Ok so everyone who is involved in sport gets wobbly knees or feels anxious at some point in their career. I have lost the odd match in the past because of feeling anxiety in the closing stages. Its normal but its how you cope with the situation even before the match begins. In 1988 at the World Snooker Championships in Sheffield UK, World Champion Steve Davis had to beat Terry Griffiths in the final frame by knocking in all the colours off their spots. Steve had said afterwards that in a practice session ''I would knock them in blindfolded but my cue started to shake as I was cueing and only for the grace of God, I nearly fell apart''. Steve said that the ideal mental state of a snooker player was to be able to ''play like it means nothing when it means everything''. In other words to play a match like you are enjoying a few practice games with a few friends and just enjoy it as much as you can.
As a table tennis player one thing I have learned over 30 years is that your first opponent is always the game itself, the technique and the positioning of the ball. If your table tennis technique is in good working order you won't be worrying what your opponent might do if you miss. If your playing well then their is a good chance you might get your opponent worrying about you. Be philosophical about things, some players beat themselves up even before the match starts. Do not feel the fear and believe you will win. And its so important to impose your strengths on your opponent before he or she does it to you. Games are to eleven so you need to be quick! The worst thing that can happen is that you lose.
JB
As a table tennis player one thing I have learned over 30 years is that your first opponent is always the game itself, the technique and the positioning of the ball. If your table tennis technique is in good working order you won't be worrying what your opponent might do if you miss. If your playing well then their is a good chance you might get your opponent worrying about you. Be philosophical about things, some players beat themselves up even before the match starts. Do not feel the fear and believe you will win. And its so important to impose your strengths on your opponent before he or she does it to you. Games are to eleven so you need to be quick! The worst thing that can happen is that you lose.
JB
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