Carrying Upsetness to Next Match - The Danielson Series, Oct 2017

Danielson placed well in his last tournament (Omega stop at The Hideaway) and had another very consistent finish, placing 17th-24th. 

Last year he never placed 17th or higher (not even once), and this year he's placed 17th three times and twice higher than that!

When I asked him if he had any thoughts about the tournament for this blog post, the tournament still stung two weeks later, "No thoughts.  It was just pure self destruction."

Wait.  What?

In Danielson's 3rd match, he was on the wrong side of rolls and it was enough rolls to "put me on tilt," he described.  Unfortunately for him, he didn't have enough time to recover from being upset. His next match was called right away and the anger and frustration from the previous match carried over into his next match.

Seeing things from the outside though, he won two tough matches to finish 17th, but it's difficult for us to focus on any good when we feel we could have finished even higher and played better.  

But, let's face it, in competition we don't want to be "consistent" we want to do better each time.

He shared (finally, after some prodding), "I didn't even want to play my next match... and it showed... the aggravation lead to embarrassment... that's why I stormed out after."

"I just robbed myself of another opportunity.  I didn't play well... I wasn't focused... and I got what I deserved," he confided.

You can feel his pain, too, right?  Ugh. 

It's very tough to not let a previous match affect our next match.  I only know of two types of advice:  (1) go ahead and feel the emotions so you get them out of your system and (2) remain in the present - if you do, then the past match has no consequence.  Easier said than done though for both, as you sit in your chair and think about the missed opportunities and that you shouldn't be in this current position on the bracket, blah blah blah.  But, the key is to remain in the present and remind yourself you are STILL in it!

But, it's very, very difficult.

Kinda like getting into an argument with someone.  The feelings and emotions don't just go away right away, it takes time to calm down.  And in Danielson's' case, he didn't have enough time to calm down in between his matches.

This is actually a HUGE learning experience. 

Yay!

I know, it seems weird I'm excited, lol, but we all need to have these painful experiences... so we can LEARN from them.

This is why playing in more and more events to experience these tough situations is crucial - for the next time.  Next time Danielson will remember this transitional match and remember how badly he felt.  And he wont want to feel that way again.  He will have a talk with himself and demand he focus on the match at hand, not the previous match he has no control of anymore.  He will prevail.  And he will remember to "remain in the present and focus on the shots in front of you."

I feel very hurt along with Danielson.  I know how it feels to be playing well, and yet not finish higher than we could have because of emotions getting in the way.  This mental toughness shit is HARD!

I have much faith in him and I know from personal experience that he has already learned so much from the two losses that day and it will propel him in his future tournaments because he will have had this tough experience already under his belt.

I want to state again it was a GREAT finish!  17th place is tough on the Omega Tour.