by Bryan Arnold
If you leave a match or a tournament feeling negative; if you become preoccupied with “bad” calls; if you have heightened self-conscious about your results leaving you shy to play again, it may be time to decide upon achievement goals. Players can orient to new goals, and experience tangible new behaviors even during the ups-and-downs of competition.
Consider for yourself the most comprehensive and self-sustaining orientation for you given the commitment you make to Subbuteo. The commitment can be considerable: training during free time, tedious travel, spending work-leave time, investment of money into multitudes of bases, etc.
Players can aim for success in the wins they achieve. They pursue an ongoing affirmation of their commitment in the victories they earn. Players who focus on wins often believe in innate ability and also that there are external measures of this innate ability.
However, there can be difficulties: players oriented in this manner can experience challenging social behaviors brought about by heightened irritability and self-criticism. Negative behaviors include shenanigans and dramatic reactions to the calls of opponents/referees. Players with this win-orientation can experience uninhibited regret and guilt, which they can negatively associate with Subbuteo. When wins don’t happen, Subbuteo can feel empty and tiresome for these players; and performance can become less effective as well.
Consider an orientation for skill development, and reinforcement of effort and ability: the task orientation. Players that organize to this orientation view success as improved performance of tasks. Rather than comparing the self to others, task oriented players compare their achievement of tasks with their own past performance (of those same tasks). The pressure in competition is not irritating but an affirming contest to improve skills, tactics, movement, thoughts process, etc. A task oriented player does not feel a sporting self-image–strongly influenced by their comparisons to others–but instead a drive to gather knowledge through work. Benefits include a sense of mastery in skills and more joy in the experience. Mastery of skills and more joy in match-play can be rocket-fuel for dealing with adversity popping up all the time in matches.
