How School Affects You as a Smash Player

[EDIT]Sorry for the blocky text I reached the photo limit.

IT'S HASHTAG WOMBAT BLOG TIME AGAIN

#WBAT

Oh how'd that get there...

Anyways

Hello everyone its Epicness937 here with a very interesting blog and that is "can school help you with smash?" In this post we are going to be talking about varies things from school do and how they impact you from a smash player's perspective. The goal of this post is to be a fun and informative read for this contest and also help you understand impacts on your smash gameplay from a different and probably never discuss standpoint.

So without further ado lets get started!

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《Table of contents》

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Critical thinking

Math (numbers and angles)

Adaptability

Music

Mashing/Dexterity

Social skills/Laungage

Memory

Positive emotions

Negative emotions

Control

Practice time

My thoughts

Closure

《Critical thinking》

Remeber in school when they ask you "if Johnny has 6 apples and Ping has 2 pineapples how many apples do Johnny and Ping have together?" And most kids say "8!" Some say "6!" And theres that one idiot who is trying to put an apple in his nose. And then that smart kid in the corner says "define apple" well...you gotta be that smart kid in the corner.

You see the critically thinking and analysis of situations that you develop early in school and as time goes on the more you developed early on, the more you have later in life. Classes such as math, science and writing are the best classes to develop this skill. This is because these classes require you to think most about the situations at hand.

This is the only place science is actually useful

What this does is gives you a much stronger ablity to analyze situations and think your way out of them or how to best take advantage of them. Granted you could have never gone to school and have this but the early development of these skills is so helpful when using them to their fullest.

Of course we have to talk about how this applies to smash and the truth is it basicly applies to every aspect of the game in some way. The best example is being able to correctly analyze your oppenents and then in this analysis think about and correctly chose the next option using skills developed through anylisis and critical thinking. While many other options exist for how these can be used generally oppenent analysis, in my opinion, is the most important and most dependant on these skills.

《Math》

-B times root B^2... NO! no no no no no quadratic equation stuffs for me right now!

Dispite this crap math actually in smash is more helpful than you would think you just have to memorize a few formulas and be fast at calculating them to use math as a supplement to memorization. Of course you can't guess exactly when stuff will kill but you can become better at estimating when you know like when one move kills. For example you probably can get a decent idea of when an fsmash kills if you know when a fully charged one kills. These skills are developed in the parts of the brain that use math and logic which are things education will vastly benefit you with.

Another thing math can help you with is labbing

*Cough* lucario mains *Cough*

Depending on the fighter math can be more or less helpful when combined with memory. For example when working out combos and perfecting them based on, knockback, angle and percents mathematical estimates can make the labbing process faster and be helpful for revealing new options to whatever the heck you currently are labbing.

Now we also have to address what types of math are helpful. Things that basicly are algebra and before are good to help your brain work quickly and gives geometry is then helpful to help visualize angles. Past this point the math only makes your brain work faster with numbers which while helpful unless you want to go into some weird math engineering stuffs it's not anything that will truely give you an advantage in smash.

《Adaptability》

Adapting is truely somthing we all need to have and school is a place you often learn about it. I'm mainly thinking of team projects and substitute teachers. However lets gear towards team projects for this cuz why not.

So let's say you're in a group project and you and 3 people are given specific tasks. You need to present the project, person A needs to build it, person B needs to write it, and person C needs to do whatever else there is. So now let's say person B just dies or somthing and the teacher does not give an extension. So what do you do?

A. Just beat up the teacher until you get an extension

B. Come out as a gay toaster to your parents in order to be able to play the "I'm finding myself" card

C. Have person C pick up the slack for person B in hopes you can finish with a reasonable grade

D. Settle it in smash!

Now you should clearly have picked C as it was the most viable opt...

Erm... anyways, it was the most viable option with the least possible repercussions. This type of adapting that you can develop in school is super helpful as to you in life as it trains you to think quickly and adapt in ways similar to a combination of critical thinking and short time choices.

In smash bros this should be very easy to figure out how it's applied (given I talked a bit about it earlier) but being able to adapt to whatever is thrown at you in the match whether it be in of playstyle, specific forms of conditioning or dealing with surprises from your oppenent adaptability is something that you really must develop early on in order to get a good grasp on it if you want to be a good smash player, and school really is a very important and great place to develop this aspect of yourself to help you in life.

《Music》

By music I mean music classes and how it deepens your connection towards music and it's effects on you on phycological and emotional level.

Now because there truely is only one huge Negitive I'm going to just get that out of the way, the biggest negitive is the more you know And have trained yourself in music, the more likely you are to be distracted by it. For example you may find yourself thinking about instrument fingerings rather than the smash match because you subconsciously have trained yourself to do that.

Another example is you find yourself noticing and nitpicking parts of the song that are off tune distracting you from the game as well. It's these ways in which you subconsciously identify things in music that can cause weakness regarding it. However not everyone does have this problem but regardless you should be wary of it.

As for pros there are a handful! The two biggest are, 1; you can often fall more into a rhythm and connect with the music on a more emotional level and, 2; you can know what types of music will do what to your emotions and what to/not to listen to.

Now to start with emotional connection with music it's quite a complex and beautiful thing...

Oh gosh it sounds like I'm giving the sex talk

Anyways I digress...quickly...like this whole thing. SO emotional connection with music can be very deep, more often than not you will find listening to music very therapeutic and being able to more closely identify with it, as it's a big part of your life, is an amazing thing. You may find yourself more connected with the flow and given more peace or joy in yourself. Especially songs you have played, those are always amazing. (Sorry for this being an emotional ramble)

Next is you know more about what music does what to you. While you don't nessisarry need a music class to do this it still is very helpful as a skill you can develop in the class. Basicly being able to know what music does to you and be able to specifically depict emotions it causes can allow you maximum optimisation, if you will, in boosting your emotions with music. I for the most part learned what music I like by playing it. I know jazz music is the best for me to listen to because of how I connect to it while playing it. And I know pop music for the most part is not helpful as I hate playing it. While you don't need a music class for this it 100% helps you and your musical connection.

《Mashing/Dexterity》

Meh lots of physical strength in your arms is helpful for mashing. P.E. classes can help you build this up and improve your ablity to mash and give you a competitive mindset that will help you in smash. This mindset can help you in practicing and competing and also help you understand other competitive personalities. For example maybe you learned about those super super competitive people and because of that you know how to put up with them in smash. Or maybe you know how to have a healthy winning mindset because of the sports you play in school.

This class also can help you with anylising situations in a critical matter but in fast paced real life situations that are a great example of "true application" of this concept. It has been shown in many studies (I'll link later if you want) that athletes have faster reaction times than most people. While they could have had this before and they are good at the sport because of it or they developed it by playing is unknown but regardless is something to consider when thinking of ways this impacts your smash proformance. Regardless it is amazing how much one topic in school really can help you in smash.

Now I want to talk about coordination built in writing, art and making birdhouses or whatever it is you do dexterity is extreamly important. All the activities help you in your physical ability to input whatever you need in smash.

Writing and drawing will very likely help your physical dexterity. That pain in your hand you get after writing a while is a cramp that helps build your dexterity and physical stamina with your hands...that came out wrong. But basicly this building in strength helps you be able to practice and play longer without losing effectiveness and not getting pain in your hands. In a nutshell it builds accuracy and stamina.

《Social skills/Language》

Ya know dispite the teachers getting pissed at you when you talk you still learn alot about socializing in school. Socialization is one of the most important aspects to life and is a key to a good healthy mindset. School presents social skills through student student interaction and through teacher interaction in forms of projects, table groups, ect.

Probably the most important thing you learn from this is how to have a mindset that allows you to learn through interaction. For example when playing in friendlies or even in a competitive set it is great to have the ablity to interact with those you are playing or just talking to in a manner that allows you to both make friends and learn from them. In school projects you often are thrown into random groups and you have to help become friends, and help eachother get better. It's so evident this skill is helpful in smash. So much knowledge can be taken from new people at competitions and it's nothing you can't not take advantage of.

One other thing you learn is how to friends. Friends to have as partners or rivals in smash are amazing and the way you wan build eachother up as players and people is unreal. And language is another huge factor in that!

You see language classes and English classes help you for two big reasons. The first is that you are able to pick up words and phrases that apper in similar languages, for example for Spanish you could pick up some stuff in French or Italian and in English you can pick up on words spoken in languages like British and Canadian.

However the biggest pro is actually knowing new languages to communicate with other smash players from around the world when going to large competitions. The most common languages aside from English are generally Japanese and Spanish. Having the ability to communicate with even more people and make more friends from playing the game is honestly amazing and helps just add to that smash experience. Oh yeah also frame data and stuff often is written in Japanese...GREAT AFTERTHOUGHT ENDING!

《Memory》

Did you know I can tell you the speed of every forward air in the game?

Well if you did you're full of crap cause that's a complete lie. You see memory plays a very notable role in smash bros and any other competitive game. You need to memorize tactics, combos or framedata. You need to as much as you can when it comes to an oppenent's playstyle. Every bit of this counts and school is a place where that really helps.

Memory is the key to being constant, which is one of the most important things to have as a player. Every bit of knowledge you hear about smash should be taken to memory and the better it is the better chance you have at winning. So many applications exist but so little

Now studies have never shown whether or not school increases memory as it's impossible to take a person to test, send them into school, memory test and undo what school did. However here is what we do know

•1 Schooling positively effects intellectual brain function such as cognitive thought

•2 IQ is positively impacted by school with a trend of the longer you are in school and the earlier you start the more of an increase you get on your base IQ

•3 IQ and other forms of intelligence are often linked towards memory and people with good memories are more likely to score high on intelligence tests

•4 We know that habits relating to a specific skill being repeated (studying) increase the abilities you have in the skills used in those habits (memory in this case)

With these points we can logicily conclude school does have a positive effect on memory. Memory application is also helped in school in ways like calculating and critical thinking as already mentioned.

《Positive emotions》

School does bring postitve emotions to you and many can be applied very well in smash. They range from emotions from being there to things brought about by what you take from it.

《Confidence》

You have learned so much about smash using the skills you have taken from school and feel as if you know all and could win everything yet still wish to learn more...

This is generally a good thing as long as it does not become pride as confidence will give you peace of mind in your skill. You will know why you want to win and yet still keep a learning and open mindset while pushing your limits in game.

《Happiness》

Joys come from finishing work or from knowing what you're doing. If you just turned in a super hard essay or just got an A on a test odds are you'd be quite happy. Or maybe you just spent a ton of time using those studying skills you got from history class to memorize and learn a bunch of smash stuff. Either way, you're happy, and this is a good thing as your happiness will boost basicly your confidence, minimize negitive emotions, give you a great mindset and maximise fun!

《Peace》

This isn't exactly an emotion but more so a synergy of emotions leading to complete calm. In this case your confidence may lead you to peace either because you know you can achieve your goals in the set or because you are ok no matter the outcome.

But how do you get there? Well knowledge and control (which are two things you get for sitting at a desk 6 hours a day) help your mindset act positively and view the game as somthing to learn from not somthing to win. This is what brings you peace in this aspect of emotions.

《Negative emotions》

《Pride》

Pride is when one is consumed by confidence to a point that they lack judgement. If you just do well on somthing in school or maybe you just are doing super well in smash using knowledge you gained in school pride can hit. Pride is dangourus when uncontrolled and leads to greed. You may do stupid things whether it be setting bad goals for yourself, or maybe just sucking at the game because you think you can do anything. Whatever it is pride will never help you.

《Anger》

It's like a fire that controls us if we dont control it. It will only lead to failure in smash. You may rage quit in practicing or even competitive sets. Or maybe you will just refuse to get better and get angry at others for your failures. Whatever the case it can be brought about by many things. I often get very angry when people at my school act stupid, for others it may be grades, or homework. Whatever the case school can very often contribute to this emotion and if not controlled can control you.

《Stress》

Stress is just one of those things that is not healthy and alters you as a person. Stress can lead to changes in your personality. It often brings out the worst in you and makes you quick to anger. School causes stress so often in ways of grades, homework, teachers, idiots and projects. All of these things can cause stress and alter you. Maybe you just feel as if you can't finish everything and get angry, maybe or carry guilt that you're not doing the work you should be doing, or worst of all you disconnect yourself to finish and become isolated and depressed. Regardless stress is bad, period.

《Depression》

Depression can come from stress or an aftermath of a failure. Maybe you got a bad grade on a test or somthing like that and you lose motivation and feel worthless. We all know that feeling and how school can more often than not cause it. It will hinder your performance in smash and possibly cause you to lose some of, if not all your motivation. This is in reality one of, if not the biggest drawback for school in of smash bros.

《Control》

Control is a virtue of life and school really really helps you gain it. In school you must learn to control yourself and be patient with yourself, teachers and students. Maybe you're suffering in a group project of incomptitent idiots, or have a boring teacher in a class you already understand everything. Regardless you gain control over yourself and the ablity to be quiet and even help the people annoying you.

In smash you can use this to control yourself and put up with others. Many locals can have salty idiots or people that are just plan annoying. Or maybe that person is you but with school you can develop the control to help stop it or tolerate it.

《Practice time》

This is easily one of the biggest negitives with school as it is very important to practice smash. While practicing 6 hours a day is not 100% nessisarry you still need to have practice and school can get in the way of that more often than not. Some weeks you may have little homework but others you may have so much go barely sleep.

Now before we go into this lets briefly discuss how much practice time you should take (in depth is for another time) sooo practicing requires a synergy of getting better but not losing sanity. Now there are a few people, like ZeRo, who were willing to put everything into it an practice 6+ hours a day. However odds are that's not for you so here is what you need to figure out.

•1 How much time does it take for you to feel as though you achieved your daily practice goals

•2 How much time are you willing to put into the game

•3 If you did not have school how much would your ideal practice time be?

Now with these points we can draw this conclusion, practice goals are important and school and effect negatively. But if you have time and are taking things from school you are probably going to be fine and be helped by it and gain many helpful things for smash and for life.

《My thoughts》

I feel school can help you, granted most of what i covered today is subjective and very dependant on personality and workload. School clearly has lots of potencial to help you but as school's existence is not for smash bros it does not always help you. I personally can say school helps me in smash bros and many here may agree, but many also may say otherwise. I hope you draw your own conclusions and evaluate yourself as a player and hopefully become a better smash player, student and most importantly grow as a person.

《Closure》

Hey guys thank you for reading this blog i hope you enjoyed it and make sure to give m whatever you got! I got another post about clones and an original look at them so k hope you look forward to it. However until then

~Goodbye and God bless