine make you nervous? did you guys have caffine before/during tournments? caffine helps me practice for long hours but in tournments makes me very nervous...

thanks

bean

Hi Bean,

I personally don't have any caffeine.  I know when I used to it would make me jittery so I can't imagine trying to play with it in me.

I think though that what happened with you was probably that because of your fasting you may have had less energy.  When we are sick this sometimes happens as well.  We go back to basics and start to focus on the things that really matter. We don't have as much energy to worry about things that might happen which is often what nerves are.

I remember on of the best tournaments I played when I was a lot younger was after a long training camp when I was so tired I could hardly stay awake.  I played in a really relaxed way and had some great results.

I think if you can take something out of the experience like how you were feeling when you played that well.  You probably had some relaxed feelings.  See if you can replicate that feeling when you play next time.  This is not easy but now that you have felt it, you have something to reach for.