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fandomhighdorms2007-06-24 12:59 pm
willbedone.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhighdorms2007-06-24 12:59 pm
Entry tags:
Gym, Flag Football practice, Sunday afternoon
Today's flag football practice found Willow in the gym. She had a clipboard, a blue gremlins cap, a whistle, and a terrifyingly eager expression.
"Hi everybody!" she said. "John's running late so he asked me to take care of organizing today's practice. So Gold Team, you have to listen to me even though technically you are not my people. Anybody trying to get around that will get reported to John who will then kick you in the shin. Or something else. I don't know what John normally does to keep you in line but whatever it is he'll do it! Plus you will feel the wrath of my stern expressions and my Blue Team can tell you that that is a fate worse than a fate worse than death. So there.
"Anyway I've been reading up on sports and one of the things that they say is very important is psychology. Granted it might not be as high in the top ten as things like being conscious, somehow ambulatory, and wearing protection in the right places, but it is up there! In fact, this is how folks who are otherwise lacking in things like 'co-ordination' or 'muscle strength' or 'ability to carry a ball down the field without tripping within three steps' - not that I know what that's like, of course - can still kick serious behind.
"Now there's two kinds of psychology to deal with. Or, if you think about it, directions. You want to psych yourself up while psyching your opponents out. I realise these are not technically opposites but psyching down is not actually an expression even though it would make much more sense, particularly if we were trying to graph this.
"Psyching yourself up involves doing things that make you believe that you are the bestest player ever. For example, you could say 'I am the bestest player ever!' though you'd want to keep that for appropriate contexts otherwise the guy you're ordering a sandwich from is going to look at you funny. You can give yourself other affirmations too, like 'I am good at throwing!' or 'I am the best catcher!' or 'I am so not going to trip after three steps this time!' Plus you could give yourself a cool nickname to help remind yourself of how great you are. Try to pick something intimidating though, because a nickname like 'Pookie,' while nice, doesn't strike fear in many people unless they have, say, a phobia about repeating vowels when you spell.
"You can also visualize your awesome player skills. Picture yourself winning and you can make that win happen. Though you're not allowed to do that so strongly that you force it to happen, like by magic, because John keeps telling me that's against the rules even though I've googled and googled and haven't found a single rulebook that talks about magic being forbidden, not that I'm implying John could be fibbing here or anything.
"Now for psyching your opponent out what you're trying to do is demoralize them without actually causing long-term psychological trauma because oh my God it's just a game, people. So you want to do things like say 'Boy are you clumsy!' or 'Your team couldn't win if it was the only one playing and medals were given out just for showing up!' and not, for instance, 'Your parents never loved you and your fear of commitment means you're going to die alone.'"
Willow looked around to make sure everyone had followed along. "Got it? Okay, so today we're going to be all nice and intermingley and work on saying things to ourselves and our teammates to help with that upward direction, and to our opponents to help with the outward direction. Use your imagination! Get creative! Oh - and don't forget to warm up! Stretch out your mouths with things like smiling and yawning so that nobody gets cramps. Gain without pain, people!"
Willow then unveiled some Tupperwares that she'd brought with her. "And anybody who does a good job will get a cookie. Even Gold Team members though they are naturally at a disadvantage by not being as awesome as Blue."
Willow them beamed proudly and made shooing motions to encourage everyone to get to practicing.
[ooc: OCDa-coming up! Practice away!]
"Hi everybody!" she said. "John's running late so he asked me to take care of organizing today's practice. So Gold Team, you have to listen to me even though technically you are not my people. Anybody trying to get around that will get reported to John who will then kick you in the shin. Or something else. I don't know what John normally does to keep you in line but whatever it is he'll do it! Plus you will feel the wrath of my stern expressions and my Blue Team can tell you that that is a fate worse than a fate worse than death. So there.
"Anyway I've been reading up on sports and one of the things that they say is very important is psychology. Granted it might not be as high in the top ten as things like being conscious, somehow ambulatory, and wearing protection in the right places, but it is up there! In fact, this is how folks who are otherwise lacking in things like 'co-ordination' or 'muscle strength' or 'ability to carry a ball down the field without tripping within three steps' - not that I know what that's like, of course - can still kick serious behind.
"Now there's two kinds of psychology to deal with. Or, if you think about it, directions. You want to psych yourself up while psyching your opponents out. I realise these are not technically opposites but psyching down is not actually an expression even though it would make much more sense, particularly if we were trying to graph this.
"Psyching yourself up involves doing things that make you believe that you are the bestest player ever. For example, you could say 'I am the bestest player ever!' though you'd want to keep that for appropriate contexts otherwise the guy you're ordering a sandwich from is going to look at you funny. You can give yourself other affirmations too, like 'I am good at throwing!' or 'I am the best catcher!' or 'I am so not going to trip after three steps this time!' Plus you could give yourself a cool nickname to help remind yourself of how great you are. Try to pick something intimidating though, because a nickname like 'Pookie,' while nice, doesn't strike fear in many people unless they have, say, a phobia about repeating vowels when you spell.
"You can also visualize your awesome player skills. Picture yourself winning and you can make that win happen. Though you're not allowed to do that so strongly that you force it to happen, like by magic, because John keeps telling me that's against the rules even though I've googled and googled and haven't found a single rulebook that talks about magic being forbidden, not that I'm implying John could be fibbing here or anything.
"Now for psyching your opponent out what you're trying to do is demoralize them without actually causing long-term psychological trauma because oh my God it's just a game, people. So you want to do things like say 'Boy are you clumsy!' or 'Your team couldn't win if it was the only one playing and medals were given out just for showing up!' and not, for instance, 'Your parents never loved you and your fear of commitment means you're going to die alone.'"
Willow looked around to make sure everyone had followed along. "Got it? Okay, so today we're going to be all nice and intermingley and work on saying things to ourselves and our teammates to help with that upward direction, and to our opponents to help with the outward direction. Use your imagination! Get creative! Oh - and don't forget to warm up! Stretch out your mouths with things like smiling and yawning so that nobody gets cramps. Gain without pain, people!"
Willow then unveiled some Tupperwares that she'd brought with her. "And anybody who does a good job will get a cookie. Even Gold Team members though they are naturally at a disadvantage by not being as awesome as Blue."
Willow them beamed proudly and made shooing motions to encourage everyone to get to practicing.
[ooc: OCD