Handling fear and anxiety, controlling emotions, decision making, diet, and the attitudes that separate winners from losers.
PSYCHOLOGY
Fear
I have read that psychology dictionaries define fear as a negative emotional state, the result of a reaction to the perception, assessment and consciousness of defeat. Sometimes players can also develop a negative attitude toward performing and themselves. The effects of fear are tension, helplessness,
Self-control.
There can also be some physical changes like rapid breathing, palpitations, turning red or pale, sweating or chills stomach aches or shaking.
Overcoming anxiety
Anxiety is a normal psychological state but it can be detrimental to performance and can result in personality changes. Religious acts, ceremonies or ritual acts are ancient anti-anxiety drugs. I strongly discourage using drugs independently to combat fear. Their use indeed produces temporary results but often accompanied by unpleasant side effects and after effects. To overcome anxiety you can relax during the game by taking deep breaths when your opponent is playing. Some players chew chewing gum to release tension. The methods may be different for every individual. I suggest if your opponent is too strong then think that even if you lose no one is going to say anything to you and therefore you should play your natural game without fear and who knows you can beat your opponent and get praise from the spectators. If you are a champion then you should think that you should play like a champion with killer instinct but not with overconfidence
Controlling motivation before competition
The players’ psychological state is heavily governed by his goal and its importance. This importance has its limits. When these limits are exceeded, the positive influence of this importance on emotional excitation will be reversed and it will become a psychological burden. This is common in every
sport, carrom is no exception because the players’ entire mind and energies are concentrated excessively on mastering the task, and the result can be excessive stimulation. Those determined to do something at any cost may hinder their chances of success. The remedy is to think of just about the match you are going to play and don’t think about the entire tournament. After winning the first round think about the second round then third and so on. So the psychological burden will be only of one match and not of the tournament.
Controlling emotions
Unfavourable psychological states, for example, a state of excessive self- confidence or a major anticipation of failure, interfere with or even overwhelm a state of optimal psychological readiness which was developed over a long term or which was present at a few days before competition. Players must master the methods that can assist them in preventing or resisting situation- changing influences. It is very difficult to overcome a negative state once it is present. The complete mastery of sports techniques and tactics as well as overall physical preparation, will only culminate in good results when a player is able to regulate his actual psychological state to control extreme psychological stress both before and during competition. One of the most elementary ways of influencing and controlling psychological states is to divert your attention and thoughts from competitive activity that is taking place. This can be achieved by doing the activities you like doing best before the beginning of the competition. You can do such activities as chess, knitting, drawing, music, and others as per your likings. Many players do not put down an exciting book until five minutes before they are called for the match by the chief Referee. They leave only enough time to prepare for the rigorous competition. It is tremendously important to pay no attention to the storms of human passions. Improve technical preparation by means of imagining in minute detail the execution of specific movement.
Mental Practice
Improve tactical preparation for various competitive situations. Optimize psychological state by means of commands to relax or to step up activity.
Decision Making
You should learn the art of decision making. Decision making is a very powerful tool for any player to achieve success. For example a player has to decide with what strategy he/she should play with different players. Many times players take wrong decisions for making a move and only after defeat realize that they had taken wrong decision. Sometimes there is an option of selecting a stroke in a particular position, for example if a coin is on the middle of the opposite base lines you have option of selecting a stroke called cut or double. You should know what stroke the situation demands. Cut of course is a better option in this case. If you try to play double and you miss it there are chances of the coin remaining on the rebound position and will be difficult for the next stroke. But if opponent’s coin is nearby your base pocket about half an inch away from the pocket then you should go for the stroke called double. Here even if you miss the aim slightly there is a chance for you to get the advantage of the opponent’s coins to pocket your coins. Similarly there are lots of positions where you can play any one stroke out of the two or more options. You should make the right choice.
Regard Your Game
One should be very much be faithful to the game he or she plays. If you are faithful to your game and if you have great regards for your game then your game gives you so much that you can’t imagine. I have great regard for carrom as it has given me everything. Carrom had given me job in Bank of Baroda. When I was interviewed in the bank I was asked everything about carrom. When I tried to show my graduation certificate to the interviewers, I was asked to produce certificates of carrom tournaments. I showed my carrom certificates and I was recruited in the Bank in 1969. Fortunately in the same year I won National championship. I was promoted in the Bank for the best performance of getting 18 medals in Nationals in different events. I could acquire knowledge of manufacturing carrom boards, coins and strikers because of my strong desire to know everything about my beloved game. I got an opportunity to make very good friends in different parts of the globe when I was invited to coach players from many countries. Now te1l me why shouldn’t have I regards for my beloved game? Some of the players of today have different opinion about the game. In spite of getting good jobs, promotions,
foreign tours etc. they are not happy. They compare this game with cricket. They have a feeling that they are neither getting facilities nor money like cricketers. How can they compare the game of carrom with cricket? No player should compare any game with other game. The best way to get satisfaction is not to compare your game with any other game but compare what facilities you are getting today and what facilities were available for players of yesterday. When you are in the queue in the middle and if you see how many persons are standing before you then you will be sad but if you see how many persons are behind you then you will be happy. Always think positive.
Diet
Follow a consistent schedule of eating and drinking.
Always consume a nourishing breakfast.
Eat and drink every two hours whenever possible.
Consume 4 to 6 meals per day but eat lightly.
Frequent small meals help to stabilize blood sugar, giving you more energy over longer periods.
Whenever possible eat early rather than late in the evening. Meals after 8-30
P. M. are disruptive
If you want to sleep by 10-30 or 1t P. M. eat low fat, carbohydrate rich foods. Eat as wide a variety of foods as possible, with preference for natural, fresh foods that are free from preservatives and chemical contaminants. Eat more green vegetables. Drink a minimum eight glasses of water per day.
Nutritional Guidelines
Fruits. Green vegetables. Salads, pasta, rice, chapatti/roti, whole-grain breads, oatmeal, unsweetened cereals. Egg whites, plain yogurt, turkey, chicken. Fruit juices and water.
Fried food (including fried meat or vegetables). Red meat, margarine, mayonnaise. Creamy salad dressings, Thousand Island, creamy Italian pastries. Egg yolk, ice cream, nuts, candy. Butter, French blue cheese.
Quotations
Winning without arrogance, losing without alibi. Confidence is contagious, as is lack of confidence. The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.
Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.
In sport and in business there are three types of people. There are those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happened.
If you accept losing, you can’t win.
Confidence comes from hours, and days, and weeks and years of constant work and dedication.
There is no substitute for practice. It is price of success.
Failure is good. It’s fertilizer. Everything you can learn by making mistakes. Remember the 5 ps, proper preparation prevents poor performance.
Hard work beats talent: unless talent works.
Don’t mistake activity for achievement. Practice the right way.
The will to win is easy. The will to prepare to win is more difficult. Will will decide results.
Scientists and champions do not do different they do it differently. Efforts are the best ways of success
Good physic will give you good mind. You must be greedy in achievements. They conquer who believe they can.
The road to success is always under construction. Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.
Failure isn’t fatal and success isn’t final.
When you lose say little, when you win say less. You play the game with head and heart.
Your attitude will determine your altitude.
Only those who have the patience to do simple things perfectly will acquire the skill to do difficult things easily.
Most people fail not because they aim too high, but because they aim at, nothing.
All people are created with an equal opportunity to become unequal. Doing the best that you are capable of is victory, and doing less is defeat.
Remember when you are not practicing, somewhere someone is, and when you meet him, he will win.
Whatever the mind can conceive and believe it can be achieved. He didn’t know it couldn’t be doneso he did it.
Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
We see obstacles when we take our eyes off the goal. Every noble work is at first impossible.
They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats.
The first and most important step toward success is the feeling that we can succeed.
No man fails who does his best.
Success doesn’t come to youyou go to it.
Winners v/s losers
Winners see what they want to happen, losers see what they want to avoid.
When a winner makes a mistake, he says “I was wrong” when a loser makes a mistake, he says “it
is not my fault”.
A winner credits good luck for winning, even though it isn’t good luck. A loser blames bad luck for losing
even though it isn’t bad luck.
A winner goes through a problem; a loser goes around it and never past it.
A winner shows he is sorry by making a mistake and corrects it next time, a loser says “I am sorry” but does the same thing next time.
A winner says “I am good but not good as good as I ought to be”; a loser says “I am not bad as a lot of other people”.
A winner respects those who are superior to him, and tries to learn something from them; a loser resents those who are superior to him, and tries to find chinks in their armor"
A winner never quits; a quitter never wins.
You must dedicate yourself to a far reaching goal and sacrifice to reach it. You must enjoy what you do.
Reach beyond your abilities. Recognize that no talent without hard work can make you a winner.
Nobody can achieve perfection, but in the pursuit of perfection, one can obtain excellence.
The applause soon dies away, the prize is left behind but the character you build up is yours forever.
Winners forget they are a race. They just love to run. Good habits are hard to form but easy to live with.
Bad habits are easy to form but hard to live with.
Fame is a vapour, popularity is an accident, money takes wings, and those who cheer you today may
curse you tomorrow. The only thing that endures is character. Adversity makes some people break and makes others break records.
Without a risk there can be no challenge, without challenge there can be no reward.
Success comes before work only in the dictionary.
The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment, not in luck
or chance, or the help of others: it is in yourself alone.
Spectacular success is preceded by spectacular although invisible mental preparation.
Attitude is the Key ingredient to success.
Attitude
A - Always positive. B - No back stabbing.
C - A willingness to learn and listen - nobody is Perfect. D – Team before self.
E- A desire to improve
F- Total commitment to school, work, family and your sport. C- Hard work.
H - Respect for team mates, coaches, managers, officials and spectators.