dealing with emotion

[gpeezy]

this is one thing that without a doubt in my mind makes or breaks a pool player.everyone has seen someone make a great shot, one of those where you would say aloud "what a shot" and watch the shooter proceed to miss the next ball.also everyone has seen the player that the night has been sour and it seems they can't control their aggrivation it just builds and builds until there is no coming back.even when they start playing better they just can't gain that confidence needed to fall on a not dead but a consistant confident stroke.this is a hill or let say a large bump in the road to becoming a player.alot of players play with visible emotion whether it be visible disapiontment ,complaints,or a loose who cares type of style.then there is the type that hardly ever seem to take a deep breath.its something myself deal with well sometimes and other times it seems unbearable.i've also found if i ever have one of those i'm so mad i don't wanna play anymore episodes i usually follow it with a "out of stroke" period.how do some of you azber's deal with the flustrations many pool players go through?is there a train of thought that can keep you in focus and keep your temperment in a summer donna kind of way?

 

[Dhakala]

(snip nearly incomprehensible lower-case, unpunctuated ramblings)...

is there a train of thought that can keep you in focus and keep your temperment in a summer donna kind of way?

WHAT in Hell is a "summer donna"??

One's emotions will vary during a game. The trick is to quiet them during the pre-shot routine. But when people feel any emotion strongly, the tend to shorten or skip the pre-shot routine. Practice meditation, deliberation, and appreciation of every step in your pre-shot routine.

 

[TheConArtist]

I remember Allison never showing any emotions at all until The Trick Shot Tournament, there she showed emotions, talking to herself etc... but i think it was because she was out of environment.

The trick is to quiet them during the pre-shot routine.

I like that.

 

[ShootingArts]

a few helps

First, put things in perspective. Even if you are losing a nickel or dime it ain't the end of the world.

Then focus on breathing in and out smoothly and evenly and draining all emotion from your face. No reason to give your opponent a surge of confidence seeing you losing it.

After that it is one shot, regroup, one shot, regroup, until you feel your rythm coming back. If it doesn't come back you can still win one shot at a time, most of the time.

If you are playing poorly break that down to one shot too. "I fluffed the last shot." That is it, it is gone, no biggie. Don't make missing one shot or a few shots or leaves into a bigger disaster than it is. Even if the whole night is rough, there are 364 more each year.

Hu

 

[Gerry]

good points Hu! I can get amped up myself at times. Never really any anger, I got rid of that a long time ago. I just get what I would call nervous energy, jitters, whatever you want to call it. Funny thing is, sometimes I'm fine under the gun, other times playing for peanuts I'm all amped? I did notice years ago when I was playing in like 4 tourneys a week, I rarely got nervous, even in the finals.

I am re-reading Pleasures of small motions this week. It goes into great detail about the mental side of the game. That book makes a lot of sense to me, and how I play.

Gerry

 

[Purdman]

Emotional Growth

And least we forget that emotional growth stops the day we start using mood altering chemicals on a regular basis!!!! That is why we have so many 45 year old 16 year olds today. This includes alcohol and any other mood altering chemical wheather it be prescription or weed!!
Believe me, I know. The good news is that when you quit, you can catch back up!
Purdman

Now try and control that!!!

 

[Gerry]

well then I'm not friggin quittin if you have to catch back up!....uhh, I mean, ...what? where was I?

Gerry

 

[Purdman]

well then I'm not friggin quittin if you have to catch back up!....uhh, I mean, ...what? where was I?

Gerry

Gerry, wait a minute! You don't regress whan you start using again. Once you experience the growth, you got it, just like your stroke!!!
It is well worth the effort.
Purdman
Been there, done that!!

 

[Gerry]

oh oh oh........ok, good thenPurd!

Gerry

 

[Gregg]

Aside from drinking and drugging, I think that everyone wants to be able to focus on each and every shot as an individual effort.

But it can be hard to to this under the bright lights of competition, where that shot you took in practice may not be the same shot you are taking in competition, even though it is!

Most of my frustrations come from playing what I feel is below my skill level. It can really get away from me, and I have a short fuse, and will verbalize out loud my frustrations. Some opponents will see this as a good time to circle the wagons. Other will become distracted. Either way, it takes longer to regroup myself for my next opportunity, and really does not give my my best chance of winning the game or match.

 

[RBLilly]

Anger

I feel my biggest problem is letting my own self get to me. What I mean is this. If I miss a shot I am hard on myself, and when I am hard on myself then I miss more. The more I just blow that shot off after missing it, then the more I stay focused. That is actually what I am working on right now.

I used to play really good when I would get mad, in other words when I was in a bar and someone was talking smak I would just let it all out on the pool table and make them look like an idot.

Now that I play in a lot of pool halls where people respect each other, there isn't any smak talk going on while I am shooting. So the only thing I hear is what is inside my head. LOL

Anyway, I am pretty good at tuning out my surroundings so the only thing I am working on is not letting my own emotions get in the way of how I shoot.

I will let you all know how it goes.

 

[PoolSharkAllen]

WHAT in Hell is a "summer donna"??

I don't know what a "summer donna" means but the most relevant definitions that I could find for "donna" are:
- an Italian woman of rank
- in Italian, lady, title used for dames and some noblewomen, sometimes employed loosely in common parlance.

Maybe the original poster was thinking about an Italian woman in the summer?

 

[chefjeff]

And least we forget that emotional growth stops the day we start using mood altering chemicals on a regular basis!!!! That is why we have so many 45 year old 16 year olds today. This includes alcohol and any other mood altering chemical wheather it be prescription or weed!!
Believe me, I know. The good news is that when you quit, you can catch back up!
Purdman

Now try and control that!!!

Coming from another experienced old fart, I'd say that that is just partly right, Purd. The thing that mood-altering substances do (including cigarettes, as you now know) is they enable a person to be more dishonest with himself. So, I'd say it is the dishonesty that is the basic problem; some chemicals just facilitate that. Working on eliminating the dishonesties first and the drugs can become just another costly thing of which to rid oneself.

I prioritize it this way as some drugs can help a person to live more happily, so it is not drugs, per se, that are bad....that's part of being honest with oneself, thus it trumps the slogan of "no drugs."

fwiw and imho,

Jeff Livingston

 

[Andrew Manning]

It's a Saturday Night Live reference. They had a sketch with annoying employees of some establishment yelling "simmer down now" at customers (I never figured out why it was funny). The words "simmer down now" get more exaggerated and strangley pronounced as they say it over and over again, so it sorta sounds like "simma don nah" But at one point they stop a customer making a complaint and hold up a picture of Donna Summer, asking if he can name that 70's disco queen, and then how her name would appear in a phone book. The customer says "Summer, Donna?" and they say "that's right, simma don nah!". It's really a very dumb sketch. Not sure why I remember it.

-Andrew

 

[Billy_Bob]

Well I guess becoming a better player (practicing) has helped me the most to deal with most sharking situations. Some players feel they need to shark to win against me. I realize they are revealing that they are a not so good player when they start their sharking. I am amused by sharking these days mostly. Does not affect my game much.

But I am human. I can be stressed out from other things going on in my life and I will not play so well. I play best when I have no personal problems on my mind and I am relaxed and having fun.

As I become a better player, I encounter more and more nastiness in this game. There are some real experts out there who are quite capable of ticking me off big time. I will fall victim to an attempt to tick me off the first time, but after they have succeeded once, I will file it away and know what they are up to next time. Then I am immune.

Also if the nastiness level gets too high - to the point I am not having fun playing... Well I don't *have* to play. I can walk and have done so. Life is short. I'm not going to pay money to go out and get stressed. I *will* pay money to go out and have a good time - have fun.

Most of the nastiness in my area is with some of the players on the lesser skilled leagues and tournaments in my area, however there are leagues and tournaments with only better skilled players in my area too. And at these the players are quite well behaved. So I am fortunate in that I have the option of only playing with the better skilled players.

So far as my playing not so good upsetting me, that does not happen. I just do the best I can. That is all anyone can ask.

 

[Gerry]

Grady has some good info on his instructionals about sharking. Mostly he said to nip it in the bud. You MUST insist on your opponent giving you the same respect that you give them. Letting it continue only makes it worse IMO. If a player is obviously sharking I usually say "are you that afraid of my game that you have to resort to sharking?" I rarely have to say anything more.

Gerry

 

[Purdman]

Coming from another experienced old fart, I'd say that that is just partly right, Purd. The thing that mood-altering substances do (including cigarettes, as you now know) is they enable a person to be more dishonest with himself. So, I'd say it is the dishonesty that is the basic problem; some chemicals just facilitate that. Working on eliminating the dishonesties first and the drugs can become just another costly thing of which to rid oneself.

I prioritize it this way as some drugs can help a person to live more happily, so it is not drugs, per se, that are bad....that's part of being honest with oneself, thus it trumps the slogan of "no drugs."

fwiw and imho,

Jeff Livingston

Hey wait a minute!! Did somebody just suggest that I am an old fart?
What happened to 250 lbs of romping stomping romance? What about big WALLY? I saw him last week!
Jeff, honesty comes with enlightenment. That goes along with calling fouls on yourself and not taking advantage of a drunk!!!! There are many folks in this world that would gladly handle both situations the wrong way. It is really starting to bother me. People who are willing to lie to ya, steal from ya, cheat ya out of something, and falsely acuse you of something. I have it going on here at work and you don't know wheather to say anything cause you don't know how deep it runs. I want to retire, move to the mountains, garden, hunt, fish and make love to my wife til the end. Screw the bastards man. I will play pool with my wife too.
Purdman

 

[gpeezy]

summer donna

its off a saturday night live skit.it just means settle down.

 

[blah blah]

"Summer, Donna?" and they say "that's right, simma don nah!". It's really a very dumb sketch. Not sure why I remember it.

-Andrew

LOL I was thinking of donna summer, but couldn't name a song by her. Quick- searching google for possible references that you might mean, i found several of her "solid gold hits"- all of which were really funny in a how-to-deal-with-pool-emotions context:

She Works Hard for the Money
Hot Stuff
Who Do You Think You're Foolin'
Walk Away
Bad Girls
Hurts Just a Little
Can't Get to Sleep at Night

 

[chefjeff]

Hey wait a minute!! Did somebody just suggest that I am an old fart?
What happened to 250 lbs of romping stomping romance? What about big WALLY? I saw him last week!
Jeff, honesty comes with enlightenment. That goes along with calling fouls on yourself and not taking advantage of a drunk!!!! There are many folks in this world that would gladly handle both situations the wrong way. It is really starting to bother me. People who are willing to lie to ya, steal from ya, cheat ya out of something, and falsely acuse you of something. I have it going on here at work and you don't know wheather to say anything cause you don't know how deep it runs. I want to retire, move to the mountains, garden, hunt, fish and make love to my wife til the end. Screw the bastards man. I will play pool with my wife too.
Purdman

Yeah, I heard that"Big" Wally was just hanging around nowadays...a real swinger!

Honesty needs enlightenment to get started, but then comes the hard work to make sure one doesn't slip back to b/s'ing oneself. And it requires fending off the dishonest who constantly attempt to change one back to their lazy, violence-backed ways of thinking and doing.

Honesty requires rational thinking, hard work, discipline, real goals, a strong will, persistence, optimism, good communication, a sense of humor, and a good set of armor...and some other stuff I can't think of right now.

Once you crack the code, ain't life beautiful?

Jeff Livingston