The Inner Game

Mentality is important in gaming. That is no news... what is interesting though are the concepts of "The Inner Game" that we are covering in this lesson!

The Inner Game Of... Tennis? Reading that subheadline, you might ask yourself… What does “The Inner Game Of Tennis” have to do with FIFA? A lot actually, so let me explain. The Inner Game Of Tennis is the title of a book written by Timothy Gallwey. In his book, Gallwey introduces multiple interesting and at their time (the book was written in 1974) revolutionary concepts on sports psychology.

When I read the book in 2022, the concepts were still revolutionary to me. Gallwey, an ex-professional tennis player himself, uses the sport of tennis as an example to explain his theories. But they are just as relevant for performance in esports and gaming in general. To me they were eye opening and drastically changed my perspective on how to play well and improve. That’s why today I want to share with you Gallwey’s first and central concept of Self 1 and Self 2 and what it teaches us about playing FIFA.

Self 1 vs. Self 2 The major thesis of The Inner Game Of Tennis is that there are two selves involved in sports performance: Self 1 and Self 2. Self 1 is the conscious Self. It consists of those deliberate thoughts and actions you form when playing the game. A typical example of a thought you might encounter during FIFA would be:

“Man, I need to pull the right stick all the way around the back when doing the Elastico. Why can I never get down these skill moves?”

The conscious Self likes to be in control of things. And it likes to give itself credit for good performances and outcomes. After all, it was Self 1 that knew what we did wrong on the Elastico. But wait a second… can Self 1 actually be in control of every little detail that’s involved in performing… let’s say a skill move?

It can’t. Because even such a small and rather simple motion, such as using your thumb to guide the right stick of your controller in a half circle motion, requires a ton of complicated motoric processes that you are NOT consciously controlling and thinking about. So who then is in charge of all these processes? Self 2, your unconscious Self. It orchestrates all the neural and muscular processes that don’t make it into conscious thoughts and it does that brilliantly!

The conflict of Selfs So we have two Selves and both have their own job each. Great! And things would stay great if it wouldn’t be for this one Self that just can’t stay in its corner. Because according to Gallwey, Self 1 likes to chime in and tell Self 2 how to do its job better. Want an example? Simply read the Elastico one from above. Other Self 1 interferences may look like this:

• I have to tackle less often!
• I need to press the shot button later when attempting a timed finish!
• Damn it, why can’t I control a ball in midfield correctly for once!

Sounds familiar? It is very typical psychology that we start talking to ourselves in a performance environment. And so the assumption of two Selves makes absolute sense, because how could one single Self talk to its own? What’s actually happening is that Self 1 is talking to Self 2. And most of the time not in a nice way.

The problem that arises from this sort of behavior is that we lose trust in our Self 2. We lose trust in the intuitive and automated processes that allow us to control those 11 virtual men on the pitch with such quick reactions and seemingless ease. And the more we allow Self 1 to take control, the more we start playing with our head. That is not a good idea. Because in order to play well, you need to be in flow, you need to be quick, you need to react before you even have time to deliberately think. In short, you need Self 2.

Trust in Self 2 And so what you should take away from this core assumption in Gallwey’s book is that you need to allow Self 2 to take control when playing. Think about it this way: A baby never needed rational instructions on how to walk. No parent ever said “Put a little bit more weight on the front foot sweetheart!”. And yet the baby learned to walk just fine. You don’t need Self 1 instructions on how to do the Elastico better or how to correctly control the ball in midfield. All that’s going to happen is that you’re going to tense up and play even worse than before. Instead give Self 2 time and let it do its thing. The next time Self 1 thoughts are forming, keep them in check! Think less, let it flow more. Trust in the process and you will improve.

Now you might say “Georg, aren’t you implying that watching your guides and trying to improve is senseless then? If all I should do is play and let it flow?”

To that my answer is a clear NO and I will explain the reasons for that in my next mentality article. There we will cover how to improve and provide yourself feedback according to the theories of The Inner Game. So make sure to check that out, the lesson will be linked here once it’s released!

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About the author Georg "CruZzAve" Raffelt is creating tutorials since 2013 around which time he also started his competitive journey in the game. He was able to qualify for the Grand Final of the German National Championship "Virtuelle Bundesliga" twice in 2014 and 2015. Online he managed to reach the weekly and monthly Top100 in the Weekend League numerous times.

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Music from https://filmmusic.io "Future Logo Intro" by WinnieTheMoog (https://taigasoundprod.com) License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)