Getting in the "Zone", or how to calm the hell dow

[jester]

Techniques I've learned from various places.

1) Dehumanize the opponent. Do not carry this to excessive levels or it will be bad. But you don't care about the name, rank, or whatever of your opponent. S/he's just a collection of openings and tendencies that you are going to exploit in order to put stick to helm. Treat every fight with a duke as a fight with a newbie and every fight with a newbie as a fight with a duke; fight your best in all of them and take joy in the doing.
2) Break the tournament and the fight down into small chunks and focus on executing each chunk perfectly. You shouldn't be thinking about the next fight or anything more than perfectly executing the current technique. Do a perfect flat snap and move on to perfectly execute the next technique.
3) Develop a relaxation routine that you use habitually. Ideally this routine should include physical cues which you can use to help your mind fall into the proper place. Learn to use your relaxation routine while you have an elevated heart rate.

[Vlasta]

I now that I have to allow myself time beforehand to prepare, but when you get shaken, how do you recover? Is it rude for me to thank people for advice, but ask that they please hold it till after the tournament, or should I just make note of the advice and try to forget about it until I can practise it? How do I stop caring about losing and focus on winning?

I find that advice on new techniques right before a tournament is usually useless to me. I will not have time to encorporate it into my fighting. That kind of thing I'd just say thank you and either forget about it or file it away as an interesting idea for later. The only thing that ever helps me is if someone says "your opponent likes off side shots" or "when he throws X he tends to open up at Y". Those I can watch for and see if I can take advantage of them during a fight. But, as I have told the newbie I'm training, when they say lay on don't think, fight!

As for not caring about winning or losing...hmmm. That's a whole book in itself. You might want to take a look around on line for the essay "On Winning" by Sir Sten Halvorsson, KSCA. Its the best one I know of on the subject. In essence it says that winning is a happy accident and should never be the actual goal. You are, of course, going to fight your best, but the actual outcome is not what is important.

Vlasta

[AlvarCadiz]

Sten's essay


http://www.chronique.com/Library/Fighting/winning.htm

Alvar

[Konrad]

Here's a couple of things that I do:

1. Inspect and repair your equipment prior to any tournament. Taking a few minutes to check straps, buckles and ties should be part of your pre-event preparation. Reducing the chance that blown equipment will disrupt your mental state goes a long way towards reducing distractions on tournament day. Utilizing duct tape to hold your armour together is writ out.

2. Take them one at at time. No looking ahead and no looking back, the only person you have to worry about is right across the eric. Two men enter one man leave.

3. 'On any Sunday.' Always know that whenever you take the field you've got a chance. People get lucky, people get over confident, people get lazy, and Dukes get killed. Make the most of any opportunity and never take the field thinking that you don't have a chance.

4. Never fight down (or up) to your opponent. Always give your best fight to your oppponent no matter their rank or station. I would rather get one shotted by somebody vastly superior to myself then toyed with for five minutes. People only have control over you if you allow it to happen. Fight your fight, not theirs.

5. Most importantly: NO EXPECTATIONS VICTORY OR DEFEAT! The Duke that you are fighting might be nursing an injury or even just have to take a piss. For all you know the newbie that you smoked in the last tournament has been training day and night 'Rocky Style' to come back to kick your ass. Expectations lead to disappointment, just relax and be ready for anything.


Konrad
Artemisia

[es02]

1) I new that a lot of very skilled knights and dukes, whom I respect, were watching and I wanted to impress them.
2) Alot of people were offering me very fine advice, but when I'm fighting I can't focus when I'm constantly adjusting to try and incorporate new techniques.
3) I had no time beforehand to mentally prepare.
4) I was wearing a few pieces of someone elses armour, having forgotten some things of mine.
5) Just plain not wanting to lose, and worrying about it.

1) I find that I fight best when I've told myself I am going to lose. I can then make peace with myself and my ego and go out onto the field to play hard and have fun. Putting on a show for those around me is just as important as the winning/losing.

2) I can't really comment on this as the advice I tend to be given is as I'm walking off the field and is generally along the lines of "Hey Tom... Learn to parry!" But as pretty much everyone else has said, thank them and ask them to get back to you after the fight so they can explain it in detail and you'll have time to absorb the information better.

3) Again, as has been said you have hours beforehand to prepare. That said, I personally don't. I just try and block out the public and concentrate on the field and the fight at hand. Keep breathing and let your sword do the rest

4) Never good I'm fighting in 2nd hand harness and its been a bugger to get it all moving correctly, I imagine I'd be similar for you (only you don't have the luxury of modifying it).

5) See 1

[HauoctheWild]

Well, I fought in little tournement this past weekend, and I fought like crap. I can fight better, and those that fight me regularly know so. The problem, I was nervous as hell. I couldn't get calm and in the "zone" so to speak. There were many reasons:

1) I new that a lot of very skilled knights and dukes, whom I respect, were watching and I wanted to impress them.
2) Alot of people were offering me very fine advice, but when I'm fighting I can't focus when I'm constantly adjusting to try and incorporate new techniques.
3) I had no time beforehand to mentally prepare.
4) I was wearing a few pieces of someone elses armour, having forgotten some things of mine.
5) Just plain not wanting to lose, and worrying about it.

These are reasons, not excuses for my poor performance. In the end it was my fault. But, I ask, what methods do others here use to get in the "zone"? I now that I have to allow myself time beforehand to prepare, but when you get shaken, how do you recover? Is it rude for me to thank people for advice, but ask that they please hold it till after the tournament, or should I just make note of the advice and try to forget about it until I can practise it? How do I stop caring about losing and focus on winning?

For me it isn't a matter of getting "into the zone." Often it's a matter of getting my head out of the game enough to let my skill and experience take over. It's not as easy as it sounds. My solution has been a very simple one...I sing to myself. It started just before my best performance in a crown tournament. I don't look at the list tree. I don't allow anyone to tell me what round we're in (I'll know where we are when the lists get bigger and/or when there's only 4 of us left.) When I start thinking about the tournament, I start singing a song to myself (at the crown in my example it was AC/DC's Thunderstruck...I can't use that one anymore since it reminds me of the day I placed 2nd which makes me ask myself "and where are we placing today???" which kills the whole effort at mushin.) As for impressing people, go be yourself. You will either impress them or you won't. Freezing won't help you at all. It's good to realize that you cannot change your game significantly in the middle of a tournament. Keep what they offer in mind at your next practice. No time to prepare...you had it, you just didn't realize it. Before I go to a tournament, I take a quick inventory of my stuff to verify that all of it is there. It's a good practice to start. Also make any repairs before the event. If something looks worn, but "should hold for another day," fix it now because it won't hold for that day. Lastly, nobody wants to lose, but if you enter the tournament and fight your heart out honorably, you've never lost. You might not go home with the prize, but you have not lost. Prowess and success come from the sweat of your practice efforts.

Good luck and have fun,

Havoc

[mordreth]

Practice diligently
study intently
treat the fights you are having as you start on the path as training

It comes with time, people are bringing up Musashi so
The Way is in Training

"Zen in the Martial Arts" is worth reading if you haven't run across it

http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Martial-Arts- ... 0553275593

[Rhyos]

My mind tends to jump all over the place when I'm fighting live steel. I'm one of the worse-off fighters in my Order, but I still give it my all. A typical fight goes like this:

First, my mind flies a mile a minute during the fight buildup. The walk to the field, the stories from the herald to the crowd, the last grip-checks on shield and sword.

When the opponent comes into view on the other side, I tend to be completely silent unless there's some cue for me to do something macho/funny before the fight. The comedy bits we do before the fight are usually standard fare, and really depend on how comfortable the fighter is. I usually stand there with my eyes shut and breathe slow and deep to center myself while my mind screams expletives at itself over just how bad an idea this is oh god what are you thinking this guy's been doing this for years longer than you he broke two weapons over your head last time crap crap crap you need to get serious right freakin' now.

Soon, the final ready call is asked. By now, I'm nearly centered, so my mouth stays shut and I answer with either a strike to my own head or shield.

Next is the call to salute. By now, there are only 4 things in my world outside of my own body. My opponent, the herald, my Lady, and silence. Never mind that the crowd is cheering either myself or my opponent, never mind that most events are generally in noisy areas. My breath slows, a flick of the wrist brings the blade to my face, then pointed toward my Lady, and then to the ready.

In the 2 seconds between "Salute" and "Defend Yourselves", there is absolutely nothing. No heartbeat, no sound, no breath, nothing.

Once the fight begins, all that goes through my mind are impulses. Though they don't even register in word form, they go along the lines of "shield front 45 degrees right arm up cross head shield blocked sidestep left drop to knee swing thigh sword blocked feint shield right push off left leg passet right thr-*thunk*"

Immediately after the hit, the herald and line judges yell "HOLD!" in unison, and everything snaps back. We move back to our corners, and the centering process restarts in the 10 seconds between hold and "Lay on".

It took me a while to be able to put out extraneous thoughts and the pressure of winning versus losing out of my head. If it's a fight within the Order, I tend to freeze and stutter and all of that, because at that point, the fight is for pride and posture. When it's in front of crowds cheering, it comes down to the matter of a job to get done. The more serious we are about the fights, the better it is for those watching it. The fight ceases to be about us, and is about the crowd watching. The best fight I ever had, and coincidentally the most dramatic, was the one where I cared not about who won or lost, just that I fought my best. Then again, this was against my sponsoring knight.

Big long ramble aside, try deep breathing and rather than worry about the circumstances of the fight, worry about the fight itself.