Any tips on how to stay calm for tournaments?

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Do a few years in the Army, preferably in an Airborne unit that gets deployed a lot... or get locked up in prison for a spell... either experience will assist one to cope with fear in a situation that is nowhere near life threatening.

So, what were you in for?
 
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I was in for being extremely economically destitute and not willing to struggle 4 yrs to accumulate a quarter million USD debt and struggle another few decades to pay it off. The Army promised a GI Bill and I believed it, but essentially, it would only pay for 3 weeks of a university) I stayed in again, because of the persuasion of a WIFE, then for another consecutive sentence because of a DAUGHTER to make 30 yrs alltogether.

LESSON: Young PEOPLE, you still have time !!

Of course, I could have taken the easy way, picked up the Monoploly card (or landed on the proper space by the nice odds) and GO STRAIGHT TO JAIL... of course, without the assistance and backup of a GET OUT OF JAIL FREE card.
 
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I was in for being extremely economically destitute and not willing to struggle 4 yrs to accumulate a quarter million USD debt and struggle another few decades to pay it off.

Of course, I could have taken the easy way, picked up the Monoploly card (or landed on the proper space by the nice odds) and GO STRAIGHT TO JAIL... of course, without the assistance and backup of a GET OUT OF JAIL FREE card.

So many layers to this and the comedy and tragedy of how many people are in that boat.
 
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I was in for being extremely economically destitute and not willing to struggle 4 yrs to accumulate a quarter million USD debt and struggle another few decades to pay it off. The Army promised a GI Bill and I believed it, but essentially, it would only pay for 3 weeks of a university) I stayed in again, because of the persuasion of a WIFE.

LESSON: Young PEOPLE, you still have time !!

Of course, I could have taken the easy way, picked up the Monoploly card (or landed on the proper space by the nice odds) and GO STRAIGHT TO JAIL... of course, without the assistance and backup of a GET OUT OF JAIL FREE card.

I was asking about the prison spell, but thanks! Good lesson here too.

Lesson 2: Reflect on real life choices and realize that table tennis is just a game. If shit hits the fan; "straight to jail" offers free board and 3 meals a day.
 
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Prisoners have more rights than the Sergeants !!

one time, one of our Soldiers stole a 2000 gallon diesel fuel truck from Texas, and attempted to drive it to his mother's residence in Washington state... which was about a 2000 mile drive. Since that tank was full, and the truck gets about 3-4 miles per gallon, he had enough fuel to reach his objective. He made quick time by picking up hitch hikers and letting them do the driving while he napped.

However, he got careless as he got close to mom's house... he droive the 30 ton behemoth painted desert sand 50 MPH through a town with a 25 MPH speed limit and got the attention of a local police... he almost talked his way out of the ticket, but when the officer saw the .45 sitting on to of the "Doghouse" (the center space between driver and passenger seats)… it got REAL... real quick. Dude was only 10 miles from mom and with such a dense forest, no way to find that truck for years.

Dude got transferred in handcuff back to Ft Hood Texas, and thrown in pre-trial detention. Since such a prisoner is not yet guilty, he has more rights than me. EVERY TIME that joker wanted out, for ANY REASON, like say to mail $10 to his wife, ME, YUP, Der_Echte had to be on 24 hour STAND-BY. I had 30 MIUNUTES to haul azz to the motor pool, check out a HUMMWV, and get to the Military Police Station or I would be in violation and be tossed in there...

Dude did this "get out of Jail FREE' crap EVERY DAMN Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday like friggin' CLOCKWORK !!!

Dude was in pre-trial for 6 months and it went on like this without stop... so this dude, who so richly deserved his time in jail, had me running like crazy living next to staff duty away from family with another unlucky junior Soldier for months.
 
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Of course, I was gunna FB message Carl about my posts, but I should have known Carl is still on duty at Midnight East Coast time.

Too bad, as I was gunna suggest Carl drink sum Orange Juice while he read my posts.

Too bad, since it has been a while since Carl ingested raw orange Juice into his lungs to utterly burn them, then eject the mess back through his nose to fall on his precious keyboard.

Oh well, there is always tomorrow, or next hour.
 
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Of course, I was gunna FB message Carl about my posts, but I should have known Carl is still on duty at Midnight East Coast time.

Too bad, as I was gunna suggest Carl drink sum Orange Juice while he read my posts.

Too bad, since it has been a while since Carl ingested raw orange Juice into his lungs to utterly burn them, then eject the mess back through his nose to fall on his precious keyboard.

Oh well, there is always tomorrow, or next hour.

This time it was apple juice which doesn't burn as much.

And my guess is, in the military, without anyone else realizing it, Der was sort of running things behind the scenes.
 
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