What's It Like Taking a Break From Pool?

Zphix · Sep 1, 2015

Recent circumstances may make it so that I cannot play as much as usual, and perhaps quit playing altogether for a few months. It's depressing only because I've only just recently started to get past the biggest plateau I've ever faced in pool and this comes at a time when my game is really starting to improve.

So, for those of you who have had to take breaks away from pool:

1) Did you come back with just as much passion and fire as you did when you were playing routinely?

2)Did your ability or technical knowledge become rusty or fall off any?

3)If it did, how long before you were playing back to your old level?

I'm worried that if I stop playing routinely as I have been for the last 2 years then I will lose the fire I have for this game.

-Richard

ElCorazonFrio · Sep 1, 2015

Zphix said:
Recent circumstances may make it so that I cannot play as much as usual, and perhaps quit playing altogether for a few months. It's depressing only because I've only just recently started to get past the biggest plateau I've ever faced in pool and this comes at a time when my game is really starting to improve.

So, for those of you who have had to take breaks away from pool:

1) Did you come back with just as much passion and fire as you did when you were playing routinely?

2)Did your ability or technical knowledge become rusty or fall off any?

3)If it did, how long before you were playing back to your old level?

I'm worried that if I stop playing routinely as I have been for the last 2 years then I will lose the fire I have for this game.

-Richard

I've had breaks many times.

I left pool completely for about four years while I was playing competitive foosball. When I came back, I was at pretty much where I left within about six months. I had a better attitude and could win more, tho...so I guess I was better when I came back, but not in pure skills.

I have taken 2-4months off many times in the past several years because I travel for work and don't have time to play when out of town. I usually come back to where I was in two or three hours.

As for the passion...it is always more. If it isn't after a break, then don't come back.

336Robin · Sep 1, 2015

What you need.

Zphix said:
Recent circumstances may make it so that I cannot play as much as usual, and perhaps quit playing altogether for a few months. It's depressing only because I've only just recently started to get past the biggest plateau I've ever faced in pool and this comes at a time when my game is really starting to improve.

So, for those of you who have had to take breaks away from pool:

1) Did you come back with just as much passion and fire as you did when you were playing routinely?

2)Did your ability or technical knowledge become rusty or fall off any?

3)If it did, how long before you were playing back to your old level?

I'm worried that if I stop playing routinely as I have been for the last 2 years then I will lose the fire I have for this game.

-Richard

Sometimes a break is the best thing for your game. chill enjoy it and buy a book or two when you get back to it and reignite the fire.

philly · Sep 1, 2015

Take a break? How about 40+ years off. I'm back for a year and a half and with more passion than ever. The only difference from then till now is my parents used to call around the poolrooms looking for me and now it's my wife. Hah.

deanoc · Sep 1, 2015

so far so good

Straightpool_99 · Sep 1, 2015

I'm not going to lie to you: Taking a break when you really want to play is not fun. While studying I have taken several months off, even though I wanted to play all the time. I kept my stroke grooved on the kitchen table, otherwise I didn't play what so ever. I have also taken voluntary breaks when I've been fed up, the longest for about 2 years. It's always a bit of work finding your stroke again, but the passion and desire to play really helps with the focus and concentration. Usually your game comes back, sometimes it's even stronger because you are no longer playing half-heartedly.

Cameron Smith · Sep 1, 2015

I took close to 8 months off when going back to school. Only playing maybe three or four times during that period. I was bouncing off the walls wanting to pick up a cue again by the end of it. Didn't take too long to play normally again though I was quite rusty for about month or so.

Tramp Steamer · Sep 1, 2015

What's it like to take a break from pool? It's the most wonderful feeling in the world. Food tastes better. The air is sweeter. Your wife starts looking good again. You feel alive!
That's how it was for me until fifteen years ago when, during a severe thunderstorm, I was forced to take refuge in a pool hall. While there I was asked to play some cheap One Pocket by a young woman, who later turned out to be the managers girlfriend, and by the time the storm has passed I was once again hooked by the siren song of phenolic resin spheres striking phenolic resin spheres. Oh, the humanity.
Now, I take my place among the other players and woodenly run ball after ball with, seemingly, no end in sight. :smile:

ENGLISH! · Sep 1, 2015

True Love never dies. As to ability, I think it depends on how you learned. I stopped playing from 4 nights a week when family responsibilities required it along with an eye accident, but I would still play a game or a few here & there whenever the opportunity arose. When I got back more into playing again, I was fine, but I found that I was just not quite as consistently sharp. It was just not always there at my highest level. I think, for me, it had to do with age or the eyes. My body was just not like it once was.

So, I think it depends on why you are taking the break & for how long it will be. But as I said, True Love never dies.

I hope something someone says helps you out & I wish you the best of luck with it.

Tokyo-dave · Sep 1, 2015

I've taken several breaks, and different lengths with different results. When I played daily and at a pretty good level, I would so,etimes take a one or two week break just to clear my mind, and often times came back a bit stronger. My belief is that taking this type of a break helped me to shed recently acquired bad habits and in a way, stripping yourself down to your original deeply ingrained fundamentals that your body has 'saved' over time.
Longer breaks I've found have a bad effect in the sense that I think after a certain amount of time when you're not 'reminding' your muscles of their muscle memory motions, you can actually forget and have to relearn your original form.
One thing I find for both types of breaks away from the game however, is a loss of speed control, which I've always believed to be one of the more difficult factors in pool. No matter how long or short the time off is, I come back having to struggle a bit with speed control.

Dave

bdorman · Sep 1, 2015

Oftentimes a break can be very beneficial, especially when it comes to the creative side of the game. Without breaks you tend to get tunnel-vision and ignore/forget that other possibilities exist.

Jimbojim · Sep 1, 2015

Tokyo-dave said:
I've taken several breaks, and different lengths with different results. When I played daily and at a pretty good level, I would so,etimes take a one or two week break just to clear my mind, and often times came back a bit stronger. My belief is that taking this type of a break helped me to shed recently acquired bad habits and in a way, stripping yourself down to your original deeply ingrained fundamentals that your body has 'saved' over time.
Longer breaks I've found have a bad effect in the sense that I think after a certain amount of time when you're not 'reminding' your muscles of their muscle memory motions, you can actually forget and have to relearn your original form.
One thing I find for both types of breaks away from the game however, is a loss of speed control, which I've always believed to be one of the more difficult factors in pool. No matter how long or short the time off is, I come back having to struggle a bit with speed control.

Dave

I couldn't agree with you more about the speed control!
I'm actually in a break from competitive pool because I went back to school. I haven't played tournaments since last october and I have played about once every 2 months since. I started playing last week for a big tournament coming up at the end of September that I simply couldn't pass on before I go back into hiding until january and man my speed is OFF. It took me a week to get my stroke back....i figure another week for speed/confidence/consistency and an extra week to get in competittive shape just before the tournament.

To answer the OP. I miss it bad! Can't wait to get back in it.

Poolmanis · Sep 1, 2015

Couple of months break is fine. It does not affect anything that 2 days of playing does not fix.
I had break of 4-5 years and that was too much. I knew how to play and saw shots okay but i felt i got someone else hands. That hooked me back to pool because i could not stand i sucked at it.
It was kinda funny experiment how skills degrade. I was defending champ at one yearly local handicap tournament. After 1 year break i still went play that and won. practiced 2 hours before it. After 2 years i still won it but it was tough and i practiced 2-3 days and i was little lucky also. 3 rd year i was total garbage. :embarrassed2:

JoeyA · Sep 1, 2015

I think that once you have been infected, there is no cure. The only hope is that the disease can me maintained.

1. Yes
2. Consistency fell off but my "paying attention" increased.
3. A few days at most. (This number depends upon what level you were originally) After being offer for a few months some pros like John Schmidt can practice for several hours or at the most a couple of days and be in stroke up to 95% of their ability.

JoeyA

Zphix said:
Recent circumstances may make it so that I cannot play as much as usual, and perhaps quit playing altogether for a few months. It's depressing only because I've only just recently started to get past the biggest plateau I've ever faced in pool and this comes at a time when my game is really starting to improve.

So, for those of you who have had to take breaks away from pool:

1) Did you come back with just as much passion and fire as you did when you were playing routinely?

2)Did your ability or technical knowledge become rusty or fall off any?

3)If it did, how long before you were playing back to your old level?

I'm worried that if I stop playing routinely as I have been for the last 2 years then I will lose the fire I have for this game.

-Richard

TATE · Sep 1, 2015

Zphix said:
Recent circumstances may make it so that I cannot play as much as usual, and perhaps quit playing altogether for a few months. It's depressing only because I've only just recently started to get past the biggest plateau I've ever faced in pool and this comes at a time when my game is really starting to improve.

So, for those of you who have had to take breaks away from pool:

1) Did you come back with just as much passion and fire as you did when you were playing routinely?

2)Did your ability or technical knowledge become rusty or fall off any?

3)If it did, how long before you were playing back to your old level?

I'm worried that if I stop playing routinely as I have been for the last 2 years then I will lose the fire I have for this game.

-Richard

Richard,

Use this time off to make your game even better. Study the game, the pro moves, defense, whatever. Watch and read as much as you can and learn.

The physical game important, but there is no substitute for knowledge. You will regain your skills pretty fast when you start playing again. The first week or two might feel shaky but you'll be a monster again in no time.

Chris

Zphix · Sep 1, 2015

Thanks for all of the inputs fellas, I really do appreciate the warming re-assurance. The initial feeling I got was depression, and lots of it. The thought of not being able to do something that gives me sooo much intrinsic value and pleasure feels awful.

Right now, I'd say that I'm either at the "A" level or approaching the A level. So either a weak A or close. Basically, I feel like I have the last piece of the puzzle and just recently started to put it all together. So, some portions were already together, and this final piece kinda helped me bridge things together and start to build the final picture more and more and now I'm out of resources to keep experimenting with different pieces.

Anyway, I am still depressed about this - this whole ordeal is just icing on top of a giant cake of multi-tiered BS and depressing stuff. Hopefully I can get away from this soon and get back to being myself. I really do appreciate you guys!

-Richard

TATE · Sep 1, 2015

Zphix said:
Thanks for all of the inputs fellas, I really do appreciate the warming re-assurance. The initial feeling I got was depression, and lots of it. The thought of not being able to do something that gives me sooo much intrinsic value and pleasure feels awful.

Right now, I'd say that I'm either at the "A" level or approaching the A level. So either a weak A or close. Basically, I feel like I have the last piece of the puzzle and just recently started to put it all together. So, some portions were already together, and this final piece kinda helped me bridge things together and start to build the final picture more and more and now I'm out of resources to keep experimenting with different pieces.

Anyway, I am still depressed about this - this whole ordeal is just icing on top of a giant cake of multi-tiered BS and depressing stuff. Hopefully I can get away from this soon and get back to being myself. I really do appreciate you guys!

-Richard

Sounds like you have a good attitude but are a little overwhelmed by your circumstances. I can tell you that much of what seemed like bad things at the time in my life proved to be pivotal moments that spurred me on to greater achievements and personal happiness than I expected or thought possible. Life is like pool, you have to take your lumps in order to be your best. There's no getting around it.

book collector · Sep 1, 2015

Everyones game deteriorates when they don't play.{Even if they don't think so}
It seems like system players suffer a little less, at least in my experiences.
I never thought I would say this but I am considering quitting for good, I keep running into people who make the pool room not fun to go to , they are all trying to turn their 12 dollars into a fortune, so hard, it just wears me out listening to them.
I even tried earplugs and a small earbud with music but they come in the door screaming and leave screaming and just blabber the same stupid drivel as loud as possible all the time they are there.
It was entertaining when Fats or Keith or Ronnie or guys like that did it.
When you have 12 half wits doing it at the same time, all day long, every time you go in to play, it lost it's flavor for me.
I like to have fun and joke around but I don't think it has to be a scream fest to enjoy yourself.
Does this go on where any of you guys play?

Brandon79ta · Sep 1, 2015

I've taken breaks and at times come back playing better then when I quit. But that was due to being burnt out and a time or 2 coming back and forgetting bad habits I had picked up.

Now not being able to play when you want to sucks, I have that problem a lot due to work and my screwed up sleep patterns. When I'm not able to play I just watch videos, read, etc to learn as much as I can.

I have learned watching streamed amateur tournaments is good and bad. Good because you'll see just how bad some of the "top" players can play but bad cause if you are studying the game you can pick up bad habits.

Jimbojim · Sep 2, 2015

I don't want to derail the thread but since we're talking about taking breaks, what do you guys do get back in shape when you're coming back from one? You just play some matches, do some exercices, assess your fundamentals?

What's It Like Taking a Break From Pool?

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