1. Adjust your Environment! At home or wherever you prepare for your tournament, ensure your environment closely resembles how it will be at the tournament. Gamers tend to have a comfort zone in the positioning of their bodies, length from their screens, and distractions around them and you want to be in the comfort zone when it all changes in live competitions, so get a leg up and prepare for it! Tips to follow to create an environment similar to LAN competitions are:

a. Position your seating about 1-2 feet from your monitor.
b. Try to play on the same (or similar as you can get) screen as the competition will be on. LCD screens have slight delays and in HDTV you can see so much more, and it is important that the game plays as close to LAN standards as possible.
c. Create some noise around you. Turn on the TV, music, anything that you can crank up to the same type of noise level you will find at a tournament, so that you can get used to blocking the sounds and the distractions. If you’re using headphones, use the same ones at home as you do in competition!

2. Reduce potential noise and other distractions! Use soundproof or noise-cancelling headphones. If competing for a team with a coach, some headphones come with secondary inputs for another headset to be plugged in for a coach! Invest in it! Sound is key in most games, and noise reduction is key outside of the game. Make sure you confirm ahead of time that your headphones will be allowed in competition if they are not the standard, as some require power inputs.

3. Prepare yourself mentally. The key principle for the competitor is to control the things you can control but not to waste energy on things you can’t control. Self-talk yourself with positive reinforcement. Steps to prepare mentally immediately before competing:

a. Close your eyes, clear your mind and maintain deep rhythmical breathing - in through your nose and out through your mouth (physical cue);
b. Imagine a previous win, see yourself winning and recreate those feelings. Tell yourself how easy it will be (emotional cue).
c. Return your focus to the start of the game - think of taking off on the ‘L’ of the launch (focus cue).

4. Prepare yourself physically. A warm-up period (both inside and outside the game) can be an important psychological aid, so take advantage of it. By developing a relatively stable warm-up routine, including mobility work as well as stretching and increasing deep muscle temperature, uncertainty can be reduced and tension melted. Take advantage of free play and perform a couple of minutes of one of the light physical warm-ups below.

a.) Stretching
b.) Jogging in place.
c.) Jumping Jacks

5. Study the opposition. Before competing you should always try to see the competitors’ strategies and tricks, so do some investigating BEFOREHAND. See if there are any play files of teams or players competing beforehand as many tournaments have some VOD or other play files available for download of previous matches. Keep an eye out for any unusual techniques and develop strategies to combat them, should they be used. Also, keep a close watch on any unusual play styles and tricks other players use to not only combat them, but possibly incorporate them into your own play.

6. Practice against the best! This is so important, as you will only get better and learn more by playing the best - not by being afraid of others learning your strategies. How else can you ensure they are working if you don’t test them against the same ilk you will be playing against in a competition? You must play against other strong competitors as much as possible. If you are worried about strategies becoming known that much, take some of the special stuff you do out but stick to the basic formula at least, but you will find when it comes to the basics all the top competitors will be very similar.

7. Don’t let the other competitor’s psyche you out! In the highly competitive world of professional gaming, many competitors use cheap shots and smack talk to TRY and psyche you out. Don’t let it affect you, as that mental warm-up you should be doing beforehand will have been wasted. As everyone knows, 80% of competition is maintaining a positive mental state, so if you feel your adrenaline is pumping TOO hard or you are agitated by someone you are competing against, you are already giving them the leg up. Don’t engage in a battle of words - block them out, regroup mentally and mute the player if you can as it will be a lot harder to hear them with your headphones on and with other noise. Smile and know you are the better competitor as you mentally envision taking that player out of the running.

8. Prepare an itinerary! Setting an agenda is arguably as important as preparing yourself skill-wise for a game. If you do not prepare and find yourself rushing for ANYTHING, you will mentally psyche yourself out and have to recover from something you could have prevented in the first place. Give at least 15 minutes leeway extra for everything you prepare for and BE EARLY! Things you should always prepare for are:

a. Travel time from hotel to venue - check pricing on cabs or shuttles beforehand.  Also, never leave for a tournament on the day of, no matter how much time you think you have in between.  (Too many delays and cancellations usually occur.)
b. Registration and check-in times for both the hotel and, most importantly, the venue.
c. When open play occurs (Take advantage of it!)
d. Time it takes to set up any advance headsets or other equipment.
e. Phone numbers of key people in case anything happens (teammates, tournament organizers, etc.)

9. Never leave a venue while a tournament is running! It has happened all too many times that a competitor will go get something to eat (or take a nap, run to the store, etc.) while a tournament is running and will default a loss when they were supposed to play. I can’t stress this enough - NEVER leave a venue or go too far if you are still competing and the tournament is still running.  If you must, make sure someone knows you are gone and leave your contact number (if you have a teammate or friend) but never in more than a 3-minute distance. Even if you ask the organizers when you will be up next, don’t trust it. Things happen, people are wrong, but I can guarantee they won’t hold up a tournament for you.  Don’t trust anyone too much to ensure that YOU are responsible for showing up whenever they need you, no matter how much time you thought you had.

10. Have fun and be professional! Build your own credibility and that of your team (if you have one) by being not only a superb competitor but by being a professional and representing yourself, your team, and your sport the right way. Socialize, network, and have a good time with others that love what you love and take advantage of being around people that share your great passion. This will not only relax you, but will endear you to others and create a more positive atmosphere in which you can better compete. This will also help with others trying to psyche you out as they will respect you too much to mess with you.  This will help build your fan base, as nobody likes a jerk.