Subject: Re: The Rookie Blues

Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 22:35:25 -0700 (EDITED)

From: "joe" <crask@tenforward.com>

Organization: Posted via RemarQ, http://www.remarQ.com - The Internet's Discussion Network

Newsgroups: rec.sport.table-soccer



Hi



Regarding nervousness, which is technically anxiety, typically a product of

the Limbic System and Amygdala of the brain.  It is, in my opinion, often a

learned behavior.  Uniquely, anxiety exists in many, many situations besides

foosball.  In fact, if the goal is to have fun and the product of that goal

is anxiety...something's wrong....unless you're talkin' shy-diving.  But,

maybe the secret inner goal of competitive behavior is to win...which leads

one into the realm of anxiety (fear), because if the goal is to win, one

risks the alternative: losing.  So, one must serve oneself by asking if one

is truly interested in playing and having fun or in winning.  I think that

the level of anxiety is related to that question.



Let's consider anxiety for a second....ever been in a real close to a car

wreck situation...ANXIOUS moments...nothing to do with that goalie over

there blockin' your technically expert pull shot.  But it feels exactly the

same inside.   How does this little bit of information help....well, glad

you asked.



Right now, unless you have an anxiety disorder, you are likely to be pretty

non-anxious.  That's right, that same individual who is chokin' like hell in

the local draws and feels real bad about letting down some partner somewhere

(e.g., who likely feels equally bad about lettin' you down but doesn't have

the moral and ethical gonads to disclose this to you [no stones]) is sittin'

pretty in front of the computer....not anxious at all.



GOOD NEWS....this means you can CONTROL IT....that's right, anxiety is a

learned behavior and it can be both unlearned and replaced through simple

self training exercises.  At some level, anxiety is a choice when it

involves foos...though god knows I've choked my guts out at times because I

didn't know how to control my anxiety.  Here is the big risk to learning to

control anxiety....if you learn how, then you no longer have the excuse that

you beat yourself because you choked under pressure.  If you learn to manage

your anxiety, then you have to take responsibility for your losses and wins,

and you have to give better opponents pure unadulterated credit for having

greater abilities.  So, if you want to learn about some cognitive and

physiological methods to control anxiety...read on...tomorrow...cuz shifter

is tired and cat wants to play



Shifter