I know I've ranted about this before, but I swear I'm not really bitter or angry about it at all. Mostly I'm puzzled by it. I see tons of people doing the same things for YEARS on end. They only improve marginally, and some not at all. They keep making the same stupid mistakes, playing with the same shoddy technique. And when you finally crack from watching them do the same thing 5 times and blaming everything but the true cause, and try to give them a hint, they ignore it. Most of these people have been ignoring the same obvious flaws for years before that. Many of them even paid for instructors and then ignored them when they pointed out what would be obvious for even the most poorly trained observer. Then you have the guy who's constantly trying new things, and one small hint can improve his game greatly.
The point is not really to whine about this fact of life, but rather to give my theory about why this is so. I believe that you cannot get better at this game, unless you are willing to make changes, major ones at that. You have to be able to gamble once in a while on doing something that may set your game back for a short while, to get long term gains as long as it is based on sound technique. It's rare to see someone do this and not have it pay off in the long run. But you need discipline, self belief and a strong motivation to do so. That is what many people lack. It's strange to see people who are barely playing the game at a 1year level (after playing for 10 times that amount of time), being so afraid to do anything new for fear of ruining their game (lol). If you've played for 10 years and can't run a rack more than once a week, you truely have nothing to lose. Might as well go for it.
The lack of flexibility and discipline is holding so many people back and is a purely mental block. Nothing stops these people from getting better other than their minds. This game is played 90% in the mind, once you get past the C level, IMO.
Even good fundamentals are mostly mental. Once you learn how to do stuff, you need to remember the exact methods and apply it in a disciplined way. That has very little to do with strength, or hand to eye coordination (if it is anywhere near a reasonable, non-challenged level). Pool is an awesome game. You don't need power, speed or even great intelligence to be decent at it, yet extremely few people can even get to a respectable level where they run racks reliably. It's a mystery that is deeply fascinating.
The point is not really to whine about this fact of life, but rather to give my theory about why this is so. I believe that you cannot get better at this game, unless you are willing to make changes, major ones at that. You have to be able to gamble once in a while on doing something that may set your game back for a short while, to get long term gains as long as it is based on sound technique. It's rare to see someone do this and not have it pay off in the long run. But you need discipline, self belief and a strong motivation to do so. That is what many people lack. It's strange to see people who are barely playing the game at a 1year level (after playing for 10 times that amount of time), being so afraid to do anything new for fear of ruining their game (lol). If you've played for 10 years and can't run a rack more than once a week, you truely have nothing to lose. Might as well go for it.
The lack of flexibility and discipline is holding so many people back and is a purely mental block. Nothing stops these people from getting better other than their minds. This game is played 90% in the mind, once you get past the C level, IMO.
Even good fundamentals are mostly mental. Once you learn how to do stuff, you need to remember the exact methods and apply it in a disciplined way. That has very little to do with strength, or hand to eye coordination (if it is anywhere near a reasonable, non-challenged level). Pool is an awesome game. You don't need power, speed or even great intelligence to be decent at it, yet extremely few people can even get to a respectable level where they run racks reliably. It's a mystery that is deeply fascinating.
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