How Does Grit Affect Competitive Smash? (ft. Little Pro)

So my guy Little Pro comes to me with a tag team blog idea. So after a trillion years of being lazy and writing smaller blogs, I’m finally getting around to this one. The topic at hand today will be grit in competitive Smash. Pro will be covering grit in casual play, and, like I’ve already said, I’ll be talking about competitive play. Without further ado, let’s begin.

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What is grit?

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According to Wikipedia “Grit in psychology is a positive, non-cognitive trait based on an individual's ion for a particular long-term goal or end state, coupled with a powerful motivation to achieve their respective objective.”

lemme get out my encyclopdia to English translator

Ahaha, just kidding. So it’s basically motivation and determination to reach an end goal. For some players, it might be beating their friend’s Toon Link for the first time.

lookin at you Dash.

Some other people might have more difficult to achieve goals in mind. Some people’s goals might be to make it onto their local PR, crack the top 50 on the PGR, or even beat ZeRo. Obviously, all of these are very difficult to achieve, so you’re going to have to really work for it in order to reach the goal you have in mind. So let’s talk about the ways grit can affect achieving these goals for the better.

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The more determined you are, the more you will practice.

And practice makes better.

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Yes, I say practice makes better, not practice makes perfect. But that can be its own blog for another day that other people have already made (hello there PERFECT BUANDON). And people have also made videos on the topic of what 20XX would look like. So that’s fun. Apparently I’m unoriginal as is, so maybe I shouldn’t do that.

Aaaanyway, the more grit you have, the more you will practice, and as a result, the better you’ll get. Especially if you know how to practice. Do you really think you’re going to get better by sitting in training mode for like 5 minutes at a time and giving up on a combo or movement option after only trying it a few times? No, you won’t. If you’re able to stick with it, hit the lab for a long time, and not give up, you’ll be able to master whatever you have in mind. So hit up training mode, learn how to do that footstool combo you’ve never been able to pull off, and don’t stop until you have it down pat.

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TOs

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Organizing tournaments is no easy task, especially majors. You need a good venue with enough space for all the people to move around comfortably, enough setups to make sure enough matches can take place at once so the tournament won’t fall behind schedule, people handling the brackets, a hotel nearby for people to stay (which is definitely something to keep in mind when picking a venue), a good stream that runs well, commentators, and so much more.

People who organize tournaments do it because they have a ion for seeing people play Smash courtesy of them. But if it wasn’t for their determination, they wouldn’t be able to put together a crew to make the tournament happen in the first place.

This is a bit off topic, but I’m thinking of writing a blog about what makes a good major tournament. If you want to see that blog, leave a comment about bunk beds and why the bottom bunk is better.

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Content creation

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People like ZeRo and ESAM not only take part in Smash 4 tournaments and place well at them, but they also make YouTube videos frequently. Doing this shows just how dedicated they are to the game. Spending hours and hours practicing techniques, matchups, and combos and then making high-quality YouTube videos on top of that is really quite remarkable. It just goes to show you how much they enjoy the game, and the more you enjoy the game, the more likely you are to stick with it. Making YouTube videos is a whole nother level though.

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Traveling

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Many top players go to tournaments multiple times a month. This, of course, requires a lot of traveling. And traveling isn’t the greatest thing in the world. But what keeps them going is their ion for Smash 4 and their willingness to go out of their way to show their skills on a national stage.

Imagine a world where many top players thought, “Ugggghhhhhhhh, EVO is sooooo faaaaaaaarrrrrrr” and not go. That would make it a much less interesting tournament to watch with so many people absent. But their grit and determination to win the tournament (or at least place well) gets them off their couch and into an airplane so many times it’s almost unhealthy.

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Conclusion

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So that’s it for how grit affects competitive Smash. Yeah, it wasn't my best work, but I didn't wanna let a friend down. Be sure to check out Little Pro’s half of the tage team blog as well if you haven’t already. This is Matt, g off.