My thoughts on Improving - @maribro and anyone else interested

So I've been thinking about this stuff a lot recently, and I have some ideas to help our community improve as a whole, but I saw the slump maribro was going through, which is a slump I think we can all relate to, and I thought I might share some of the things and ideas I've learnt over the years. A lot of this is pretty recent for me as I've been trying to find what it is that makes a champion a champion. Hopefully this helps you maribro and anyone else who reads this.
If you are having trouble improving, if you feel like you are getting nowhere, perhaps you need to change things up a bit, look at things with a different light. Here are two big changes that will take you a long way (and are essential for making it to the top I feel)

Edit - oh yeah I forgot to work this into what I was saying, but try to focus on you and not others around you. "I'm not improving but other people around me are" Don't worry about others, just focus on yourself and improving in relation to yourself.

#1: Change of Attitude.

Forcibly changing your attitude can be tough but it is doable, if you are having trouble I'd suggest the fake it till you make it method, if you just keep forcing it and telling yourself something eventually you'll pick it up.
Most people go to tournaments to win, as in going with the goal/intention to win. I feel like this can hamper you, as it did me for a long time. If you go in with that intention, when you lose (and you will lose) you'll become frustrated and demotivated, the negativity will block your ability to learn from the defeat. Winning is end game, you need to realize that, it doesn't come at the start or even perhaps in the middle, its your end goal and it takes a while to get there.
The much better attitude is to approach tournaments with the idea/mindset/goal to improve. This way even a loss can become a win if your learn and improve from that loss. The idea is a bit deeper than that though, often when people lose they let it get to them, they focus on what could have been "man this is bullshit I should have won" "If only I'd landed that last x move" "if only I hadn't made that silly mistake" "man I coulda won if..." Don't focus on the if's and buts. After a loss, if you can accept that you lost fair and square and then look into why it is that you lost and what you could have done better, you'll not only be much more likely to improve from the loss, but you'll be focusing on the future and positive improvement rather then letting the loss get to you, its much better for your skill and your motivation.
I feel like people get a bit too self entitled sometimes in this game, hell I used to. You feel like if you work hard for a little bit you deserve to win, and its bullshit if you don't win, and that winning is everything. You wont win all the time, and everybody has to lose before they can win. The amazing players who never lose didn't just appear like that, they had to go through the same crushing defeats but they were able to learn from those defeats and use them as stepping stones to victory. "But I've lost heaps, isn't it about time I start winning?" Its not about having to lose for a period of time before winning, you actually have to use those losses to improve. This can be very difficult, sometimes you'll lose and you just have no idea what you could have done better. Videos/replays are a good way to help you find things to improve on, as is just simply asking the player who beat you, they might not have an answer for you but it doesn't hurt to ask. Some players will have really good advice for you but wont tell you unless you ask (because giving someone advice right after you beat them is seen as kinda jerky and arrogant in this country)


#2: Change in the way you practice

Working hard is good, but working hard doesn't necessarily mean you'll get results. If your practice is shitty practice, then it doesn't matter how much of it you do it wont get you anywhere. You need to practice smart AND hard. (and no excuses that you aren't smart enough to practice smart and that why try because players smarter then you will have an advantage, you don't need to be smart to practice smart)
Just playing the game a lot wont get you to the top on its own. I used to be an incredible drummer in high school (boy I love a chance to brag). I attribute my skill at drumming entirely to my teacher, (5 years of professional lessons gets you a long way)
He was a great teacher because he didn't just teach me how to drum and then make me practice by drumming, he taught me all this obscure theory stuff that all added up, he made me do these frustrating and difficult drills and exercises, patterns that you'd never play in a song but really help improve your chops, he made me focus on fundamentals, all this stuff that was annoying and frustrating but paid off way more than simply just playing drums. How about sports? I used to play basketball (Can't brag this time, I sucked) Anyone who's played organized sports will know that your team doesn't just practice by playing the game, your coach makes you run drills, practice specific fundamental skills, singles out weakness's in you or your team and makes you work on those, makes you do exercises that improve you in certain areas. Imagine applying these ideas to your practice. Theres a lot more to getting good at something than simply doing/playing it a lot.

Now this might make you feel like "ugh man that's just too much effort, there's too much to it" and that's ok, but if you have an attitude of CBF then you don't deserve to win, its that simple. Preparation is key, you can be prepared but you can never be over prepared. Whenever I work hard, practice, prepare for a tourney and then show up ready awake and focused, I do really well and either place highly or win. Whenever I don't practice and prepare, show up tired and unfocused, I don't do well and I place poorly. This isn't so much an excuse but rather the idea that if you lose, its because you didn't put in as much time and effort as the people you lost to, even if that isn't strictly true its a great attitude to have because it gives you something to move forward to after the defeat and will always force you to get better.
If you are gonna take anything away from this, take this quote "Tournaments are won or lost in the preparation you put in before the tourney." There was a period of time for melee where Mewtwoking was starting to fall off and not place well, people were starting to forget how good he was, so he spent an entire month before a big tournament practicing 7 hours a day every. single. day.
Assuming a 28 day month that's a whopping 196 hours of prep time for a tourney, and lets be clear here, it wasn't 7 hours a day just playing the game, it was 7 hours a day practicing and focusing on improving himself. If anybody in this country had the dedication to do that, they would win no questions asked. Effort and preparation take you a long way. At BAM this year, I placed 2nd even though my results had been falling off in Sydney because I spent the entire week before BAM in Melbourne seeking out and playing top Melbourne players every day. I didn't get heaps of sleep and wasn't feeling super on top of the world at BAM, but when the going got tough, I fell back onto the week of preparation to get me through.

Another quote I remember hearing somewhere, and I'll probably butcher this quote, is something along the lines of "when you get into the tough matches and the pressure kicks in, you'll fall back onto your level of practice." Every time I see a player under pressure, their tech skill always falls apart, they start making silly little tech errors that they normally would never make and they get punished hard for it and lose a game they could have won, forced errors due to pressure, happens every day. What if you spent everyday practicing your tech. Even basic stuff, if you spent everyday tightening up your control and inputs, then when you get into that pressure spot, you'll fall back onto your level of practice, which in this example was a lot of tech practice, and you wont make those silly game changing mistakes. If something falls apart in your game in a high pressure situation, you need to practice the shit out of it. Don't practice something until you can do it all the time (like 29 out of 30 times) practice something until it becomes actually impossible for you to mess up. This level of mastery takes a long time, its not something you can do quickly so you need to be patient. ZeRo, the undefeatable smash 4 player who is light years ahead of everyone else had some simple advice for players looking to improve, and that advice was that its all about hard work. ZeRo got to where he was by putting in the time and effort to improve himself, he worked the hardest and the smartest and look where it got him.


So you see what you though of as "hard work" might be hard work to you but is it hard work compared to everyone? And if its not effective work then you are never going to catch up to other players who already know and put into practice some of, if not all of, the things I've said above.
Although to be fair, I don't think really anyone properly puts all of the above into practice in this country for several reasons, and I think its one of the biggest things that sets our skill level apart from America (the skill gap between the two countries is immense).
If you want to win, if you want to be the best in the country, are you prepared to put in the hard work, and the sacrifice?



I enjoy writing this kind of stuff, do people enjoy reading it?
Would you guys be interested in me doing a blog?
Also, can anyone tell me why starting a sentence with the word And is grammatically incorrect because wtf it seems like a great way to start a sentence.

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08/30/2015 01:53:21

Dude this was such a great read

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08/30/2015 02:03:29

+1

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08/30/2015 02:16:15

This is really helpful and well written.

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08/30/2015 02:20:42

This is very good Atyeo, thanks for writing it.

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08/30/2015 06:26:56

Really good read right now I'm putting more effort into practice now and after my first tournament it made me want to go more In depth into. My character and learn what I'm doing wrong.

Big ones for me not sheilding much and not utilising my tilts netural air etc.

But to be honest losing didn't suck that much because after I played Friendly's learnt more and made new friends.

I believe if a game is becoming a chore and your not having fun you need a break or just need to try and find that spark what Makes it fun

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08/31/2015 11:06:28

JackJack said:I believe if a game is becoming a chore and your not having fun you need a break or just need to try and find that spark what Makes it fun

I dunno about that... like no matter what it is, something that you love wont be fun %100 of the time, you go through rough patches, but if you stick it out and work hard (even if it is a bit choreish) you'll come out on the other side better and you'll have more fun.
Just do something until it isnt fun anymore isnt really a good attitude, one great thing about working hard at something (like getting good at smash) is that you learn the important life skill of working hard at something.

Again with like sports or a musical instrument or whatever, the exercises and drills aren't fun, they are hard work and they suck, but they allow you to enjoy doing the thing you love doing because you'll be better at it.
(also fuck shielding, you play ZSS, your character is all about movement, why shield an attack when you can move out of the way causing your opponent to whiff and you get a punish)

You guys are saying this is a good read, does that mean I should write more stuff?

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08/31/2015 12:06:16

Atyeo said:
You guys are saying this is a good read, does that mean I should write more stuff?

I think it would be great if you wrote more stuff like this. I think reading about things like this can help players to understand what they can do to improve. It was also enjoyable to read.

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08/31/2015 12:31:59

Atyeo said:

JackJack said:I believe if a game is becoming a chore and your not having fun you need a break or just need to try and find that spark what Makes it fun

I dunno about that... like no matter what it is, something that you love wont be fun %100 of the time, you go through rough patches, but if you stick it out and work hard (even if it is a bit choreish) you'll come out on the other side better and you'll have more fun.
Just do something until it isnt fun anymore isnt really a good attitude, one great thing about working hard at something (like getting good at smash) is that you learn the important life skill of working hard at something.

Again with like sports or a musical instrument or whatever, the exercises and drills aren't fun, they are hard work and they suck, but they allow you to enjoy doing the thing you love doing because you'll be better at it.
(also fuck shielding, you play ZSS, your character is all about movement, why shield an attack when you can move out of the way causing your opponent to whiff and you get a punish)

You guys are saying this is a good read, does that mean I should write more stuff?

I just feel like I need sheilding if I do the wrong approach need to have some form of back up. I mean in general terms of fun like you get no enjoyment out of the game what so ever whether it just playing normal games or not actually getting enjoyment out of it anymore that's what I mean though I do see your point.

Yeah dude you should write up more stuff like this it's a good read and I think a lot of players would benefit from this sort of thing if they have a rough patch or thinking about hanging up the towel

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08/31/2015 12:33:57

Atyeo said:
Also, can anyone tell me why starting a sentence with the word And is grammatically incorrect because wtf it seems like a great way to start a sentence.

Its because English teachers believe that students shouldn't start a sentence with "and" or "but" because they are both coordinating conjunctions, they are used to link topics and facts or other sentences together.

Take a sentence such as "Mary was very pretty. And smart, too." Does not technically count as one sentence, but two. "And smart, too" is its own sentence, but it has no subject, nor a verb. In this case, the use of conjunctions is wrong, but in others, such as "She wanted to leave the office, drive home, and spend the evening alone in front of a fire. But she knew that duty called her to finish the project and to put her best effort into making it superb." it makes complete sense. Whereas if you used the word "however" in a slightly informal paragraph, the word would be out of place and make the feeling of the paragraph itself skewed, leaving the writer unsure of what to feel, and how to read that paragraph, what emphasis is on which word and so on. The is the justification behind "Don't use 'but' or 'and' to start a sentence". It is just the fact that using words such as "however" and "although" add a certain formality to a piece, and indicate a higher level of diction, and grammatical knowledge.

Starting virtually every sentence with a coordinating conjunction results in a piece of writing extremely monotonous, and using other words such as "However" and "Although" add a certain formality to a piece, which is what english teachers around the world encourage, "although", (haha, see what i did there) some pieces of writing call for a more casual tone, resulting in the use of "but" or "and".

Sorry for the long winded response, but i wanted to clear that up. Cheers

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09/07/2015 23:46:01

Well thanks Atyeo. You saved me a whole speech. I'm actually sad, but it was a great read and basically said what I was going to say.

Just, look at things from a completely new angle and try something different.

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09/08/2015 00:41:54

Deez said:
Well thanks Atyeo. You saved me a whole speech.

Thank you Atyeo. You have saved us all from this guy

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09/08/2015 00:28:41

Lol, the banter

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09/08/2015 00:29:20

For the past 2 monthlies, I've been kicked into the loser bracket by our very own Villyness. The first month, I was so freaked out about playing her, I was under the impression that I couldn't beat her because she knew my play style very well. I was asking heaps of people for advice in what to do, how to stay calm, how to not basically f up badly when I play the match. One guy said I should bust out ZSS and freak out V with something different. Though, I stuck to my Aura bender and played the game. As soon as I started, all my worries disappeared and decided to play the game. Normally, against V, I would play as I do online and go back to playing bad against her (I'm not sure why, but I think I do). Though, that month, I tried to mix it up as much as possible, taking a game off her, though losing the set. The next month, I got nervous again, but stayed more calmer this time. Taking another game off her and making it a super close game. That's the great thing about playing V though, she teaches me how to not be bad at the game and to constantly mix up my options or I get punished for it. I can't even use my Aura sphere all that often because it's a free punish if I incorrectly use them.
The trick is, when you sit down to have your match, quickly forget about the immediate and all the nervousness you have. And think of your tech and your tech only. Only then, when you have a calm mind, you shall play to your optimal performance.

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09/08/2015 00:42:05

tl;dr

Villyness is nice

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09/08/2015 00:59:58

I was watching that match Deez, you did play very well last monthly against V

Please don't hate me

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09/08/2015 01:05:28

tl;dr deez has a crush on Villyness

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09/08/2015 01:03:42

Aerodrome said:
tl;dr deez has a crush on Villyness

lmao Aero

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09/08/2015 01:04:54

I have a crush on googers And Atyeo for writing this thing

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09/08/2015 01:35:13

I was just using V as an example to get my point across. It's the same with everyone else I play who are like top 10 in the state. But V plays 2 characters which don't let me abuse Aura sphere and someone who knows how I play. It's like the ultimate challenge. She makes me respect the Aura and when to do certain things.

Like, when I play Earl, i thought I I could abuse aura sphere with his little mac, but I actually couldn't since he knows how to approach and perfect shield everything. Earl freaks me out as well.

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09/08/2015 02:04:00

My advice is pick mario and spam utilt! ^_______^

I love ROB

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09/08/2015 05:07:47

Super good post, linked it to the SA smash facebook page, more people should read this.

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09/08/2015 10:58:53

Leisha gives the best advice

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09/08/2015 11:11:42

EDIT: help how do I delete this accidental comment

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09/08/2015 18:05:31