Does practice make you lacksidasical?

[berry]

Thank you for your wise answers and time. (I already knew the answers but I guess you figured that out) Hopefully this can bring people further in their game. I would like to keep on discussing our knowledge and keep a high level topic on training. Cheers! btw sorry for my English gramar but I am Dutch native..

Goals need to be set realistically and within the players ability to achieve them. Many players confuse goal setting with self induced pressure. If the player puts too much emphasis on the unrealistic outcome, that will ultimately lead to frustration.

Putting pressure on yourself is fine, but if the player is expecting results outside of his/her capabilities, they tend to focus more on the outcome rather than the process. When this happens, the player ignores the basic fundamentals that are required to perform the smallest tasks, and therefore the goals drift farther out of reach.

The player has to be realistic in looking at what is within his grasp, and what is not. The player also has to be careful and establish performance goals, and not outcome goals. Setting a goal to "win" a tournament, is not the same as breaking the tournament down into segments and establishing sub-goals that are designed to lead you to an ultimate goal.

Many goals are abandoned after a setback, mainly because the focus was on a specific, ultimate outcome. When we do that, sometimes we forget to see how far we got in our quest, as opposed to focusing on how far we fell short.

Winning a tournament can never be a goal as we have no control over this. Our oponent can have a top day and never miss a single shot..Therefor personal performance goals work better and give you less pressure.

I once asked a frustating player how many balls he would allow himself to miss in a pressure match and still be satisfied. 6 shots was his anwser. I gave him six coins that he could flip after missing a shot. If he would flip all six he was allowed to act frustated (and mess up his game). Now at least he played well (for most of the game :wink
We worked on catagorize the missed shots and finding solutions for them in his strong points (instead of working all the time on this problems).

(I may or may not get what your question is - but here is my response)

It is important to work on your strengths and to make them stronger. I completely agree with you. It is important to take inventory of our abilities, as well as our inabilities. It is also important to remain within our comfort zone when choosing shots, position routes, etc. It reminds me of the old joke - nobody knows how good Buddy Hall is because we've never sen make or have to take a difficult shot. There is a good reason for that, and it is because Buddy plays to his strengths.

During practice, it is also important to pay attention to your results. If you try the same shot and miss it 5 times in a row, move on to something else before your frustrate yourself. Many players will keep shooting the same shot, and the zap their energy. The frustration will creep into other areas of your game, and then its just a downhill slide. If you find yourself getting frustrated, it is a good idea to move onto something that you can achieve so that the frustration does not lead to a lack of confidence. You can always go back to that shot when you feel more confident with it.

hmmm but sometimes they just need to work through your frustration as this also happens in their matches. Therefor it is good to set a time for an excersice (max 50 minutes for trained persons and 30 for starters) and stick to this even if your frustated.

Journals are only useful if the necessary information is recorded correctly. If you diagram a shot - it important to know the following information -

What was the situation?
What action did I take?
What were the factors that led to my decision?
What was the outcome?
How did I process the outcome?

If it was a negative outcome:
What can I do in the future to strengthen my game in this particular area?

What must I do to keep this experience from weakening my confidence?

In the future:
How can I use this experience to strengthen my confidence and to grow as a player?

Generally, this is the way I look at these issues. If you have any other questions - or if I just went off on a tangent about something you didn't ask me - let me know.LOL. Hopefully someone out there can put this information to good use.[/QUOTE]

The problem here is that most of these mistakes are not lay out things but mental (pre shot routine, focus, frustration, thinking about winning / losing, thinking about how bad the table is ect.) These things need to be trained as well. How can it be that we call this a mental game for the biggest part and we always train on the table.. and how can we train the mental game?

With great respect,

Berry

 

[MitchAlsup]

I was doing my drills and got to the third set and noticed that I was not focusing at all. As a matter of fact I wasn’t even caring if I made it or missed.

When you get to the point you are not (or cannot) give complete focus to the ball and shot at hand, you are undoing the practice that came before. Stop and take a break until you can focus.

Batting balls around is neither fun, nor productive.

 

[TX Poolnut]

There is no pressure. Play 14.1. Lots of pressure once you get past 14 or 28.

 

[DelaWho???]

Two words..... Q Skills. Allen Hopkins Q Skills Challenge.

Rack all 15, break from the head spot. Miscue, or scratch is -1 CB off the table is -2. If you scratch you can put the ball on either spot and shoot any direction on the table, or in the kitchen shooting out of the kitchen. If you break and come up dry you can take a drop -1 and either put the rack around the CB and move it anywhere in the rack, or treating it as a scratch and using the above stated rules.

Pocket the balls in any order calling ball and pocket. Score 1 for each ball pocketed until you are down to 5 balls on the table. The last 5 must be shot in rotation and are worth 2 point each. Total points in a rack 20. The rack ends when you miss. 10 racks is a set, and 10 sets gives you your skill level (max 2000)

Below 300 recreational player
301-600 intermediate
601-900 advanced
901-1200 developing pro
and so on

This gives you a good look at your shot selection, shot making, problem solving, and especially position play. It is also sobering to put yourself on a scale and see where you are. My best is a 458, I have also scored a 433, and a 452, so I know where I stand. It is frustrating and motivating to see that all I could muster was 25% of the possible points.

Focus is the name of the game here



:thumbup:

 

[maldito]

I was doing my drills and got to the third set and noticed that I was not focusing at all. As a matter of fact I wasn’t even caring if I made it or missed. I tried changing it up and doing my 5th set instead but just didn’t care. So I threw some balls out and started playing the 5 ball ghost.

Does doing the same mundane practice session get you to the point of boredom?

it depends on the drill - if you have to repeat the drill when you miss then it does not get boring only sometimes - the best drill for me is the 5 ball ghost - if you get 3 ahead then you advance to 6 ball ghost - if you lose the you go down to 4 ball ghost etc., this drill keeps me grinding away - if I am working on a drill I will alternate it by playing a rack of cribbage pool as I never get bored playing this game as a solo practice.