I'm a little hesitant to start a thread like this because of the backlash (well-deserved mind you) from my Heart/Passion post but I learned a lot from that post and am working on some problems I noticed about myself from reacting to that thread.
Anyway, I was talking to some friends who haven't been shooting much lately - one is a top amateur player, the other is a mid-level master player. The former hasn't been shooting that much lately and says that his game has suffered a lot, and the latter added that the explanation for this isn't bad fundamentals but your confidence and mental game becomes affected when you stop playing. I've heard this from other players as well so...
Where does your confidence in shooting originate? Is it more intuition that logical analysis, looking at the table, feeling the shots, and running more on auto-pilot (not, in the zone either) than analysis or is it something else?
I'm sure people say that confidence comes from shooting a shot enough times to "know" the shot but I think that then goes into auto-pilot instead of hoards of conscious effort, if that makes sense?
Basically, I'm asking if confidence is more auto-piloted "know-how" and "feel" than anything else for most players. If that's the case then I want to come up with something based in either psychology or spirituality to combat this trend to any degree because I, personally, feel that the mind, body, and spirit are strong and resourceful enough to neutralize the effects of not playing all the time.
For clarification, I am by no means saying it is entirely possible to stop this effect altogether. But, I do think it is possible to either slow down this effect from not playing or make it easier to regain your confidence quicker when you do return from a break of not playing.
I'd love to hear everybody's thoughts here. I'll be looking to compile opinions and experiences into a solid thesis.
-Richard
Anyway, I was talking to some friends who haven't been shooting much lately - one is a top amateur player, the other is a mid-level master player. The former hasn't been shooting that much lately and says that his game has suffered a lot, and the latter added that the explanation for this isn't bad fundamentals but your confidence and mental game becomes affected when you stop playing. I've heard this from other players as well so...
Where does your confidence in shooting originate? Is it more intuition that logical analysis, looking at the table, feeling the shots, and running more on auto-pilot (not, in the zone either) than analysis or is it something else?
I'm sure people say that confidence comes from shooting a shot enough times to "know" the shot but I think that then goes into auto-pilot instead of hoards of conscious effort, if that makes sense?
Basically, I'm asking if confidence is more auto-piloted "know-how" and "feel" than anything else for most players. If that's the case then I want to come up with something based in either psychology or spirituality to combat this trend to any degree because I, personally, feel that the mind, body, and spirit are strong and resourceful enough to neutralize the effects of not playing all the time.
For clarification, I am by no means saying it is entirely possible to stop this effect altogether. But, I do think it is possible to either slow down this effect from not playing or make it easier to regain your confidence quicker when you do return from a break of not playing.
I'd love to hear everybody's thoughts here. I'll be looking to compile opinions and experiences into a solid thesis.
-Richard