Members SkiJay Posted June 7, 2012 Members Share Posted June 7, 2012 What is it with this stupid sport? I love course skiing, and the past year has been an absolute blast! So I figure after a three year comeback from a nasty injury it's time to do some tournaments. Last night I missed my third opening pass in as many tournaments and the fun-meter is dropping like a stone. I was skiing great and now I'm developing a ugly case of performance anxiety! And just so I can't blame my gear, the next day, im skiing just fine again. Aarrrrggg! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller A_B Posted June 7, 2012 Baller Share Posted June 7, 2012 I heard they are working on a pill for this, but if you ski for more than 3 hours with it you need to call a Doctor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwillygood Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 i felt the same way last year after i missed my gates at nationals, woops, but i did well in jump and trick, once i got back east and back to the tournaments and did well again the "stoke" came right back haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef23 Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 @SkiJay try dropping back another pass for your opener. I went to 32/22 for my opener just so I have something I can totally muck up and still run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GAJ0004 Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 That's why there are multiple rounds in most tournaments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller liquid d Posted June 7, 2012 Baller Share Posted June 7, 2012 Look at them a little differently...you're about to have a set with a perfectly set up boat, great drivers, bouys pulled down to perfection, weight adjusted in boat for maximum performance. Treat it as a day to do a pb every time. If that doesn't work, have a beer about 20 minutes prior. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Neely Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Gary, Don't give up. The more tournaments you ski, the more comfortable you will become. The only way to become a good tournament skier is to ski more tournaments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razorskier1 Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Think of tournaments like practice with a great driver and a perfect site. Take your turn just like you would in practice. And . . . enjoy the folks you are there with! That being said, I understand your frustration! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller jayski Posted June 7, 2012 Baller Share Posted June 7, 2012 @Skijay good thing you got a rating in the south! Just buggin ya! Stop hyping yourself up, thinking about Nats being there this year and everything, go ski some different sites/tourneys, SV is on the 24th, and get the anxiety out of ya before you ski, do something physical (bike/run) to work off that pre ski pump a bit... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Than_Bogan Posted June 7, 2012 Baller Share Posted June 7, 2012 Tournaments take time. My best advice is to keep expectations low for a while. Focus on hanging out with skiers and learning something about skiing, and it somehow you happen to ski well, that's a bonus! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SkiJay Posted June 7, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 7, 2012 It's helpful knowing that this isn't that unusual, but I'm still at a loss. I can fall asleep in a racecar on pre-grid I'm so relaxed, so I don't feel like stress management is the issue. I've already moved my opener back from -28 to -22. I take time to socialize, or volunteer on the dock. I do a little running and stretching and spend some time getting my game face on before the set. Then I go out and ski like a chimpanzee! Maybe I need to actually practice -22, but it's dead easy in practice. Maybe I'm too relaxed. Twice I just got late. The other I fell at ONE ball ... It's cruel! Ski in more tournaments is probably the answer, as not fun as that sounds to me right now, but any other advice you have is sure welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef23 Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 @SkiJay the last 3 or 4 sets before the tournament run a tournament set starting at -22 and working down the rope. It is easy to get lazy at the easier opener if you never run it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ntx Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 No matter what you run in practice, you are only as good as your tournament scores. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthewbrown Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 @skijay you just have to stick with it, it takes time...we've all missed a ton of openers.... @liquid d you need to come on over to the westcoast and get some hip bruises from the buoys and let the judges yank your gates just for fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DUSkier Posted June 8, 2012 Members Share Posted June 8, 2012 Start Driving, judging and organizing tournys and you will not have time to get the jitters before you ski, my warm up at our local tournys is usually running to the dock to be on time to ski!!!! Away from local tournys (and local for that matter) I find that if I concentrate on one thing seems to work really well. For me that is the timing of my Gate pull out, as soon as I'm out of the water I look for the pre gate and REALLY concentrate on where it is in relation to the boat. Our Gate is the most important part of our pass as it sets up the tempo, if you can get this right most of the pass is muscle memory. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Splasheye Posted June 8, 2012 Baller Share Posted June 8, 2012 What helped a lot of us was switching it around. Make practice more like tournaments. Dedicate a night or nights of skiing with your friends where you have to get a score off the dock. Continue your normal set afterwards but its that score that counts. Bragging rights to the winner. Amazing how it adds enough pressure that soon a tournament feels like just another set with your buddies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Than_Bogan Posted June 8, 2012 Baller Share Posted June 8, 2012 I'm fascinated by the parade of dislikes on the "only tournament scores count" sentiment. It wasn't long ago that this site seemed to heavily slant to tournament skiers. Perhaps that's no longer the case! For me, my tournament and non-tournament numbers are just in different bins. Practice bests make me about 99% as happy as tournament bests, but I don't really compare the two to each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef23 Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 I usually have an informal contest with my primary ski partner to see who wins the day off the dock and who has the best score for the day. If one of us is working on something specific we don't worry about it but both of us like to have the bragging rights. It helps to put a little bit of heat on to perform. My tournament PB is about 4 buoys behind my practice PB but I only started running my practice PB at the end of the summer before last and there was only one tournament left then I was hurt last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller LeonL Posted June 11, 2012 Baller Share Posted June 11, 2012 Like @DUSkier said, drive for about 15 skiers, jump out of the boat, grab your gear, run to the starting dock and you don't have a lot of time to get nervous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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