Tournaments and growth as a player…

Hey all, I just recently played in a PPA Challengers in a 4.0 singles bracket — and I got smoked due to a combination of things such as first tournament nerves, poor shot placement, and mental doubt. I could probably play back 80% of the rallies in my head and know exactly what I did wrong.

I went 2-15, 5-15, 1-15, 13-15.

Did I come into this tournament expecting to win? No, I came in expecting to learn and I learned a lot! (Albeit that entry fee was no joke, I still think it was worth the money).

All this to say, a lot of times I think a lot of players focus too much on winning, and while winning is great and all, your chance of winning naturally goes up if you go into things ready to learn from your losses and take that and improve.

I think a lot of people may play their first tournament and be upset that they didn’t medal, or they may be scared to play their first tournament because they think they may perform bad and that’s understandable — but I think playing to improve is just as important as playing to win so don’t limit yourself out of the fear of losing. Sometimes you have to go down before you go up as progress isn’t always linear.