What Can I Do to Improve Consistency?

[Rococo A Go Go]

One of the biggest problems I've seen recently is that Grayson County is very inconsistent. I was like this as a player, and I was hoping that the team's inconsistency would fade now that I have graduated. But it hasn't. I've noticed wild swings in our team's performance from game to game, and even within a game itself. Whenever they put it together, they answer questions earlier, perform better on bonuses, and answer a wider range of topics. The major problem is that they don't do this from game to game. In one match they'll play very well, maybe even pull off a big win against a team with equal or better talent. But then just a game or two later they'll come out flat and make mistakes they normally don't.

Even worse, there are swings within a game. Some games see them fall behind (way behind in some cases) before storming back to make a game of it towards the end. Other times I'll see them jump out to a big lead and then completely shut down for the rest of the match. Not just a casual shutdown either, a full scale meltdown where the other teams go on 150 point runs in the last five questions and sometimes snatch the victory.

I know most teams probably deal with this in some capacity, so I'm asking the community this: What can we do as a coaching staff to help prevent this and what can we do to right the ship once our team goes off course? An added question (for the benefit of players who want to solve the problem) is what can players do to help themselves become more consistent players?

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

I know most teams probably deal with this in some capacity, so I'm asking the community this: What can we do as a coaching staff to help prevent this and what can we do to right the ship once our team goes off course? An added question (for the benefit of players who want to solve the problem) is what can players do to help themselves become more consistent players?

An obvious question that came to me is... do you notice any big knowledge holes in your team? Like, is science a problem? Or is it more specific? Biology? Chemistry?

Or do you really just notice the pattern is more of a psychological thing? If so, that is a little weird, but not unheard of.

More than likely, you just have some gaps in knowledge. This is exactly why we could come within one tossup of beating a great Whitman team last year, but then lose to Charter E just as well. It happens. Confidence will build when those kids can anticipate those clues and buzz fast and furious when they hear them.

[Angry Babies in Love]

We have this same problem at RM. I think part of it just can't really be explained by logic. Part of it is bad luck (which, if you're at the very very top level, you can overcome, but even Gov has inconsistencies), but part of it is really mysterious. It could be a collective lack of focus, possibly just a series of bad questions, being too conservative, too risky, or any other various things.
Either way, I think it's something that is really really difficult to overcome and can't be solved by one solution alone.