Frustrated

Although I've been playing a lot of chess on line I don't get a chance to play OTB very much and so I managed to play at a chess club recently and was very discouraged and frustrated by how badly I played. I know I am better than that yet I seem to get really nervous when playing OTB and I'm getting really frustrated and discouraged, almost to the point of quitting.

Everything you described is all part of the rush of OTB chess.  You dont get that playing online.  Keep at it, and work past it.  Its worth the effort!

I have been playing for decades and still get "butterflies" before a game starts.  I love the feeling!

Were you ready for that tournament? A lot of factor can affect your level of play.

I see you're having trouble with tactics.  I would focus on them.  I like working tactics at chesstempo.com because there's a lot more information available when you want to study what you did wrong or how to identify that pattern/tactical motif in the future.

In the high school chess club I ran, losing players in unrated club games would make the winners show them the tactics used and usually, by the 2nd year in the club, the player was at least 1100 regular USCF OTB - which is about 1300-1400 at chess.com.  We had guest speakers, National Masters provided by the Maryland Chess Assn. a few times a year and they struck home with the lesson that you only need to know basic opening theory to get you to a playable middlegame but lots of tactics to succeed from there.  We were county champs most years and finished 3-4-5 in state in 3 consecutive years.  There are also lots of tactics/patterns videos on YouTube of (for pay) here at chess.com.   Finally, I would suggest Dan Heisman's Back to Basics: Tactics  and A Guide to Chess Improvement: the Best of Novice Nook.  The second is a good all-around basics on everything from openings to endgames but what I re-read is the 79-page chapter on Thought Process which tells you not only how to think completely on moves efficiently, but if you're having trouble it gives you a checklist on what you might be doing wrong.

following

I went for a full year to tournaments losing every game before my preparation and OTB skillset garnered me a win. I watched my rating slide after every event (down to 1120) and wondered if I would ever turn things around. On the surface, I knew there was improvement over my initial performance (1328) a year before, but the losing continued. My training was videos on chess.com (particulary GM Khachiyan series "Planning & Evaluation" ) and Silman's Reassess Your Chess. My online scores never really changed. I stopped going by that metric and came to understand that I just did not know how to play at the tournament level. Two years later, I'm playing better and enjoy playing people who are stronger than me. My rating is (1283), but has peaked as high as (1383) after 10 events. However, I play quick rated chess every Tuesday and that rating has gone to 1493Q after 100 Tuesday night tournaments. Don't quit. Just play more OTB with longer time like  90 to 120 minute controls. Gives you time to practice thinking deeply into the board.

Thanks for all your support. I am playing a lot more and working on just getting used to tournament play. I love the game too much to really quit and I do see improvements in my game. They are coming, slowly but surely.