pre-competition disorder

FancyFeet said:
Because usually looking at a heat list with my name on it makes me feel like I'm going to throw up.... the calm is new, and a little out of character.
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You are also coming to this competition with a very different mindset--you're planning on taking a short break afterwards. It'll be interesting to see how the competition goes. Will you maintain this calm from now until it is over, or will the "throw up stage" just hit at a later point, or....

I had a competition this summer that was the absolute worst that I had ever done in terms of how my dancing at the comp compared to what I was capable of. While I wasn't happy with my dancing that day, I told pro that I felt that it was actually a transitional competition. I meant that my mind set was changing, it would end up being much better, but at that point, the old way I competed was gone and the new one was not yet completely formed. The next competition was the best I have ever done in terms of dancing matching what I could do in the studio. Actually was more consistent if anything.

From your posts, you are typically more than fine on competition day, just wondering if you are going to be even better now! Looking forward to hearing about it.
 
had a mini moment yesterday. "Comp is in three weeks! i haven't gotten any better at all! what am i gonna do?" and then i took a deep breath and remembered my only goal for this comp was to actually engage my core the whole time dancing. and i'm continuing to work that. moment over. phew. i need to reread this post every couple of days to remind myself of this, lol!
 
It's rather curious. I am not particularly nervous about Ohio, but I am stressing right the heck out over it. This is not normal for me at all.
 
Vaguely like midterms and finals?
When I thought I wasn't ready, I did better than expected and vice versa. And when I thought I had bombed a test, it usually came out better than expected and vice versa.

Now I just think about tacos.
 
Well, I'm not giving much thought to how I'm going to do. There's not much in the way of butterflies gamboling in my stomach. But I'm noticing rather a lot of classic stressed!Jude signs. Most notably, I'm rather shorter tempered and much more quickly frustrated than I normally am. I'm doing a terrible job of explaining things, I know. It's a difference that's clear internally but I'm having a tough time really enunciating.
 
I understand the difference. May not be true for you, but might help you think about it: when I'm in what you describe as "stressed!Jude" mode, I'm frequently worried about how somebody else is going to react to something. I'm awful to be around when I'm in that mode.
 
RiseNFall said:
You are also coming to this competition with a very different mindset--you're planning on taking a short break afterwards. It'll be interesting to see how the competition goes. Will you maintain this calm from now until it is over, or will the "throw up stage" just hit at a later point, or....
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Still calm... and rounds yesterday were so good that after 2 standard ones, pro was all "Well, let's not run this anymore. Because it's perfect. Do that [this weekend]." So we ran a couple more latin rounds to finish the lesson time... they were not perfect :).

(Usually my last lesson pre-comp is a bit rough as I work through the nerves.)
 
I had some pretty serious anxiety last year when I did my first real comps at silver level. Got it under control for the most part with a variety of strategies. But woke up with heart racing a few mornings ago thinking of upcoming comp. Said to myself "That is good, I will need extra adrenalin for my 5 open routines to dance full out and really sell it." Take that, anxiety!!!
 
dncergrl said:
But woke up with heart racing a few mornings ago thinking of upcoming comp. Said to myself "That is good, I will need extra adrenalin for my 5 open routines to dance full out and really sell it." Take that, anxiety!!!
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Boo-yah!!!
 
Can pros get pre-comp disorder... not for their own "real" pro comps, but for their am students? Pro keeps e-mailing me videos to watch "for inspiration". He's sent two this week. It's adorable (but I'll never tell him that).

In other news, I'm pretty calm so far. Less than 2 weeks to go, and still feeling good... slight worries about QS as it's under-rehearsed - and it shows - but we still have a few lessons left to work out the kinks.
 
FancyFeet said:
Can pros get pre-comp disorder... not for their own "real" pro comps, but for their am students? Pro keeps e-mailing me videos to watch "for inspiration". He's sent two this week. It's adorable (but I'll never tell him that).

In other news, I'm pretty calm so far. Less than 2 weeks to go, and still feeling good... slight worries about QS as it's under-rehearsed - and it shows - but we still have a few lessons left to work out the kinks.
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I think they can when it starts being less pro and significantly-less-skilled student and more a slightly skill-imbalanced team - based on other comments you've made I suspect this might be the case for you and your pro.
 
Heat lists are out... and with them, the moderate freak out, right on cue. Not too bad so far... and bonus, I don't have to dance a bunch of singles back-to-back, yet they'll still be over with in about an hour, so also no worries about trying to stay warm through long breaks.

Trying to keep focussed on things like how I'll do my hair and nails and what I'm going to wear, rather than on the actual dancing. (What can I say, it gives me an outlet for the stress!)

The list of names is really long. I will not troll for my competitors. I will not troll for my competitors. It doesn't matter who is coming. Does not matter, no, no, no. I'm going to be great. Breathe...

(Hey, at least I freak early so I'll be calm by the weekend.)
 
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