Last night I had went into a tournament with about 30 heads, and didn't even place top 8, which is incredibly rare for me. The tournament before was at Gameworks where the participants were split up in about 6 pools, with about 10 people in each pool. And as it so happens, I didn't even get out of my pool. To go even further back, 2 weeks ago at a different tournament, I tied for 7th, the beginning of the slump.
After all has been said and done, I'm naturally trying to get out of the the slump at hand. I'm realizing that I need to focus on the basics and fundamentals again. I also have to focus on my emotions during matches as well. Sometimes I bring in pressures that don't need to be added, and at times, it really affects how I play. For instance, I played a really close friend first match, and afterwards in the tournament, I played a guy who I've had personal problems with in the past. With the match with my friend, there was no pressure at all, however with Paullee, I felt as if I had this mindset of "You can't lose to Paul...It's PAUL for crying out loud!" All in all, I'm going to try and focus on a training regiment where I can focus on breaking bad habits, and strengthening over all fundamentals so I can get back to being solid and consistent. At the end of the month, it's been decided that we are going to be holding the round robin tournament very soon to decide who can partake in the 5v5 regional tournament at Evo. All in all, I want to train hard so that I can do well for myself...to show that I can break out of a slump, and that dedication and effort do prove to be worth the time and hard work.
In this first week, I'm really going to try and improve on anti'airing. I want to be able to start anti'airing at all times. On top of that I'm going to try and break my bad habits. Recently I've been having terrible habits such as focus'ing too much, wake up DP'ing sometimes (after focuses too), mashing on throw when someone is close, and jumping at wrong times. And the way that I look at it, is that there are very obvious ways to break these habits. Stop focus'ing as much during matches...use it about very sparingly, and don't ever whiff a focus. As for dp'ing during the wrong times, I just gotta stop doing that period. I gotta also realize that instead of wake up dp'ing, I gotta realize that blocking is most likely the best/ideal defense instead of trying to cheap my way out of it with a reversal. As for mashing throw, I need to tighten up my reactions to when someone does a crouching string, that when they STAND, to throw, not DURING their string. The jump'ins need to stop period. Daigo rarely jumps in on his opponents...he might jump in ONCE during his round. So let me end this just some quick notes and key facts :
Week 1: Make an effort to anti air at all times, and end bad habits such as: reversal dp's, focus attacking excessively, mashing on throw when trying to tech, and jump in's.
In week 2, I want to focus very strongly on my ground game and spacing. This kind of goes hand in hand with the criteria of week 1, as I can still focus on ending my bad habits, as well as increasing the consistency of my anti air'ing (control of space). Footsies and space control are very important and vital to becoming a great player. It causes the opponent to make unnecessary risks where one can take advantage of. With Ryu, it's important to know WHEN to throw a hadouken and also understand why you throw a hadouken. This is what I'll mainly be working on because it's such an important part to his overall game plan. I'll also be working on baiting jump ins (this is where the anti air'ing comes into play) by throwing hadouken's as well as using c.mk's to make the opponent think I'm going to play a ground game (convincing the opponent to think it's the right time to jump). The quick and dirty looks something like this:
Week 2: While still focusing on anti'airing consistently, work on ground game heavily. This means NO rushing down even after knockdowns. Strengthen the fundamental basics of the fire ball game as well as general footsies. Remember, learning how to control space is the key with this regiment.
During the third week, I plan on working on the basic principle of pressing the advantage. At this time, I plan to keep working on Week 2 criteria (strong ground/spacing game) but at the same time I want to work on pressing the advantage more efficiently. What this entails exactly to ME, is that I want to understand when it's the right time to pressure, how to exactly go about pressuring, different types of setups and tricks after a knockdown...things like that. King explained to me the "My Turn" process, and I really want to begin playing with that mindset. King said he learned about "My Turn" when KO and KSK were over at his house when 3s was hot.
From what I understand "My Turn" basically is the idea of realizing who's turn it is to pressure/press advantage. For instance, in the beginning of the match, unless an opportunity such as a knockdown or something happens, the turn is not specific. At this point, this is where ground game comes into play. However when a knockdown, or possibly a nicely timed jump comes into play, it is THAT person's (the aggressors) "turn." This person's turn ENDS when he is pushed out of reach or sometimes the turn is continued after perpetual knockdown's. All in all, it has to do with the mindset of knowing when to press the advantage, and knowing when it's not the right time to press the advantage. I also want to point out real quick that in certain situations where it's not smart to "take your turn" it's okay to play into a ground game situation where the turn is not specific to anyone. I understand and value this mindset, because in SF4, there are so many escape options such as lariat, or DP, SADC, etc. The trick is to understand when to take your turn. But once again, just to write down quick notes again:
Week 3: While still practicing on ground game, focus more heavily on pressing the advantage. Using the "My Turn" system, I can realize exactly when to pressure and how best to pressure my opponent.
The fourth week kind of ties everything all together. Hopefully at the end of it all, I'll have little to no bad habits, a strong ground game as well as a good realization of knowing when and how to pressure well. In the end of it all, it should completely change my playstyle into a much more disciplined style of play, while at the same time still being very explosive. If anything, I'll try to focus (after the 3 weeks) on trying to play matchups a bit differently. I might try to focus on reading my opponent more, or maybe I might try and focus on strengthening up other things that I don't feel as if are strong enough. All in all, I'm leaving this 4th week as a down time to collect all my thoughts, let my new play style settle in, and leave it as time to focus on any left over weaknesses that I might still have.
But all in all, yeah, thats my training regiment, hopefully I can make a blog afterwards and tell people who it all panned out!
- Mickey D'
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