Community My very first big tournament

By blazemanx — June 29, 2011
Tags: blog pictures street-fighter-4 tournament

My thoughts on my very first big tournament and how it changed me.

Back before i entered this tournament i always thought i was really good. I would even go as far as to say i was cocky. That all changed february 23rd 2009 i was in for a rude awakening. Lets go back a little first do you remember the national street fighter 4 gamestop tournament when SF4 was released? Well i was in it and i was one of the two store champions and moved on to the second round. I won two SF4 wrist bands and a yellow store champion head band seen in the pic below.

Of course that win did nothing but increase my cockiness which is not a good thing. So going into this local SF4 tournament i felt that i was going to wipe the floor with these noobs. The first sign of trouble what that a lot of people showed up. Then more than half of them pulled out fightsticks i said to myself uh oh what have i gotten myself into. The other crippling factor was back then i played on the standard 360 controller and this tournament was held on the PS3 version.

My brother and my cousin (VERY good player) were in it also so no matter what the result i felt we had a chance to walk out winners. Oh how wrong i was, out of the three of us my cousin goes first and he narrowly defeats a good fightstick user. You can see them doing their good game handshake in the pic below. (he is the one in the black coat)

Next up was something that humbled me as a person and a player. I was nervous like most people would be in their first big tournament. My heart was beating out of my chest and the fact that you have a crowd watching only made it worse. I pick cammy and my opponent picked balrog the first round i was destroyed. The second round i managed to pull out a win to the shock of me and everybody else. The third round was more balrog rape and my whole tournament experience was over before it really began.

I did the customary good game handshake but i was dying inside i walked over in a corner and hung my head. I was waiting for my brother and cousin to finish up but i wanted to leave because i was embarrassed and shamed. When i look back on it though it made me a better player because after that i started to train hard and look up tactics and strategies for characters which is something i have never done before that. It also taught me the difference between cocky and confidence, which i had to learn the hard way. After that whole experience i found out im not nearly as good as i thought i was still close to beginner status. I have gotten a lot better since then and when i think about it if SF4 was never released i would have went on thinking im one of the best when in reality i was not very good at all. So in retrospect being humbled in front of a crowd is not that bad because it can change you for the better.

Any of you have tournament experience? Let us know and don't be a jimmy.

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Community My very first big tournament

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