During my coaching sessions, one thing I’ve heard from my players is that they suffer from tourney nerves. Your nerves often come from having to play with something on the line. You’re no longer doing friendlies or practice sets. Now you’re back in the fray and must hold yourself accountable for your play in an official set.
All top players go through tourney nerves. Fatality felt his own performance was lackluster upon 4o4 reopening offline tournaments in Georgia. Even prominent Bowser main, Leon, has gone through times of self-doubt. It doesn’t matter what level player you are. You could be entering your first tournament, you could be on your way to the top, or you could even be a PGR player.
I use these as examples that even top players have their bad days. Everyone does. There is no magical level of perfection among the best players. Social media sometimes likes to gas them up like literal gods even though they’re human. As such, people become surprised to see them fall while the player has put a ton of pressure on themselves.
Likewise, at whatever level you play at, you’re not bad because you’re doubting yourself. It’s your job to hold yourself accountable, not your critics’ job, and not that negative voice in your head. You’re the one who puts in the work.
Holding the L.
If you suffered a hard loss, the best advice I can give is to accept it for what it is. You choked in a set. You lost to a player you’ve beaten many times before. You tried a secondary counterpick in bracket and lost. There are plenty of justifiable reasons for your loss but it’s your job to improve on it for next time.
However, that doesn’t mean a hard loss is the end. You lost in one event out of many that you could attend in the future. It doesn’t mean there’s something inherently wrong with yourself, either. Everyone gets outplayed including top players. Whether it was a bad day, a loss due to a misinput, or getting downloaded by your opponent, there are always ways to address your shortcomings.
It’s your responsibility to bounce back and try again. Watch a replay VOD of the match you lost and take notes on your mistakes and what to improve. Consult a coach on Metafy and let a higher-level player examine your play and give you advice that will surely boost your performance. But don’t kick yourself repeatedly and make personal attacks at yourself because you lost.
Accept that loss for what it is and move on. You’re not complacent because you care that you lost. Sometimes you might have hit a wall and need a new method, or direction, to improve.
Adopting a Stronger Mentality.
Getting good at tournaments requires poise and self-confidence. It could take any number of training sessions and trips to tournaments before you build both to greater heights. Progress requires consistency and the willingness to learn. In battle, you need the heart to persevere while losing, the guts to stand against your opponent, and the mind to adapt while staying aware at all times.
Accepting your defeat and shortcomings gives you the presence of mind to accept improvement. Kicking yourself over a loss and harshly criticizing yourself leads to self-doubt. This could cause you to continue playing with a defeatist mentality or even quitting the game altogether. The former might set you up with thoughts like, “well, he’s the better player so I guess I’m supposed to lose.” This reality you create will not help you improve and it discards the responsibility of improving as a competitor.
Your job is to go into bracket and do your best. Everyone will lose except for one player. Your job outside of that is to improve, train, and remind yourself that your effort is worth the hobby and competition that you enjoy. The rest sorts itself out. It’s not about thinking you’re a Saiyan legend who deserves to be at the top because you see yourself there. Likewise, it’s not about thinking the gods have fated you to forever be a lackluster player.
These are some of the thoughts I have dealt with in the past while climbing my way up in Smash. Your thoughts might manifest differently but you’ll have your highs and lows and likely metaphors to describe them with.
Instead of putting yourself through that torment, use this entry to reflect on your mentality through competition and how you can better improve your game and your mindset. Remember to learn smarter, don’t just train harder. But above all else, accept the ebbs and flows of victory and defeat and keep making progress!
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