teko454 said:
I have this problem that I cant shake. When Im playing 8ball or 9ball I run the rack nicely until i get to the last two balls and blow it. Almost every time this happens. I do not know what is wrong. Anyone have any ideas on how to work on this or should i just quit playing. Thanks Dave
Just a thought and most importantly there are others who spent their lives at teaching, I don't, so please take this as an opinion of one player.
Sometimes we get ahead of ourselves as we divert some of our focus to accomplishments already made towards the end rack. Instead of maintaining the "one shot at a time", we jump mentally to the "end of game", the consequences of winning or losing. The one shot at a time means we always plan 3 balls, that is in 8 ball, 9 and 10 ball. As we approach the end, the three balls are not there, this causes a change. Change causes self awareness, and this self awareness re-creates the same feeling we entered the match with, nerves are noticed.
Somehow, instead of creating a "bell curve" confidence effect, we need to enable one that maintains the peak. Introducing a tool set that promotes a more consistent confidence level, the same we felt during mid balls, throughout the game is vital.
As I mentioned, change always results in self awareness, a huge negative in this game. It is also a distraction to achieving "in the zone" play. Consider the beginning the match when self awareness is at its greatest. If we think of our stroke, speed and bridge, we will shoot our worst. The focus is too close to our bodies. Some players will actually shake a bit because of this. I believe there are two important parts to making the "end game" at mid game confidence.
The first;
1. Aiming technique. Our focus should be completely tuned in to the absolute point of the OB of our intended hit. If we allow our thoughts or feeling awareness in our body to enter, ie hands, stance and so forth, we have lost confidence. On the other hand, if we force ourselves to have the greater concentration on the absolute smallest point of the OB we intend contact with the CB, we have just removed self awareness to self confidence. It's ahead of us, I think this is key. After all how else is it possible to stroke straight and smoothly if we feel mostly the immediate? Just like drawing a straight line between two points, the straightest and smoothest is always when we look ahead to the second point and just stroke the pen to that focus. Focus belongs ahead of us for the best opportunity to a straight & smooth line. The key is to focus ahead, after all we already should know our own abilities at this time, and certainly in the game is not when we need to practice it. Focus ahead will automatically adjust everything we already know, automatically, without any conscious thought. This build confidence by working harder at each shot to get the CB there.
2. Plan. I think as we approach the last few balls so must our mental plan of how we work the table, without question. It must be a habit so that our mind does not see this as "change" rather a continuation. I for one really do not like the idea of attempting to gain position on balls that are just not there. ie, in nine ball to pretend to get position on a ghost ten ball, I just never liked ghost stuff. After all, our minds will eventually figure out that we are playing games with ourselves and we will then end up missing. The closer we keep everything to "real", the better our minds will accept and it will just make sense with less to question. In other words, no need for sub-conscious distractions. (How many choke on the 8 ball in nine ball? This is proof that end game does not need position on a ball that does not exist.) End game should be making the 9 in 9 ball, not getting position on a fictitious ball. The last two balls; The second from the last shot should favor position to our most confident angle of the last one, then align the shot with ultimate focus on the ball shooting. On the last shot we should first mentally see the path of the CB following the shot, so we do not scratch. This is so important because it will add confidence. Forget hitting it to easy, this is not natural. After all, this is the game winning ball, lots of bad things can happen if we baby a key shot.
Anyway, just my thoughts and I'm sure some may disagree with some very good reasons.
).
