Improving mental ability

I was playing in a club competition today and my mental status was really bad.

I was scared nervous and all the other crap that makes you play badly.

Anyone know how to conquer fears and nervousness? Apart from the obvious beathe in a out stuff...

Thanks a bunch

[I'll be needing this for next week's comp ^^]

i agree with caigichaduoc. Also good practice will do wonders for you game/mental game. If you can't perform a shot during practice, you won't be able to do it in a real game.

Totoro wrote: I was playing in a club competition today and my mental status was really bad. I was scared nervous and all the other crap that makes you play badly. Anyone know how to conquer fears and nervousness? Apart from the obvious beathe in a out stuff... Thanks a bunch [I'll be needing this for next week's comp ^^]

Ok alot of pros use this technique both in tennis and in table tennis. (trust me i know this hehe)

Follow this exactly or it won't work!!!

Before the game think of a time when you achieved something great, like kissing a girl for the first time, graduating, passing your driving exam etc, now focus on that feeling of confidence and certainty and magnify it 10 times until it is unbearably bright in your minds eye.

Now think of a gesture you can do e.g pumping your chest with your arm , or some kind of personal power move you can associate with that feeling of immense confidence and certainty.

Now every time you are in doubt in a game, do your power move and it will snap you back into that state you were in before!

Totoro wrote: I was playing in a club competition today and my mental status was really bad. I was scared nervous and all the other crap that makes you play badly. Anyone know how to conquer fears and nervousness? Apart from the obvious beathe in a out stuff... Thanks a bunch [I'll be needing this for next week's comp ^^]

This is a major problem and there are long-term and short-term solutions.

Long-term solutions are
  - getting better with a lot of practice
  - getting calmer by playing more competitions
  - getting more relaxed by learning yoga or other ways to control your mood and mental toughness

Short-term solutions are
  - quick relaxation techniques (again, from yoga or other such theories)
  - drinking some coffee helps sometimes
  - listening to some music
  - recalling some standard TT techniques you learned and implementing them even if you don't feel like it
  - trying to convince yourself not to care about the result. That does not mean however that you just smash everything around you... you still need to keep your head cool

Have a look at the Training Video library on TableTennisDB.com:

http://www.tabletennisdb.com/videos/category.php?tag=training

They're categorized by the type of stroke.

umm really all these tips are good, but there one simple thing you have to realize

who cares if you do good or bad, its not like youre playing a world championship match, in fact, youre just playing a simple match in your club, just hit every ball youre supposed to, its not like your a professional player or somethin.........

Usually if you don't think about it then you play better...thats what I find anyways...

Ranger-man wrote: I know this sounds silly, but I lift weights, so before a game, I flex my muscles, as in not pose, just tighten them so they bulge, and it shows, and I flex my pecs, they jump. It gives me a feeling of power over my opponent. And, I forget about winning or losing, or what the score is, I concentrate on his game and mine and on each ball individually. And I never, ever go on the defensive just because I am losing. If there is a ball to be killed, I will kill it.

Maybe I'll try that...someday...lol...well
@Ranger-man...are you actually that buff?