MIND GAMES: HOW MARC PAR MADE IT THREE IN A ROW IN TENERIFE!MIND GAMES: HOW MARC PAR MADE IT THREE IN A ROW IN TENERIFE!Marc Par arrived in Tenerife as the man to beat, having already won the event twice and with the forecast promising the kind of wild conditions where anything could happen. But beneath the confident exterior, the pressure was real. In this revealing interview, Marc talks about overthinking, finding the elusive flow state, dealing with expectations and why sometimes winning is as much about controlling your mind as it is about landing the biggest moves.Photos: WWT / PWA CARTERWINDSURF: Youve won this event twice before, so coming into Tenerife you were obviously one of the hot favourites. Were you feeling the pressure as the event approached, especially with the forecast calling for full-on conditions? What was your mental state beforehand?MARC PAR: Yeah, it was a little harder for me to get into my focused mode for this event. Id been sailing a lot, so I was tired and then I had a bunch of other things going on before the event. I was a little bit irritated.But, as you said, probably part of it was also because I was feeling the pressure.Its different when you win once. Youre like, Okay, I did it. Then you win twice and youre like, Okay, I did it again. Its like, Okay, it wasnt lucky, maybe!But this time, especially with the conditions being on fire, there were a lot of other guys who sail their best in those conditions. You also kind of have to count on some wild cards doing really well.I feel like I sometimes have a little more of an edge when the conditions are below average because I train a lot in those conditions and I have everything fine-tuned to perfection. So, yeah, I was definitely feeling the pressure this time!WINDSURF: Those really wild conditions arent exactly the sort of thing you can train for every day, though, are they?MARC PAR: No, there arent that many days like that where you can really get dialled in.But it comes down to something Victor always tells me: when its firing, everyone sails good. When its crappy, youve got to put in the work.So I feel like Ive put a lot of work in on the crappy stuff too and that can give me a little bit of an edge sometimes.My whole focus for the event was just to perform and do the things Id been practising before the event. I really wanted to do some power turns, some good doubles and just ride some good waves in general.WINDSURF: You didnt look like you were exactly flowing in the morning. I was watching you warm up and you were crashing quite a lotMARC PAR: Yeah! I was riding a board that I hadnt been using and I put some new fins on it that I wanted to try. They were asymmetric and I had been trying that setup on some of my other boards.Something just didnt feel right. Id go for a jump and feel like I was stuck. I couldnt accelerate I was constantly mistiming things. I was thinking, Thats freaking weird.So, I sat for about an hour trying to fight through it. I was like, Come on!Then Pons was saying, Youre doing this wrong, youre doing that wrong.And I was like, No, its not metheres something wrong with the board!And it turned out it was the fins.So, I swapped to the other board and suddenly I was clicking everything again. I did two push forwards in about a minute or two, which was really weird because it was just the fins.So I put the normal fins back on the other board and ended up competing on the board I felt comfortable onmy Pozo Board.WINDSURF: Your Pozo Board?MARC PAR: Yeah, exactly! Just my free-wave board. It felt really solid. I could go really fast and accelerate, but it was still sharp in the wave. So I just stuck with that. It was windy, sothat board worked and suddenly everything clicked!WINDSURF: You did look a bit edgy in the morning, but when you came out of the water after winning, thats when you finally got the smile!MARC PAR: Yeah, exactly. I kind of got comfortable.At the beginning I was completely out of it, so thats why I sat for an hour and a half thinking, F**k, Im so dumb!But in the end, it paid off because I figured out where the problem was. It hadnt been like that before the event, so it was more noticeable in the big stuff.WINDSURF: You landed some crazy doubles and perfect push forwardshow many attempts have gone into getting there?MARC PAR: Countless, I think. Especially with the doubles. Ive been through years of pain with themgetting frustrated, getting into bad habits, relearning them again and then learning them on the big stuff, which is a lot harder.Its a lot of work behind that. Theres always something to polish. Then the sails change a little bit and you have to adapt your technique, so theres always something you can change or adjust.WINDSURF: But when you first go out and nail a huge double and practically plane out of the landing, that must feel pretty good?MARC PAR: Yeah, it feels really good because its not always like that.Its like I was explaining to someone before: even though its in your game plan and this is what you want to do, that doesnt mean its going to happen like that. Most of the time its the opposite. It doesnt go your way, so you need to fight your way through it.You try once, twice, three times but for whatever reason, Ive felt really in sync with this place over the last few years. As soon as the contest starts, its like, Okay, done. I just click in and seem to be in sync with the spot.Its really weird and, in a way, kind of scary!WINDSURF: If you land a land a double straight right after the green flagyour mind must immediately be thinking, Okay, Im on today.MARC PAR: Yeah, exactly. Its so easy to get into a flow state when everything just keeps happening. You do a jump and nail it, then you go straight into a good wave. Then you take another wave and suddenly you do another good jump. Its like, Okay, the heats closed.WINDSURF: Is that what your mind is saying? Ive just to get four tickstwo jumps and two waves?MARC PAR: Yeah, pretty much.When it happens like that, its easy. But lets be honest, its normally not like that.Im normally a person who needs to fight through the heats. I start wrong and then need to keep fighting my way through it.At least thats how its felt over the last few years. Not necessarily here, but everywhere else. It was the same in Sylt last year when I won. I was completely out of it. I spent about five minutes out the back doing nothing, and then suddenly I clicked and did a couple of good things and ended up winning.Thats more like it for me. You have to constantly search for it and fight for it rather than everything just happening.WINDSURF: So, in the final, once youve nailed that double loop on your first run, are you already thinking, Thats that box ticked. I dont need to do that again?MARC PAR: Yeah, exactly.I just nailed it and thought, Good. Got it in the bank. I dont need to do that again.Then I looked out of the corner of my eye and saw the boys tacking back and forth because some of them had missed the first jump.So, I thought, Okay, Im just wave riding now.Why should I queue up with them if Ive got the whole lineup to myself to wave ride? That was kind of a little advantage.WINDSURF: And then you got that run where you found the ramp for the push forward?MARC PAR: Yeah. I remember talking to Philip Koester after the final. I said, There was that run where we were both searching for the push forward.He went kind of straight and then I saw some white water further down the line. I bore away a lot and started accelerating. I was thinking, Yeah, its going to build, its going to build.Then it just jacked up right in front of me.I was like, Thats it!WINDSURF: Although its not quite that simple. Youve still got to nail the push forward!MARC PAR: Exactly!Its this combination of being lucky and searching for the opportunities. I find that lining yourself up with the waves is normally how it is. That day, everything just synced. It felt like it was happening and I wasnt nervous. I dont know, you get into this stateIts normally not like that, as Im saying. I was just in that mood and I was having a lot of fun.WINDSURF: Did you have someone signalling from the beach to tell you how you were doing?MARC PAR: Yeah, my dad and Ponzo were on the beach. Moritz was there too.But I dont think I looked at them much in the final because I knew I was doing well.WINDSURF: You didnt need to look.MARC PAR: I didnt want to. Whats the point? I did in the previous heats, but not in the final.WINDSURF: So, when you came back to the beach, what was that feeling?MARC PAR: It was weird because I kind of knew Id won. I just felt like Id had a really good heat. I remember when the time finished, I let out a really loud scream while I was out the back coming back in because I just felt good. I was like, Yeah, I might have done it.I didnt know for sure, but as I got closer, I saw them waving and they were like, Yeah, youre first!So I was like, F**k yeah!That was really cool.WINDSURF: Once youve won one time, are you never really fully satisfied unless you win again?MARC PAR: It varies. For example, when I got second in Pozo, I was really happy because its a good result and Im aware of how hard it is just to be in that top three.As we saw with Marino, you can easily fall out of the top three even if youre one of the favourites to win because the level is so high.But, yeah, its more of a personal thing that youre not fully satisfied unless you win.Winning is such a big relief. And on top of that, I won in really good conditions against the likes of Philip Koester in proper windy conditions, where I feel like he really shines.So, yeah, it was pretty satisfying.WINDSURF: Do you ever read the Windsurf predictions?MARC PAR: Yeah, sometimes. But I try not to read them too much when its my event.Because it just stresses me out. I know Im capable of winning. I know the level of the other guys and I know they can beat my ass badly if I dont sail well.So, its more about focusing on what I can do.Im quite a sensitive person at the end of the day, so Ive learned over time that I have to be careful about what I feed my brain.I try to stay focused on things I can control rather than letting outside things affect me, because I know they will affect me in some way.WINDSURF: Well, on the Windsurf website we actually picked you to win. I had Koester second and Marino third.MARC PAR: Oh, there you go! Thank you!WINDSURF: We got the full house!MARC PAR: Thats pretty good! You seem to be good at this because you nailed it at another event too. Youre pretty good at that!WINDSURF: You have to start reading it!MARC PAR: Yeah, I will have to but then it might affect my mind!WINDSURF: Thats the thing. It seems like a lot of this is just dealing with the pressure as well.MARC PAR: It is. It totally is!WINDSURF: It seems like you think a lot.MARC PAR: Yeah! I used to overthink before contests a lot.Now Ive learned to deal with it. I have my own way of handling it.But I am an overthinker. I think about things a lot and things affect me quite a lot, so I have to be careful about what input I give my brain.I constantly need to keep my mind under control!WINDSURF: But when it comes good and you are in the flowyou seem to relax?MARC PAR: Yeah, exactly! Exactly.Thats the thing. Normally you need to fight to get into the right place mentally.WINDSURF: So, what size sail were you on in the final?MARC PAR: I was on the 4.0m for the whole event.WINDSURF: So not small, small!MARC PAR: No. I could have been on a 3.7m, for a couple of heats, but I just prefer the 4.0m because I know how Tenerife is.You get to the wave and suddenly youre like, Oh! There can be no power. Id rather be on the edge and controlling the jumps because on this stack I feel like I can control them when Im really powered up anyway.Id rather have that than be underpowered in the wave and start crashing or missing things because I dont have enough pressure.WINDSURF: So that first run out, when all you guys must be doing 30 knots towards the first rampis that quite an adrenaline rush? Youre coming off the beach, powered up, and all four of you are heading towards the rampMARC PAR: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Its pretty fun.Its also kind of a mental positioning game with the other riders. Who goes first? You see a ramp building and youre thinking about when to go.Normally I feel like Im the guy who tends to push a little bit. I like to be the leader.I dont know why. I just like to get ahead.But in the final, I wasnt like that. I let Philip and Marino go first. I was like, Yeah, you know They went first and that actually gave me the right momentum.I saw Philip going and thought, Hes too early.Then I saw Marino further up and thought, You know what? Im just going to go, no matter what.So, I let them get a few metres ahead and then I went.You always need to leave some space because you cant all go together.Ive had that happen in the past. If you let someone go in front and youre right behind them, you can get too close. Then sometimes you cant jump because youre too close and you dont want to land on or crash into the guy.WINDSURF: Its a fun lineup here, though.MARC PAR: Yeah, I loved it.WINDSURF: So, did you celebrate afterwards or was it just dinner?MARC PAR: We just had dinner and I had two beers!WINDSURF: Two?MARC PAR: Yeah! I was shit-faced after the first one. It doesnt take much!WINDSURF: Well congratulations and we hope you didnt get a hangover. Thanks very much, Marc!The post MIND GAMES: HOW MARC PAR MADE IT THREE IN A ROW IN TENERIFE! appeared first on Windsurf Magazine Online.