|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mar 8, 2008 at 07:49 AM CST
View Comments: 23
That Special Something
Posted by: Ricochet
Written by Samantha "Ricochet" Whale
From a recent blog of mine I decided to follow what I mentioned earlier, but go into a little bit more detail and expand on some points and give a little bit of my life before gaming.
Everyone has his or her own strengths and weaknesses. Everyone has their hopes, their dreams. These things are not achieved through just waiting for them to arrive in your life. As the old saying goes ‘if you want it, go and get it’. It is this mindset and this motivation that allows success in many people’s lives. That desire to succeed and the will to progress as far as they can in their given sport or career.
What I’m about to write comes from my own thoughts and the thoughts of other sports people alike.
"Be formless... shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle; it becomes the bottle. You put it into a teapot; it becomes the teapot. Water can flow, and it can crash. Be like water, my friend...
Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it."
He always stated that the best thing to do was to go with the flow and be your own person, follow your own ways of doing something but taking note of others around you. Be adaptable and adjust as you need to.
---
In my time that I spent swimming competitively, I had various coaches and did many different galas (competitions). One thing that I remember being told by my various coaches was when doing a T30 (swimming constantly for 30 minutes – seeing how many lengths you can do), the coach always used to say to me that I could do this however I wanted. I could swim casually and do well, or I could try harder and finish doing better with improvements, if I chose to be lazy, I would ‘only be cheating myself.’ This is true in gaming too, I can tell ODEE I’m practising if I’m not (although it's a little hard than the above situation since XBox live allows checking) but it’s no use to me. Once again, if I’m not practising I’m cheating myself. I’m not improving, I’m not progressing forward, if anything, I would end up going backwards which doesn’t benefit me or my team.
My motivation resides within my will to progress, support from my friends or family and my pure love and motivation for the game. As I stated in my blog, the very last competition I did in swimming I beat my butterfly 100m time by 4 seconds, which is a lot especially as my time was just over a minute as it was. I remember standing on the blocks (I was in the final heat and was the slowest in the final heat) shaking slightly and very worried and nervous about the race. My coach came over to me and said “concentrate on YOUR race, no one else’s. Focus on your lane and no one else’s.” I remember the whistle blowing and the race beginning, I dived in and swam, turning after one length on my push from the wall, I turned my head slightly to see where everyone was, but I couldn’t see and then shortly afterwards I could and they were all far behind only just preparing to turn. I was surprised, I thought maybe I had false started or something but no. I continued the face and didn’t look back.
Gaming, whilst not the same as other sports (no sports do I class as the same, similar but not the same), still uses an awful lot of mental work. Whilst it may not be physical, it is definitely mental. Half of the battle I find is with me. In swimming it took me a while before I lost my nerves of standing on the blocks before an event, but when I did lose my nerves in swimming I succeeded in what I wanted to do.
---
One of the quotes I used before was “quitters never win and winners never quit” and I believe that it is this mindset that some people struggle through. It is very hard to stand when you’ve been knocked over so many times. Losing, by right, isn’t fun, but having the will to succeed is what will bring you forward. It’s the “ok, I lost, so what? I’ll try again,” mentality of trying to improve and try again. The people that do stand, however shaken up, after such loses, are the people that progress forwards.
"If you strike me down I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine" from Star Wars Episode 4.
“In loosing you can learn a lot” is and age old quote and very true. If you continually win all the time you’re doing well and still learn but it is not as much as the person that loses learns.
Where does everyone get their drive to progress, their drive to succeed from? I mean for me it's something I've always dreamed of doing and so I won't give up and try not to let people down.
If you continually lose races, matches, games, whatever it is that you compete in, where is your motivation? Why do a lot of people continue to try? Easy. They know they have to adapt and change to improve. They have that resilience, that drive to succeed and want to succeed, that added respect for their opponent that added dedication that prevails in the long run. That little bit extra, that something special.
Taking that one step back to progress further by two or two steps back to look at the bigger picture isn’t always a bad thing if it helps you move forward in the long run.
You can dream all you want but when you wake up from your dreams you then realise nothing will have changed. There is only one way to make those dreams come true. You have to dedicate your time to your cause and keep focused otherwise your dreams will stay dreams.
---
To end I leave you all with a few positive quotes of relevant inspiration for whatever it is you do.
"Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them -- a desire, a dream, a vision." -Muhammad Ali, American Boxer
"Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right." - Henry Ford
“Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.” - John Wooden
"As long as I've got a chance to beat you I'm going to take it." Leo Durocher
“You are never really playing an opponent. You are playing yourself, your own highest standards, and when you reach your limits, that is real joy.” - Arthur Ashe
Digg This
Stumble This
Post to Del.icio.us
SCG-Loki
Posts: 5200
Location: Washington
Staff Member
Nice stuff Sam! 
Simpology
Posts: 181
Location: Dublin
Twas a nice read with interesting points.
Props to the banner and bruce lee's hair.
<3 Ricochet, Bring on next year
Props to the banner and bruce lee's hair.
<3 Ricochet, Bring on next year
Ninjitstu
Posts: 19
Location: South Shields
Great article Sam, enjoyed reading it. I like the Bruce Lee ideology part, a true legend.
http://www.myspace.com/distinguishedlinguist
http://ninjitstu.wordpress.com/ - Blog
http://www.myspace.com/distinguishedlinguist
http://ninjitstu.wordpress.com/ - Blog
JetBlk
Posts: 636
Location: Rochester
good read!
Nick Shaw - Chicago Chimera Feature Writer
http://www.ChicagoChimera.com
Nick Shaw - Chicago Chimera Feature Writer
http://www.ChicagoChimera.com
Racs-MC
Posts: 146
Location: Brisbane
Team GM
I like the last quote Sam
Goodeh
Posts: 150
Location: London
CGS Staff
great read sam
http://cadred.org
Official European Coverage partner of the CGS.
http://cadred.org
Official European Coverage partner of the CGS.
Daveyskills
Posts: 124
Location: Liverpool
Pro Gamer
Nice read and very inspirational lol
AlbeL
Posts: 5704
Location: Outside Belfast
Staff Member
Sweet read Sammy.
Loituma Champion
Loituma Champion
RiF
Posts: 2481
Location: waterloo
"Try not. Do or do not. There is no try"
but good read
Join the RAK movement
http://lacomplexity.thecgs.com/Random_Acts_of_Kindness_-_2008
but good read
Join the RAK movement
http://lacomplexity.thecgs.com/Random_Acts_of_Kindness_-_2008
Snuggles55
Posts: 684
Location: Gainsborough
Stune
Posts: 730
Location: Dorchester
Pro Gamer
That was awesome, i really enjoyed reading that
RV0LVr
Posts: 910
Location:
Nice read!
typos are just a part of life....
typos are just a part of life....
Paddaman
Posts: 178
Location: Birmingham
Pro Gamer
#9
r u saying
we shudnt "try" to get along?
neway gg.
another great quote is
"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times." - Bruce Lee
it may not b so easy to identify at first but this quote has suprising relevence to a lot of things.
in essence it is sumwot like the phrase as "dont be a jack of all trades, master of none".
this is to say u shud focus all ur energies into one aspect, ie one character in doa.
however its a direct contradiction of his teachings of flexibility in which u shud have a wide scope of abilities to suit the situation and many options so u can adapt.
go figure.
"True Pros keep playing until they get it right."
r u saying
we shudnt "try" to get along?
neway gg.
another great quote is
"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times." - Bruce Lee
it may not b so easy to identify at first but this quote has suprising relevence to a lot of things.
in essence it is sumwot like the phrase as "dont be a jack of all trades, master of none".
this is to say u shud focus all ur energies into one aspect, ie one character in doa.
however its a direct contradiction of his teachings of flexibility in which u shud have a wide scope of abilities to suit the situation and many options so u can adapt.
go figure.
"True Pros keep playing until they get it right."
McMystery
Posts: 254
Location: London
"Jack of all trades, master of none, though ofttimes better than master of one."
Ricochet
Posts: 789
Location: In front of an xbox360 and HDTV ^_^
Staff Member
Padda does that make you flexible?! lol
Whether you think you can or whether you think you cant, you are right - Henry Ford
Whether you think you can or whether you think you cant, you are right - Henry Ford
Paddaman
Posts: 178
Location: Birmingham
Pro Gamer
Ricochet
Posts: 789
Location: In front of an xbox360 and HDTV ^_^
Staff Member
Busy eh?!
Whether you think you can or whether you think you cant, you are right - Henry Ford
Whether you think you can or whether you think you cant, you are right - Henry Ford
Paddaman
Posts: 178
Location: Birmingham
Pro Gamer
im sure u cud give me sumthing to do.
"True Pros keep playing until they get it right."
"True Pros keep playing until they get it right."
Ricochet
Posts: 789
Location: In front of an xbox360 and HDTV ^_^
Staff Member
Like sleep? Read a book? Write something!?
Whether you think you can or whether you think you cant, you are right - Henry Ford
Whether you think you can or whether you think you cant, you are right - Henry Ford
Liefje
Posts: 710
Location: Stockholm
Pro Gamer
SecretAgent
Posts: 256
Location: Tijuana
Pro Gamer
Nice article Sam, John Wooden's quote is soooo true...
~
Quien no vive para servir, no sirve para vivir.
~
Quien no vive para servir, no sirve para vivir.
Original-R
Posts: 50
Location: Tamworth
Too right; if you ever give anything less than 100 %, why the hell are you doing it?
Though I have to admit that I would like to win once in a while!
----------------------
Original R
Though I have to admit that I would like to win once in a while!
----------------------
Original R
_KarnagE_
Posts: 746
Location: infront of a pc playing CS
good read.nice quotes at the end. 
Life is a game. Go out and dominate it.
Life is a game. Go out and dominate it.