I’ll comment on ‘motivational self talk’ at the end of another long winded post!!! apologies in advance!!
But this topic is also to do with your ‘state of mind’ which is a pretty large topic!,
I find I have good days, bad days, very bad days and very good days!!! But doesn’t everyone !!!!???
some times it’s effortless ( less often/rarely ) play is easy, sometimes it can be like it’s the 1st time you’ve held a bat!!!! ( less often/rarely).
Most of the time it’s average, normal, you play ok, (or what you consider as ok) and depending on whether you win or lose a match can make you feel or think that it was a good or bad day!!!
EXPECTATIONS
If you lose a match to someone that you have beaten a couple of times before, let’s say the previous scores in the 2 matches were 11-8, 11-9, 11 -8 (3-0) & 10-12, 11-4, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7 (3-2) is it a bad day losing the 3rd match? Because you think ‘hey you normally beat this person, what’s wrong?’ Your expectation is that you are going to win!!
But do you remember the previous games properly?? It’s likely your brain just registers and remembers win / lose, not necessarily that in the 1st match the 3 zip score line was really not reflective of how tough the game actually was!!! Close rallies, the ‘net/edge’ tally could have been a couple of points in your favour.
The 2nd match score is really a more realistic one!! The 1st game could have gone either way!!
Now the 3rd match you lose 6-11, 6-11, 4-11 so this sort of score you class as ‘a bad day’ but it’s likely that you played to your average level of play. It may well be that your opponent had one of those rarer ‘very good’ days, an effortless victory!!
So it’s important to try and be ‘grounded’ and reflect correctly. Don’t ‘expect’ to win or be ‘over confident’ this can lead to complacency.
Self motivational talk during a match (and practice!!)
Surely EVERYONE uses this!!!
It helps many people, every time a point is won a ‘YES’ or ‘CHO’ or fist pump can insert a positive attitude mentally. Telling yourself you are playing well and can win the next point. All this stuff is good!!
As others have said try and avoid negative thoughts. But as OSP says for some berating themselves vocally does the trick!!
Also a lot of top sportspersons are just plain and simple ‘shit scared of losing’ !!! This really fires them up!!!!
We generally hold to the idea that ‘practice makes perfect’ so use motivational self talk during practice as well !!!
Table Tennis is a very fast game, so practice visualisation of what you are going to do in between points, learn to get this done quickly and clearly, then clear your mind, concentrate and execute. Try and make this a part of the ‘in between points’ routine. It doesn’t have to be a full 20 shot rally!! Perhaps a ‘switch play block’ because you have won a couple of points previously with that shot.
All this is easily said !!! harder to do, because someone at the other end of the table maybe doing exactly the same!!!
State of mind has more than most people think it does in achieving results.
one season, 1st half I had a 70% win average, 2nd half 33%. And lost many of those matches badly. What was the difference ??
2nd half there was a lot of negative stuff going on in my personal life, even though I really wanted to play and play well, my head just wasn’t geared up properly, it’s hard to explain!!! probably a subconscious thing!!! But my match performance suffered!!!