Skill is a huge percentage of everything but you can't say that without understanding there are a lot more skills required than just pocketing balls as a beginner often thinks. As you advance you keep adding things to what constitutes "skill". One major skill is shutting down the conscious, the part of the brain that thinks in words. Even trickier, you don't want it to shut down completely. I picture it as having an overview from nearby. It isn't jabbering all of the time but if it needs to step in and provide a little guidance it will. Likewise if something goes seriously wrong it will regroup and put together an entirely new pattern if needed.
Jumping to something attributed to Mark Wilson, I have to question the seventy percent performance number. If he said it I would like to see the context. Over ten thousand people compete in the olympics and not considering injuries very few of them don't come within five or ten percent of maximum performance at a guess. The timed events quickly show that the athletes are at very near maximum performance in competition, certainly no 30% fall off.
Far from falling off significantly, I expect my performance to improve in competition and it does. That doesn't just apply to pool, it holds true for half a dozen different sports or games.
Hu
