Hey Everyone. Happy Friday!

It’s been an exciting week for Melee as we’ve been confirmed for both Evo and MLG!

There are roughly 3-4 months between today and these tournaments. Every Friday will have a post featuring things that you can train on to prepare for the big days! Each person’s training regimen will be different and by no means is this post going to be the “bible” for everyone.

Let’s get started with Week 1

Set Goals

1. What are some technical skills you want to implement?
– 3-4 months is a long enough time to practice and implement new technology in the game. Perhaps, you’re not familiar with wavedashing and its practical uses. Maybe, you’ve been wondering what this shield dropping business is all about. Write down a list of the things you want to begin practicing.

For Myself
– I’m not really good at doing Shino Stalling or Needle Turnarounds as Sheik. I view these as highly practical techniques that will refine my edge-game, so my goal for the next month will be to learn these techniques proficiently.
– I would like to implement better wavelanding, especially off the ledge.

2. Identify some weaknesses you want to fix in mentality 
Perhaps you’ve been going to tourneys and notice that you fatigue or tunnel vision. Begin asking yourself why these things happen and begin to see if you can develop a plan to fix these. (5 Why Analysis)

For Myself
A. I tend to have a weakness of tunnel-visioning on certain matches and when I feel nervous and stressed
B. I tend to falter during longer tournaments and don’t have the stamina to play sets later in the day
– I’ll make an effort to eat better and rest well. In addition, regular exercise (running 3-4 times per week) and mentally resting will be part of my regimen in the next couple of months

3. Identify some character matchups you want to touch up on
At a national, you should have knowledge of how to play against every mid through top tier. Identify which characters that you are weak against and develop a strategy on how you will improve on these. This may include inviting specific people over to play and break down the matchup. If you don’t have the luxury of having a strong player that plays a certain character, at the very least, look on smashboards and look at the wealth of resources that are already on the site. Read and theorycraft as you read posts or watch youtube videos of specific matchups.

For Myself
A. I’ve been struggling with Fox, defensive Falcos, and Ice Climbers.
– Be more intentional in playing matches with Fly Amanita and invite people from the area for smashfests

4. What’s your schedule and how can you implement practice?
To improve requires being intentional. For some, this could be practicing 15-30 minutes per day solely on tech skill. Answering the 3 previous questions, begin to also ask how you can change your regiment to implement learning.

For Myself (Over the next month)
– Make an effort to play at least 2 times per week with top players in the area
– Practice alone for 15-30 minutes per day on Sheik Specific Techniques and Shield Dropping
– Exercise 3-4 times per week

We’ll catch up in a month on these. What did come up with? I would love to see how you’ve improved

MIOM | Tafokints