One thing I've noticed about top players is their ability to focus. There are many ways to lose focus; getting distracted, the pressure to win, intimidation, all sorts. Losing focus is something that frequently happens yet is an area which many people struggle to understand and many even fail to recognise how important it is to playing SF4.
I found an article that explored the concept of "centering" to help improve focus and concentration for athletes. Essentially, what centering really means is to return your mind to the its simplest state to allow the player to focus only on the task at hand. You can see the full article here:
Link to Mental Focus During Sports (Centering)
In my opinion, an easy way to do this is to reduce unfamiliar situations. The reason for this is simple; rather than using energy in deciphering a given situation the more seasoned player would have already experienced this and thus would react quicker to it. This gives him or her more resources (brain energy) to focus on other things like strategy and tactics.
"These (centering) techniques allow athletes to pay attention to their body and breathing, redirecting their focus from the negative- or anxiety-causing event to the present task."
Centering techniques vary in many different forms. Techniques I've seen are stuff like praying, totems, reciting moves/combos, listening to song before and during the match, all sorts. What ever helps you relax and maintain focus, goes. Me for instance, I tend to just take deep breaths to relax. Find a technique that helps you relax (you've taken exams before haven't you?) and calm your mind. It needs to be fairly simple cause you will want to use it quickly in a match when you're losing focus too.
If you have any comments, suggestions or examples on how you focus yourself before and during a match, feel free to post them here.
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