First Tournament.. Nervous

Hey guys. Tomorrow is my first ever TKD tournament... and I'm a little nervous.

I'll be doing Sparring and Singles Forms.

I guess most of the nervousness is coming from the sparring. I don't necessarily think that I'm not prepared.. I don't really know what it is that is making me nervous....

I guess what I'm getting to is... do you have any advice for me for tomorrow?... or any other helpful information you'd like to share?

I felt completely confident up until I woke up this morning..I don't know what happened...

The main thing is to remember to have fun. Talk to other folks there and make some friends. It's not life or death.

Learn from your experiences whether you win or lose. If you win, make sure you understand HOW you won. If you lose, talk to the judges and other competitors, and find out why you lost.

Good luck and HAVE FUN!!!!

Thanks Matt. I plan to use this tournament to my advantage and learn as much in those three hours as I can.

Just wanted to thank you again Matt. Today was a lot of fun and I learned a lot about my weaknesses. I now have plenty of things to work on =o)

It's a new experience and environment for you. All competitors had to go through the same thing. I did too and after 20 years of competition, I can tell you that things get better the more you are in the competition environment.

One good piece of advise: A friend of mine nearly had a nervous break down after losing; this was because he was so sure that he would win. Don't get your hopes up, too high! lol

I see that you have already gone through your gitters and survived.
These type of anxieties are normal and a part of doing your best. All stage preformers get the butterflies until they actually hit the stage.

I found that doing atleast 20 minutes of deep breathing exercises anytime within an hour of so before your sparring or testing works better than anything else. Sometimes I would do it while sitting or laying on the floor, other times while diong misc. stretches or movements. What ever feels best for that day.
You will not feel much less excited about the upcomming event but as soon as you begin you will realise the energy boost it gave you. It just kind of sits there and waits for you to turn it on.
This worked every time for me and it became so recognisable that I almost never go to something important without doing it.
Give this a try and see what I mean.
Long slow breaths in your nose and out of your mouth is a good basic to work with.

Everybodys post here is very sound advice. But IMO the best advice would be. When your in the ring dont get caught up with the pressure. Just go out there and have fun with it. Think of it as a game. If y.ou can do that the rest is cake.

I totally agree with Karateforlife... especially if it is a non or low contact tournament. Then you can worry less about being injured. Really, kinda look at it like a sparring session in class except against a person that you've never sparred against... like the new person that transfers to your club, you've never fought them so there is some excitement in trying to figure them out that first time.

Hey guys

I've been fighting for 13years in TKD and Kickboxing and I still get nervous. U would have thought I would b less nervous by now.

H -x-

I try to turn my nervousness into another feeling. I take that energy and make it a desire to score. Try to feel an immediacy of intent to score a point.

Quote:

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I try to turn my nervousness into another feeling. I take that energy and make it a desire to score.

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Are we still talking about competition, or hitting the bars?