dquarasr said:

I hope I can explain this properly. Advise whether this should go in the Ask The Instructor forum. But I thought I'd solicit more generally, both what people do, and what I should do.

I struggle mightily controlling my thought patterns. I fully understand that mindless execution is best. Let me give you some examples of what happens to me.

Drills: after I am warmed up and I'm confident I am aligning properly and no anomalies have crept in, I tend to do very well at the start of a drill. For instance, the Mighty-X stop shot. I can't tell you how many times I will make the first few shots, then miss the fourth, fifth, or sixth shot. Then I regroup, and can sink maybe five to 10 in a row, then, a miss. And nearly always, I notice my thought pattern has shifted. Suddenly, I feel the cue in my hand. I feel where my shoulder is. I feel where my feet are. I feel where my elbow is. I am suddenly consciously aware of these things. and invariably, as soon as I notice these thoughts in my head, the misses follow. I can even get down on a shot and tell myself NOT to think about such things, which then forces me to think about them.

So, my questions, in particular directed to the more highly accomplished AZBers here:
1a. From the time you get down on your shot and perform pre-strokes, until you address the cue ball the final time, what do YOU think about?
1b. Same question, but what would you recommend *I* (or any player to whom you are giving advice) think about?

2a. When you at final cue ball address, and you are starting your backstroke, then through your forward stroke, what do YOU think about?
2b. What would you recommend *I* think about?

I am really trying to exorcise my conscious thoughts because the more mindlessly I perform my execution, the better I shoot. (I understand that planning the shot while standing is where thinking and visualizing the shot should occur.)

Competition and game play: similarly and relatedly, I struggle with focus. If it's not the problem stated above, where the shot parameters are fairly simple, it's more nuanced shots, such as the really easy shot where I "lose" focus on exactly where to deliver the cue ball, or a tougher shot where I'll focus so much on potting the ball that my speed/spin plan is forgotten. I have a problem with the mental discipline to focus exactly the same way on every shot. (I bet that's not too uncommon.)

My goal is to move from "Don't be thinking about (x, y, z)", because trying NOT to think about something brings it front of mind. My goals are to have some sort of mantra, some thing I can have my brain occupied with, so anything about shot execution can't enter my thought pattern.

I know, really esoteric, but hopefully I get some good ideas here. I hope this isn't too weird a topic.

P.S. Yes I've read Pleasures of Small Motions. No, I haven't read Inner Game of Tennis.

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sjm said:

Yes, and half of defense is good decision making. For over fifteen years, Europe has tended to beat the US to the shot in tactical sequences, with Woodward, a superb defensive player, the one clear exception. This has always meant extra runout chances for Team Europe.

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sjm said:

This particular gap in performance is too often overlooked, but you've hit the nail on the head here.

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sjm said:

In my Mosconi Cup writeup, I wrote this:

Fargo fails to account for who is in form. For example, Moritz Neuhausen is playing as well as anyone in the world not named Yapp. In the last three months alone, he medaled at three elite events, winning the Peri Open, getting silver at the Hanoi Open, and getting bronze at the Qatar 10ball. He came in on fire and, unless his Fargo was taken at face value, nobody should have been too surprised that he was Mosconi MVP.

The debutante argument is not applicable here. Neuhausen came in playing as well as any of the ten players at the Mosconi. He had also just played in the Reyes Cup, so he had experience playing with crowd noise. Europe had no weak links, just five players in some serious form.

I have often suggested that over 90% of the job of the coach is done before the players arrive at the Mosconi. Winning is about proper preparation and developing a competitive pedigree, and unless the team members show up with enough of these, nothing a coach does at the Mosconi will compensate for it.

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jbart65 said:

One of Matchroom’s biggest pushes, it appears to me, is to bring more viewers into WNT.TV. That’s why, much to my surprise, they really did create a WNT.TV app.

The viewing experience on the app is so much better and reliable than web viewing.

Some fans - er, skog - complained about matches involving Americans being put on the TV table when better matches (on paper) were also taking place.

I have to believe that’s because the majority of WNT.TV subscribers are in the U.S. But it could also be because the event was being aired on ESPN+.

Whatever the case, the relative success of WNT.TV probably relies heavily on American customers. It helps if WNT has lots of U.S. events at hours Americans fans watch.

Even better, the new app allows viewers to watch wherever they are in the world, in real time, without knowing the score.

App revenue has limits, though. Just how many WNT.TV subscribers are realistic? Assuming even a modest 10,000 annual subscribers globally, revenue would amount to just $1.2 million a year.

Realistically, WNT would need 100,000 subscribers to get a decent windfall ($12 million) from its app. I see little evidence that’s an achievable goal, given the stinginess and small size of the avidly pool-viewing public.

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HawaiianEye said:

They are hitting it "hard" relative to the speed of the table conditions.

That is no comparison to hitting it "hard" on a table that plays three times slower.

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iusedtoberich said:

IMO, with a triangle rack, the balls being new and consistent in size is much more important than the rack. With new balls, good results come with the new Diamond plastic rack, and the Delta 13 Elite (not the cast version).

The Diamond plastic rack IMO is much better than high quality wood racks, as they all eventually chip and wear and loosen at their joints.

If I was looking for a 1-pocket setup I'd go Diamond plastic and new balls.

All that said, even with a brand new Delta 13 and brand new balls (I had both at the same time), the template racks give that setup the 6 ball in ease of a perfect rack. (for 9 ball).

Of the template racks, "magic ball rack" brand is the best, and the original commercial one. Outsville is the worst. Super hard to get them tight with that one.

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