Competition Cuber
Veteran
Whenever I go to comps, I get really nervous and my hands start shaking. At home, I average 11 seconds (3x3), but in comp, I mainly get 15 seconds averages. What am I doing wrong??? Please help.
Nervousness in Competitions
- Thread starter Competition Cuber
- Start date
tx789
Veteran
Caring too much about an event is a problem. The more you care the worst you do (at least in my experience).
JustinTimeCuber
Legend
how about a "doing bad at comps" fight, you vs @Draranor? lol
I feel bad for people who can't get good times at comps.
cuber314159
Legend
At my last comp I did better than average in the events I don't practice much and worse at the events I do but I think there were lighting problems there.
The worst thing is where you're not sure if you will make the cut off, there is so much pressure then I find.
The worst thing is where you're not sure if you will make the cut off, there is so much pressure then I find.
Competition Cuber
Veteran
Yeah... the thing is, in most events Im usually fast enough to not worry about cutoff.
Riley M
Regular
At nationals this year, my entire body was legit shaking while in the queue for 3x3. Of course then I averaged 4 seconds worse than usual
Last edited:
allanboss131
Regular
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2016
- Messages
- 172
Don't care about events, and don't practice the event you are about to compete in. The day of the comp I'll do like 5-10 warm up solves at the beginning of the day and that's it, for the rest of the day I'll practice a stupid event like pyra or skewb (don't get me wrong it's super fun to practice both of those, I'm just giving an example) or something just to keep my hands warm. That way im not thinking about my times.
Draranor
Premium Member
I'm great at completely losing any ability I have at comps lolI average around 8 or 9 at home now, but typically get 12-13 second averages in comp, so I know how you feel @Competition Cuber.
I've been doing a LOT lately to better prepare myself for competition, and improve my overall confidence and consistency in my solves. Such as finishing learning OLL, simulating a competition setting at home (or even just practicing with a stackmat in general), and doing slow solves for, lets say, a week or so, and then slowly building up speed from there. As well as just doing as many solves as I can. For instance in the past week or so, I've done anywhere from 2000-4000 solves; a lot of those, at the beginning at least, being semi-slow solves.
Edit: Oh, and by semi slow solves I mostly mean slowed down F2L, and around normal speed LL. I slightly slowed down F2L-OLL transition to try and improve my recog during that stage
My next comp is in October, so hopefully all this work will have payed off haha
Last edited:
biscuit
Veteran
I usually have better times at comps, but they few times I've totally failed is when I get super invested. Remember that there will always be more comps, more opportunities, and that it really doesn't matter. Ultimately, winning doesn't matter. Doing well doesn't matter. If you do, great! But that's not the point of competitions. The point is to hang out with friends who share a hobby. The point is to have fun. You won't have fun if you're beating your self up over your times.
While you're sitting there getting ready to solve, think about anything other than solving. ANYTHING. Maybe it's a new alg you learned. Maybe it's how funny it was when @Sarah86 beat Chris on a scramble of Squan in competition. Maybe it has nothing to do with cubing at all! Did you see that great catch Alex Gordon made the other night?
Even better is to talk to someone. Get to know them, and in the mean time, distract your self. Make a friend. This will make your competition experience much better. With or without good times.
Finally, go to more comps and find out what works for you. As you go to more comps, you'll find better ways to cope, and you'll just have less nerves. You've done it more, and you'll do it again.
Good luck!
While you're sitting there getting ready to solve, think about anything other than solving. ANYTHING. Maybe it's a new alg you learned. Maybe it's how funny it was when @Sarah86 beat Chris on a scramble of Squan in competition. Maybe it has nothing to do with cubing at all! Did you see that great catch Alex Gordon made the other night?
Even better is to talk to someone. Get to know them, and in the mean time, distract your self. Make a friend. This will make your competition experience much better. With or without good times.
Finally, go to more comps and find out what works for you. As you go to more comps, you'll find better ways to cope, and you'll just have less nerves. You've done it more, and you'll do it again.
Good luck!
Draranor
Premium Member
Yes, this. I couldn't have said it better myself
cuber314159
Legend
That's given me an idea, why don't we all start practicing 8x8x8+ before competitions, it helps you get faster at other NxNxN puzzles and means you would feel less pressure possibly. Might try that. I also find I have done better at smaller competitions.
pglewis
Veteran
Neither of you know how to properly choke!
The adrenaline rush when my heat is announced causes serious OLL and PLL amnesia. I went into my first comp averaging around :50; averaged DNF, best single 1:10 :rolleyes:. Second, I was averaging mid 30s... at comp :48. Third and most recent I was averaging around :30... first two solves 1:39 and :53.
Despite that mess it's actually slowly getting better for me. I did manage to regroup and land a high :29 in my third solve at my last comp, finally getting one in the ballpark of my home times. I was a lot less nervous but definitely still felt that wave of adrenaline the moment they called my heat.
On the plus side, it does make it a little easier to keep PB'ing.
Similar threads
