attitude or fundamentals...which is more important ?

L

lorider

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
the reason i am asking is because of my experience at a regional qualifier yesterday.

i was siting at home yesterday dwelling on whether to enter the tournament or not.it was the last one our area is holding.

i had entered almost every one this year and i was getting frustrated because i never was able to qualify. i felt like i was wasting my time and money .....either i played bad and got put out by a 3 or played great making it to the finals and lose hill-hill to a 7.

i had txt my lo asking if it was going to be by s/l bracket or open. he said s/l if enough of each s/l shows up. that never happens.

at the last minute i decided wth, its the last one ...try again. just my luck....my g/f needs the truck to run some errands and its raining and pretty cold so i aint riding my bike so i have her drop me off.

i get there too late to enter 8 ball.....my best game in my opinion so i have to wait 3 hours or so for 9 ball. so i am hanging around watching matches amd volunteer to keep score for some to keep from getting bored....i never practice...one of my downfalls.

during the 8 ball finals i decide wth...practice some. i played one rack before they called my name. during that one rack i played lousy. missed some easy shots.

on my way to my 1st match i decided to put that practice rack behind me. reminded myself that when i play good in practice i play lousy during my match and when i play lousy in practice i play great during my match.

i get up to the table and see who my opponent is . a 7 who i have never beat. i thought ...oh great ...1 and out....its single elimination.this guy has frustrated me and got me out of my game just about every time i have played him. he is one of those great shooters who has no ball control but pulls off some of the damndest slop shots you will ever see and 90% of the time gets good on the next ball.

i said fvck it...just play the table and dont let his shit shots get to you. it goes back and forth and we get down to we both only need 1 point with him on the 9 ball. he left himself hard after smacking the 8 in at warp speed. he tried a cross side bank at warp speed...misses but the 9 goes back across table into the other side. he wins....no wait....the cue ball goes up table and scratches. those shit shots finaly caught up to him. whew !

my next match is against an 8 who i have never beat. i thought ...damn...it aint getting any easier. i told my self again....just play the table . i lost count of how many safes he played but i never gave him bih. i knew i was getting in his head when he started muttering to himself after a few 2 and 3 rail kicks i made lol. i managed to pull off a win 38-55. whew !

3rd match i breezed through another 5 like me 38-26

made it to the finals. damn !

last match is vs another 5. he wins the lag and runs out to the 9 which he missed. i am down 8 -0 when i get to the table but i aint worried . i win 38-28.

reflecting back on how i pulled this off i realized it was nothing but my attitude....i still have the same piss poor fundamentals i have always had lol. :D
 
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It takes the right attitude to learn the fundamentals in most aspects of life, including Pool.

Congratulations on the great victory.
 
rrick33 said:
This game is 90% mental. That being said, I would suspect that attitude carries a bit more weight.
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maybe i should have used the word...mental state as that is what i was refering to.

the word mental encompasses ...attitude....focus...and confidence....imo of course.:grin-square:
 
CuesDirectly said:
It takes the right attitude to learn the fundamentals in most aspects of life, including Pool.

Congratulations on the great victory.
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thanks :)

i have a very inconsistent level of play week to week and some times in back to back nights.

while i readily admit i don;t have a great knowledge of this game ....which affects my lack of proper fundamentals . i find that my mental preparedness before each match affects my level of play more than my lack of fundamentals.

in effect if i start a match worrying about my opponents handicap...get frustrated over his slop shots or inadverdently leaving me hooked i play bad.

if i go into a match with the attitude where it don't matter who my opponent is or how well he shoots i seem to play above my handicap.
 
rrick33 said:
This game is 90% mental. That being said, I would suspect that attitude carries a bit more weight.
Click to expand...

You can be as positive as you want, but if your stroke is crooked, you won't get too far.
This game is half mental and half physical.
 
If your game is inconsistent then it's your fundamentals that are inconsistent. That's not to say that attitude isn't important but when you learn to have complete confidence in your fundamentals, your attitude will follow.

What I think happens when players "don't care" or "get drunk" and then magically shoot better is that they stop overthinking and let their muscle memory take over. The problem with using those techniques to get in stroke is that there's some confirmation bias at play. You don't win more often in the long term, you just only remember the wins.

If you can teach yourself to approach a game with solid fundamentals, confidence you'll find that you can get in stroke with more consistency.
 
rrick33 said:
This game is 90% mental. That being said, I would suspect that attitude carries a bit more weight.
Click to expand...

Could we not repeat that anytime this comes up?

Fundamentals, practised for 1 year and then again every now and then. Don't get "into a habbit and get sloppy".
And by that I simply mean: being able to hit the cue ball speed-controlled at the exact spot you need to hit it, reproducably.

Then concentration, which is the hardest part to keep up for a long time. This is the part that needs practising - shutting out everything for the shots, then relaxing the brain so it can again concentrate to 100%.

When I run 8ball at actual full concentration (no talking, no pauses, ~30-75 seconds per shot) I'm physically tired after one rack.

Great strategy from the thread creator - simply play the balls and don't worry about your opponent. Too many get caught up in numbers (he's a 7 ...) and statistics.
Deadly safeties can ruin a lot of players, being able to kick/bank your way out of them even more.

Cheers!
 
You need a good mental game to play well under pressure and you need good fundamentals to play well, period.
 
I'm seeing that if I get frustrated (by my player or my opponent's), my play invariably suffers. As soon as I just calm down, I shoot with a clearer head and my fundametals take over. They feed off each other.
 
With good solid fundamentals your par game will become higher. Without them you will score -10 one day and +18 the next. They bring consistency to your game I guess is what I'm trying to get at. They won't make you play amazing over night or over the course of a year but you won't have as many off days. In a race to 5 I am capable of beating SVB. In a race to 100 I don't stand a chance. Shane's par game is a lot better than my par game... So over time he will come out on top.

People view having solid fundamentals as a way to make you a better player. They arent. The make you a consistent player. Having mental toughness, never knowing when you're beat... Those are personality traits that will serve you well in pool, they can't be taught imo. The only way to become a better player is with experience. The more experience you have with good fundamentals the better your bad days will be... Meaning you can still beat players on a bad day.
 
That was a story about having a good attitude? Seemed like you had a terrible attitude.

Anyone who thinks attitude is more important, or even more than 1/10 as important as physical skills: Take one of the toughest competitors in the world, say, Michael Jordan, and enter him into a regional pool tournament. There's no way that his attitude is going to make up for the fact that he can't play pool. On the other hand, take Earl Strickland's incredible ability and pair it with Earl Strickland's absolutely horrendous attitude, and you've still got one of the best players who ever lived.
 
well, it's hard to draw a conclusion from one tournament result but generally if you have a good attitude then you are more receptive to the opportunities and more focused on making the best decisions you can to the best of your abilities.

The most cheerful person in the world isn't going to have much chance against a pro who doesn't give up opportunities. On the other hand a bitter person tends to make more unforced errors.

I have been beaten often by weaker players with more heart and a good attitude. So all in all I say attitude is more important than fundamentals only because a good attitude pays dividends no matter what skill level you're at.
 
Pidge said:
With good solid fundamentals your par game will become higher. Without them you will score -10 one day and +18 the next. They bring consistency to your game I guess is what I'm trying to get at. They won't make you play amazing over night or over the course of a year but you won't have as many off days. In a race to 5 I am capable of beating SVB. In a race to 100 I don't stand a chance. Shane's par game is a lot better than my par game... So over time he will come out on top.

People view having solid fundamentals as a way to make you a better player. They arent. The make you a consistent player. Having mental toughness, never knowing when you're beat... Those are personality traits that will serve you well in pool, they can't be taught imo. The only way to become a better player is with experience. The more experience you have with good fundamentals the better your bad days will be... Meaning you can still beat players on a bad day.
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I disagree that a winning attitude can't be taught. One of the things that actually makes us human is the ability to change for the better. Yes some people naturally have more "grit" than others, that's actually a researched thing which is thought to be a big part in success. Wise people have always known it but now research confirms it, success is "99% perspiration and 1% inspiration" as the saying goes.

but there are many stories of people who turned the corner and changed from being negative to being positive and having a go-getter winning attitude. This character trait can be developed for sure.

I fully agree that the more skilled you are the more confident you can be in your skills.
 
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