Getting to and maintaining "In-stroke"

[dizAndyVan]

Today I lost a single elimination tournament on my second match. My opponent really wasn't even tough. The previous opponent and the next opponent were even worse. I just kept dogging these really easy shots and screwing up my setups. When I lost the match I went to a practice table and lo and behold, I was making all of my shots and setting up exactly the way I wanted to. I didn't feel intimidated, nervous, discouraged, or anything but I couldn't connect to the game.

tl;dr: What are some of the things you do to get "in-stroke" and stay "in-stroke"?

 

[softshot]

Today I lost a single elimination tournament on my second match. My opponent really wasn't even tough. The previous opponent and the next opponent were even worse. I just kept dogging these really easy shots and screwing up my setups. When I lost the match I went to a practice table and lo and behold, I was making all of my shots and setting up exactly the way I wanted to. I didn't feel intimidated, nervous, discouraged, or anything but I couldn't connect to the game.

tl;dr: What are some of the things you do to get "in-stroke" and stay "in-stroke"?

PRE....SHOT......ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....ROUTINES....

the ingrained memory of doing it the same way over and over and over and over..

until you can't do it any other way..

then let go and let yourself do it without thinking about it

 

[Blackjack]

You can practice shots all day until your fingers bleed. However, if you do not spend just as much time preparing your mind for the pressures of competition, you might continue to have these types of experiences.

 

[Ratta]

You can practice shots all day until your fingers bleed. However, if you do not spend just as much time preparing your mind for the pressures of competition, you might continue to have these types of experiences.

100% agree-- without working on mental parts to be able to handle *competition pressure* all practice can be worthless

 

[dizAndyVan]

I'll find some new people to play and probably go play some money matches but here's another question,
I've always aimed by "feel," like some kind of mixture between ghost ball aiming and memory from experience from past shots, but three weeks ago I started using something akin to 90/90 to relieve some of the pressure in my pre-shot routine, but not when I miss my shots, I have trouble knowing the problem and how to fix it. What aiming system do you instructors prefer and what do you teach your students?

 

[justadub]

I'll find some new people to play and probably go play some money matches but here's another question,
I've always aimed by "feel," like some kind of mixture between ghost ball aiming and memory from experience from past shots, but three weeks ago I started using something akin to 90/90 to relieve some of the pressure in my pre-shot routine, but not when I miss my shots, I have trouble knowing the problem and how to fix it. What aiming system do you instructors prefer and what do you teach your students?

This could get interesting....

 

[pooltchr]

I'll find some new people to play and probably go play some money matches but here's another question,
I've always aimed by "feel," like some kind of mixture between ghost ball aiming and memory from experience from past shots, but three weeks ago I started using something akin to 90/90 to relieve some of the pressure in my pre-shot routine, but not when I miss my shots, I have trouble knowing the problem and how to fix it. What aiming system do you instructors prefer and what do you teach your students?

I can only speak for myself, although I do know a couple of instructors who feel the same as I. I teach several different aiming methods in class, including ghost ball, contact aiming, double distance, and SAM. I am also working on being able to teach a version of CTE. Personally, I use a combination of a couple of different systems. I offer them all to my students, and let them decide which one(s) work best for them.

Steve

 

[dizAndyVan]

Haha I'm glad the thread didn't die the moment I brought up pivot based aiming systems, I'm just surprised by how consistently they work in practice and to a lesser extent, in competition. I figured that if I could use it correctly I could take the guess work out of my aiming lending to a more consistent and confident preshot routine, and I think I need to find an instructor to teach me because I couldn't for the life of me get CTE but I kinda sorta got 90/90. Anyone else believe that pivot based aiming systems helps your preshot routine by not allowing you to second guess yourself?

Posted with Android mobile. Apologies in advamce for any grammatical mistakes or puntuation

 

[Scott Lee]

dizAndyVan...With an accurate and repeatable stroke, any 'aiming method' will have pretty good consistency. Without one NO aiming method will work well.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

Haha I'm glad the thread didn't die the moment I brought up pivot based aiming systems, I'm just surprised by how consistently they work in practice and to a lesser extent, in competition. I figured that if I could use it correctly I could take the guess work out of my aiming lending to a more consistent and confident preshot routine, and I think I need to find an instructor to teach me because I couldn't for the life of me get CTE but I kinda sorta got 90/90. Anyone else believe that pivot based aiming systems helps your preshot routine by not allowing you to second guess yourself?

Posted with Android mobile. Apologies in advamce for any grammatical mistakes or puntuation

 

[Highmiles]

Are you "letting go" of the bad shots? Sometimes you have to completely let them them go, to remove the self imposed pressure. If you are telling yourself I'm not going to do that again, or I can do better, you are screwing your mind up. You have to go to the table with a clean mind so that you can let your shots shoot themselves.