INTRODUCTION
Imagine it’s a Friday, while people are thinking about partying and having a nice weekend after a tiring week at school, college or work, the members of the cubing community are excited and engaged in practice to do the best they can in the upcoming weekend cubing competition. Attending competitions is a really adventurous feeling. And if you have already attended one, I think you know what I’m talking about! So let’s talk about why you should attend competitions.
WHY SHOULD YOU ATTEND COMPETITIONS?
A cubing competition is a stage to present your cubing skills, do the best that you can, and maybe get a top 3 in one of your main events. But is it only limited to that definition? By the end of this blog, you’ll find out.
In a cubing competition, cubers in all the events compete to get a top 3 finish in the finals, which is a highly rewarding accomplishment. Attending a cube competition creates your very own WCA profile with all your solve times in all events, with a count of all the medals you’ve earned for finishing in the top 3, which can also be called “getting a podium” in cubing slang. This paragraph emphasizes getting a podium but is it the only thing that makes a competition worthwhile and should you only focus on getting podiums?
SHOULD YOU ONLY FOCUS ON PODIUMS?
Granted, winning a podium is one of the most amazing feelings in the world. Winning is an amazing feeling in any sport or any game we might take part in. But there is much more to a competition than just winning podiums. Let us first consider social interactions, a competition is a place to interact and connect with cubers. There may be cubers faster than you, slower than you, or maybe averaging the same as you. Whatever the case, there is always some knowledge to give to or take from other cubers. You might take advice from cubers faster than you, things they have learnt along the way, which might help you improve, or you might talk to some of the slower cubers and teach them things you learned along the way.
A competition is a haven for learning from, interacting and making friends with fellow cubers, people who have the same hobby as yours, people who you can share a thought with, and in my opinion, that is unquestionably a better feeling than winning a podium. The community that you can be part of in a competition is a community that you can’t find anywhere else, considering how rare it is to find a bunch of cubers living on your street, or in your same class, or maybe in the same college you study in. Attending competitions is a sure way to grow as a cuber and have fun!
COMPETITION AS A WAY TO GAIN EXPERIENCE
We’ve discussed the importance of being part of the cubing community and winning podiums as positive byproducts of attending competitions, but there’s another thing to factor in.
Competitions help you gain experience in cubing and attending competitions, experience on how to control your nerves, and experience in how to handle all the discomforts of a competition. For example, many people feel their hands going cold due to nervousness, or they experience excessive sweating in their palms, and that makes them mess up their solves and worsens their chances of winning. These are problematic traits in cubing as well as in life and you ideally would want to learn how to deal with all these problems before even thinking of winning a podium.
Experience is a thing that no amount of money or practice can buy, and competition experience is as important as all the benefits we’ve discussed of attending a competition.
CONCLUSION
A cubing competition has so much more to offer than simply a podium, it offers priceless experience in overcoming nervousness, and helps you in doing your best and accomplishing what you are capable of, in front of an audience. Competition in a bundle of fun!
Also, a cubing competition is an opportunity to gain unique knowledge from other cubers and also provide the same, learn from their strong areas and help them in their weaker areas. So yes, you should attend competitions even if you aren’t prepared for a podium. Lastly, to get the most out of a competition, I would also recommend volunteering as it is a really fun experience and also provides insight as to how a competition is organized.
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About Author
Sarthak Masta
Sarthak Masta is a speedcuber from Raipur. He started cubing in 2013 and now has 9 years of cubing experience. Apart from cubing, Sarthak enjoys making music and singing. He has attended a total of 7 competitions in Raipur and has gotten 10 podiums, with 2 gold medals, 4 silver medals and 4 bronze medals.
