I know, I know....it's been over a month since I've touched this blog - but hey, I've been busy okay?!?!
It has been a crazy few weeks in my world. CRAZY! But I'm still here - hangin' on by a thread. As work and life keep moving along, my pool world has been.......eh - okay. I seem to be kind of just trucking along. Playing when I have to, practicing when I can....it's all just been so-so. THIS HAS TO CHANGE.
I got asked to play in a three-man tournament. Handicap 9-Ball. Two out of three matches wins. I'm honored that these two individuals would consider me to play, they both are slightly above my level. Needless to say, I have to get some serious practice in. The tournament is 1 month away. Lately, when I do jump on a table for practice, I find myself hitting solid shots too softly, and light shots with way too much stroke. I know I'm doing this and as I try to compensate for it, I'm over or under hitting on the wrong stroke. I've also been finding myself getting some decent runs.....and then I'm on the last ball. I STARE at this ball FOREVER. Even when its dead in the whole. I have no clue why, but I have this fear lately of "what if it doesn't go? What if I over do this or that? Why I'm scared?" A hundred and sixty-nine things start running through my head and I can't control it. And if it's league night, I then have a whole team staring at me saying "What are you doing?" Its all really frustrating. Really, really, frustrating. So I definitely need to figure out what in the hell is going on with that.
On a lighter, happy, much less depressing, whoa is me note - I'm taking on a new task with a good friend of mine. We've decided to start a website for our local players. We cover our local tournaments, have a calendar that you can view weekly tournaments around town and upcoming larger events, photos, stories, feature local players, some miscellaneous all around pool news, and more. You can also sign up for a weekly e-newsletter to get your "quick" news which is sent out every Thursday. It's been a LOT of work. But as both of our passions are pool, it has all been worth it. We've got great support from friends and players around town. We want to promote and support this game we love so much.
If you get the time, check it out vegasbilliardsbuzz.com
Welcome back to the world of blogging. :-)
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new website, it looks great!
My suggestion to you on the "last-ball fear" is to, as much as possible, focus on making the shot, and not what might happen. After all, you don't know what will happen after the shot until you shoot it, anyways.
Don't worry about making your teammates wait -- they will have their chance to be nervous soon enough. ;-)
Also, being nervous is not a bad thing -- it shows that you want to win. Everyone gets nervous. The difference lies in how well we control it.
adhesive remover -
ReplyDeleteThanks for the words of encouragement. You're absolutely right...its all how we control it. I struggled again last night with this and dogged a few shots. My goal for practice this weekend is to merely CONCENTRATE.
Thanks for checking out the site too! We have a million more ideas, but its all one day at a time. Hopefully by the time spring rolls around and all the large tourneys come to town, we'll be fully established and known.
not sure what ur playing style is, but u can try the "checklist" method. basically u make a checklist before u shoot. once u finish the list, FIRE THE SHOT IN. example:
ReplyDelete1. check stance
2. make solid bridge
3. make sure the dominant eye is over the stick
4. make sure grip is at the right spot on the stick (e.g., middle of wrap)
5. three warm-up strokes
6. FIRE
u can make ur own list of course, but i think it helps with focusing ur attention on the shot execution itself & away from analysis. if u have a different method then try that instead. good luck . . .
poolriah-
ReplyDeleteThanks! I've been trying to concentrate on all those things too - it almost feels like all that focus is too much. I don't know. I'm thinking of taking a week off and letting my mind clear. Hopefully I'll get back into rhythm soon. With a few big tourney's coming up, I can't afford to F up right now ;)
I've been trying to concentrate on all those things too - it almost feels like all that focus is too much.
ReplyDeleteactually i posted that comment to reduce your focus. it's a trick to reduce mental fatigue, like a pilot checking off a list. once you check an item you forget it and go to the next item. forgive me if you actually tried to focus more; that's not my intention when i wrote the comment.
do it like ron popeil's rotisserie. set it and forget it. :-P