Ever have lack of confidence?

[Bugaboo]

I'd like to know how you handle it at a competition when your self-confidence begins sliding away.

Recite mantras? Remember a favorite book? Buy off your opponent? Walk away? Pretend you're someone else? ...

[Peach]

It's usually a signal to me that I need to eat something. Hunger masquerades as lack of confidence with me.

[Shadow Fencer]

I don't know if it's lack of confidence or the case of butterflies in my situation.

I try to slow down my breathing; if I feel I'm hyperventilating when I get on the piste.

Perhaps this helps me to retain just a little more C02 if I've been hyperventilating. This is the same idea of having someone breathe in and out of a paper bag if they're having an anxiety attack.



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I live to fence and fence to live!!

[fencingfoolfour]

i never really have that problem

---my main problem is overconfidence.................i often am beat by fencers i think are a disgrace to the sport....but looking back on it realize that they had a decent amount of skill

[darius]

During the period breaks, if I'm down, I sing the Moxy Fruvous song, "Kick in the A-s".

You know, the one that goes:
"I dispense justice with the tip of my boot,
Kick in the *** , kick in the ***
It's got a logic that you just can't refute,
Kick in the *** , kick in the *** ..."

darius

[Oor Wullie]

I usually deal with lack of confidence by falling to pieces and losing, thus making my lack of confidence irrelevant as I am no longer in the competition.

This is a really bad one for me, as twice this year I have lost DE fights very badly because I gave up before I got on the piste (one of them was worth a medal in the Scottish Championships), telling myself the other guy was much better than me. Of course, with this attitude, I had no chance, when in reality the other guys were better than me, but should have had a much harder fight. I don't know how to fix this yet...

[Peach]

Oor Wullie says it for me. I deal with lack of confidence by acting like a schmuck in my final bout <sigh>. I blame the equipment, argue with the referee, and whine.

Bah.

[chilli]

I think everyone gets a bit rattled from time to time. If I find that I am losing confidence before I go down psyche out road, I think about what I am doing it for. The competition is for me and no one else. What are they gonna do if I lose, fire me? So go into it thinking, I am going to make this really tough fencer work for every touch and learn from it.
And never ever whine, gets you nothing.

[big poppa]

These work for me:

1.I may get beaten, but tomorrow is another day and you will get yours.
2. From Big touble in Little China " When that big green monster in beating on your favorite head , look him in the eye and tell him the check is in the mail pal"( a variation on #1).

3. Never let the B----d win!

4.I may lose, but you will never want to meet me again, ever!

5. " For this I was born"Norman Mailer from the movie When we were Kings. this is the one I use the most. Win or lose fencing is one of things I was born to do. to be on the strip, to face the difficult, the impossible and win or break the body of my oponent is anyone as lucky as I. Hell no!

[Zelda]

Oh geez, I have these. What do I do? Generally I swear at myself and call myself a disgrace.... then I grit my teeth, glare at my opponent and fence on. Hey I'm stubborn, I cant help that!

[Porphyre]

I've only fenced in one tournament, and I did very well, so I didn't lose confidence. I did get nervous on a few occasions. It was kind of strange, I just stepped back, took a few extra breaths before telling the director I was ready, then scored the next touch!

-Porphyre!!

[Bugaboo]

Oy.
I choked this weekend, and choked badly. I'm certain that I probably looked somewhat like a bad sport, too. I can forgive myself the failed performance now, but getting angry at myself is a secondary esteem-based judgment problem that also needs to be eliminated.

Anyway, I beat this kid 5-1 in the early pools, no problem. I've played with him before at the salle. Nice guy with potential, still struggling with his skills. Then I draw him in the D.E. Lucky tableau, right?

Something clicked out of gear in my brain, though. Maybe it was that my brother was finally attending one of my competitions for the first time. Or that my toe had been crushed by a clumsy lunger in my last seeding pool match (bloody sock!). Or most likely I simply tried to overcompensate by judging the kid as "easy," and therefore I tried to be too aggressive.

Whatever the problem(s), after his first two touches, I self-destructed. Tense, bad arm position, too many parries, slow reactions, dangerous distance ... and worst of all, self-recriminations. Calling yourself "stupid" is about the worst thing you can do to yourself. And a load of Shouldas, too -- "You shoulda done that," "You shoulda been ahead by now," etc.

Yeesh.
I hate painful learning experiences. Why can't this be easy?

Oh well. I'm improving just the same -- A year ago, I would have been beating myself up for days at a time. Now I've gotten it down to about 12 hours.

[Mergs]

Bugaboo,

Can relate. Last two tourneys, self destructed against two MUCH younger, not so much better, though, lefties.

Sigh. Some days chicken salad, some days chicken sh**. Who is it that signs "Get knocked down seven times, get up eight."? Great philosophy.

Hang tough.

[Peach]

And never ever whine, gets you nothing.

People assume whining is done in order to get things. No, whining is an art form, practiced for its own sake. Anybody in the whining habit knows they never gets ANYthing extra, in fact people just get p****d off at you (though not nearly as annoyed as they do when you cry), but does that deter us from the noble pursuit of our skill? Nah.



[This message has been edited by Peach (edited 03-26-2001).]

[Peach]

I sympathize, emphathize, and find it entirely too familiar. This weekend, I didn't choke - I won one tournament and placed second in the second one of the day, but I was having equipment problems in the last bout and no matter HOW much I told myself not to be an *** I ended up complaining loudly and making an idiot of myself. I am SO tired of that. And the kid who beat me in the second tournament had beaten me twice before that day and deserved his win, so I felt horrible about being such an idiot. GNRF. And I have a really hard time getting the self-recriminations down to twelve hours. OH well.

Originally posted by Bugaboo:
Oy.
I choked this weekend, and choked badly. I'm certain that I probably looked somewhat like a bad sport, too. I can forgive myself the failed performance now, but getting angry at myself is a secondary esteem-based judgment problem that also needs to be eliminated.
. . . <snip>
I hate painful learning experiences. Why can't this be easy?

Oh well. I'm improving just the same -- A year ago, I would have been beating myself up for days at a time. Now I've gotten it down to about 12 hours.

[big poppa]

Hey Bug: Remenber" the check is in the mail pal"The more you compete the more comfortable you will become. don't beat up on yourself, beat up on the other guy. Keep your powder dry and your---- hard, the world will turn for the better. go get em!

[Gav]

What can I say guys? We all choke at some point. I sympathise with you all. I'm currently in a slump myself so I took off for a bit of a holiday to try and clear the air a bit. I'll see how I feel tommorrow (1st day back in a week) and just take it from there.

I find it helps to not take your outside stresses (e.g. work) onto the piste. If you are calm and focused you'll definetly do better.

Oh! and OOR WULLIE self distructed at the Scottish Open (Epee) as well!

[arcon]

NO.

[Oor Wullie]

Oh no I never! Sorry Gav, you must have me mixed up with someone else. I didn't fence Epee at the Scottish this year; generally, I don't fence Epee at all, although I will be making an appearance in the weapon at the Glasgow Open this year. Expect me to self-destruct, particularly as I am not one of those foilists who can convert his broken time attacks to Epee.

Observe me launch a long, fast attack with a bent arm, only to be stopped by a thumping blow on my arm. Watch me repeat this fifteen times without learning my lesson!

Are you coming through to the Glasgow Open?

[mango fever]

self doubt? we all have some self doubt from time to time in every endeavor. anyone who doesn't question their abilities once in a while is called a nut. rapid self assessment is probably what we need to be able to do in fencing, because we need to be able to recover quickly.