To begin with I knew what momentum is but to understand how it really affects... well that took a long time!
It is quite hard to explain, when going strong and confident in a match and the opponent serving; the server calls out the score 30-15; my mind is asking is it really 30-15?(30 being their score), didnt we win the first point,shouldnt it be 15-30? and in that haze and scrambling to create the sequence of events from the beginning of this current game, we lose this point too and the score is quickly announced as 40-15.. aww jeez thats when I start to protest verbally and voice my doubts
but it is too late! coz a point has already been played after the questionable score
and it was with everyone's agreement. duh we lose the game.The frustration only mounts.
I make an effort to quieten my mind and bring myself back to a positive frame of mind
but you know something had just happened, something akin to going downhill, may be lose of concentration? the opponents only felt stronger, we lose points, games and right before my eyes the winning match was snatched away from me.. ouch that hurt
(Later I learnt there is term of this situation!"bleeding" they say "you have to first stop the bleeding")
picture this - another match; this was mixed doubles match, we are coasting along, ready to switch to cruise mode and lo I make another confused call, curse myself, embolden the opponent and lose another 5 games, but this time the opponent makes a mistake when leading at 5-2 and we still havent given up and perhaps thats how the momemtum swung back in our favor and lead us to victory.
Both these situations confused me to no end. Later I realised life is also pretty much the same, during the course of a day say you make one incorrect decision and you get bummed about it, that leads to another mistake;you sometimes carry that negative energy through most of the day.
All it takes sometimes for things to go from positive to negative or sad to happy is probably just one small moment, one small incident....
3 comments:
can you think while playing? that is great. my mind goes blank when i play. be it tennis or cricket. the thinking happen after i lose the game. when i think why i did what id did... i go blank. i then decide how i should go about it the next time. the next time, i do it with same blank mind... got used to it now :)
well one should not be thinking while "hitting a shot", that thinking has to be done during practise :)
but you should think enough to keep yourself in a good frame of mind
I hear you Inder; its so tough to do thinking during play. I mean real directional thinking and not the, "get dragged away with the reactive thoughts that result from the game" kind. Bcoz you are not getting what you want and you have to appease your own grumpy self before conjuring up a solution. It amazes me how difficult it can be. Guess that's why they have sports psychos.
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