How to Prepare for a Big Tournament

RackGirl

RackGirl

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Can anybody give me suggestions as to the best way to prepare for a big upcoming tournament? It is about a month away and I would love to hear any feedback as to how to prepare both fundamentally and mentally.

Do I practice drills? ...play weekly local tournaments? ...play sets against friends who are a couple balls better than me in hopes that I step up my game?

Also, I am worried about getting the jitters. Any thoughts there?

Thanks!
 
Here's the items that I believe in.

1. Never bring in new mechanics information 30 days before a important event.
2. Try to duplicate the event before hand. (aka 8-ball on a bar table etc.)
3. Review my three PSRs.
4. Play more than practice.

randyg
 
Live, eat and sleep pool.........................

RackGirl said:
Can anybody give me suggestions as to the best way to prepare for a big upcoming tournament? It is about a month away and I would love to hear any feedback as to how to prepare both fundamentally and mentally.

Do I practice drills? ...play weekly local tournaments? ...play sets against friends who are a couple balls better than me in hopes that I step up my game?

Also, I am worried about getting the jitters. Any thoughts there?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Sleep well, eat well and live well....

By that I mean take real good care of yourself. Make sure you get lots of excercise. Work the different body parts at a fitness center with the proper equipment. Tell them what you want. They will help you tone up real good without tearing anything up.

This will build up your endurance.

Because you are excercising your body will really enjoy the great healthy food you eat. Soon you will even feel lighter on your feet.

All of this will help you sleep much better. better than ever before. these tournys can be very grueling and it is not usually the best player that wins but the player that can continue to play their best when their energy tank is getting empty.

If you do these things on a regular basis your tank will start out fuller than everyone elses. It's almost like cheating. But they could do it also but first they need to know why and how?.

Tony Zeirman in Minneapolis made a statement on time about me at a tourny. He didn't know i was right behind him though. He said; Why does he win all these tournaments. He doesn't play that much better than the rest of us.

If he only would have seen all the preparation that was involved he would have understood. Excercise was really key. When everyone was dragging I was still fresh as a kitten.

Do your drills, play in the local tournys and play with someone above your level so you really have to work. Play cheap sets so you need to pay if you lose. this will put a little pressure on yourself that you need in the tourny. And keep your game face on all the time. We play like we practice.

Very important..... WE PLAY LIKE WE PRACTICE.

Never shoot a shot unless you put everything you got behind it. Anything else is giving up on the shot. If the shot doesn't look right don't shoot it. Get back up and look at it again.

Very Important. NEVER GIVE UP ON A SHOT.

Get someone that you know that really knows something to coach you some. I feel you already play at a pretty high level. Someone that's been through the fire of competition. There are alot of great instructors fairly close to you I'm sure.

The main thing to work on is keeping your focus. Being able to focus when your tired or don't feel good. Being able to keep your focus when you need to make that one shot for all the bananas. Being able to keep everything out of your head so you can keep focused on the task at hand.

It's amazing that when you work hard at all these things how the games just get that much easier to win and your opponents just start not looking as good as they once did because they are not getting to shoot as much.

I'm in Chicago right now and i will give you a hand. I'll help you get ready. I'll help you play the best pool of your life.

All it takes is a call 715-563-8712 talk to you soon. geno....I'm serious as a heart attack ! It would be fun.......
 
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Practice more than you play.... You have to hit balls... enough balls that the jitters won't come into play.... Enough balls that you get to the point that you don't remember your misses.... drill on shots you know will come up and drill on shots you hate and either learn to love em or learn to play safe off of them.....

Playing will have you more worried about your opponent than the table... Playing better players will have you losing and having to deal with being ok with that....

Hit as many balls as humanly possible in the next month but with a purpose.... Start with the shots you think are easy and shoot them until you cannot miss them and then move on to the ones you make most of the time and rinse and repeat.....

By the time you get to the hard ones your confidence should be high as well as your shot making skills so you will be able to finally understand when a shot is too hard to make consistently and then you get to learn a safety as the answer instead of the make....

When the tourney gets here shoot like you practiced... make the shots you know and duck the ones you don't...

You do this for enough tournaments you'll start finding yourself moving through the brackets while others are packing up and heading home.....
 
RackGirl said:
Can anybody give me suggestions as to the best way to prepare for a big upcoming tournament? It is about a month away and I would love to hear any feedback as to how to prepare both fundamentally and mentally.

Do I practice drills? ...play weekly local tournaments? ...play sets against friends who are a couple balls better than me in hopes that I step up my game?

Also, I am worried about getting the jitters. Any thoughts there?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

If you keep referring to it as a "BIG" tournament, you will definitely have the jitters. You're setting yourself up for it. I have a saying that I made up: That which you attach importance to, becomes important. OK, so I'm no philosopher, but think about it....if you make it a big deal in your head, you are starting out at a disadvantage. When something becomes important, it all turns very very serious.

I can assure you that you will not die if you play poorly. With that information in hand, you can now relax, since you now know you will survive to shoot another day after it's all over.

It is extremely difficult to play well when you try so hard. Try to keep a positive attitude this month, and regardless of how you play going into the event, just try to enjoy the experience. I looked at your old posts and it appears that you are no stranger to competition.

And stop calling it a BIG tournament. It's just a tournament.
 
Everyone gets the jitters. EVERYONE!

Learn to enjoy the feeling of being in the heat. It's why we practice and play the game. Win or lose I always enjoy that feeling of having been in the mix.

One of the best ways to get around the pressure is having a rock solid preshot routine. If you ingrain it on every shot it's almost like going on auto pilot after you have decided how you want to play the shot.

Good luck in your tourney.
 
FranCrimi said:
If you keep referring to it as a "BIG" tournament, you will definitely have the jitters. You're setting yourself up for it. I have a saying that I made up: That which you attach importance to, becomes important. OK, so I'm no philosopher, but think about it....if you make it a big deal in your head, you are starting out at a disadvantage. When something becomes important, it all turns very very serious.

I can assure you that you will not die if you play poorly. With that information in hand, you can now relax, since you now know you will survive to shoot another day after it's all over.

It is extremely difficult to play well when you try so hard. Try to keep a positive attitude this month, and regardless of how you play going into the event, just try to enjoy the experience. I looked at your old posts and it appears that you are no stranger to competition.

And stop calling it a BIG tournament. It's just a tournament.
Click to expand...


Very very well choosen words, as usual Fran :-)
lg
Ingo
 
This is great advice, everyone. Thank you. Seriously I can never hear enough from folks like you who have "been there, done that". I know everyone had to start somewhere. It's nice to hear everyone's advice, their routines and even their experiences (both good and bad).

This is more of a bucket list item for me - and to most it doesn't mean much - it's the RTC - but to me, it is bigger than anything I have ever played in.

And your'e right, I need to lighten up and not take it so seriously. By that I mean that I will practice and put my time in at the table but what more can I do, right? It will be interesting to see how I will handle REAL pressure...I may do great or I may fall on my face but either way, at least I can say I did it (I thought about bailing at one point). The last time I had no expectations, I won the tournament so maybe there's something to be said to that.

Thanks everyone. I really enjoyed your repsonses & I am printing them out so I can re-read them a few times.
 
RackGirl said:
It will be interesting to see how I will handle REAL pressure...
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As I drove to work today, I was thinking I would respond to this thread but Fran pretty much beat me to the punch. I would like to reinforce what Fran said. The pressure from this "big tournament" is exactly equal to the REAL pressure you feel playing in ANY tournament.

I am always nervous competing because I care about the outcome. Embrace it! Use it! Channel it in a positive way and it will give you the ability to perform at levels you didn't know you could achieve! Let it turn into fear and it will shut you straight down!

I played in a weekly tournament last night. Went two and out. Wanna guess how I handled the pressure? I have also won this tournament in back to back weeks. The only difference in winning and losing was me and my attitude!

Lots of lessons in this story...for both you and me!

Good luck in your upcoming event!

What is RTC?
 
The RTC is the Regional Tour Championships(?) - it is hosted by the WPBA and will consist of the top players from around the country who played in regional tours in 2011 - you had to get an invite to play in this event. There is an east coast and west coast division this year with 32 players in each division. The prizes consist of a fair amount of cash (top 16 at each tournament will cash), entry in to the U.S. Open and WPBA entries for next year (I believe?). Not too shabby.

Ugh...the fear... I have shot with fear and it was the absolute most horrible feeling in the world. But I have also shot players where I have sensed their fear and oh do I feel their pain - it is a horrible feeling and you end up hating yourself after the match. The only way I have been able to channel that fear is through practice of playing tournaments and also by having that mental mindset that you guys mentioned above. If anybody has a book or a blog they could recommend, I'm all ears.

I am a very goal oriented person. Years ago, I decided to run a marathon (I had never even ran a couple miles before that). So I took the year off from pool, I did all of the training through books and clubs and I ran the DC Marathon and it was one of the best things I ever did for myself - it made me realize that what I make of my life is truly all in my mindset. Plus, if I can do that, I sure as hell can do this. Win or lose, I will come back happy that I went. I just hope my nerves don't get the best of me and I will continue to work on how to better myself in that aspect. I just want to go, play well (and play my game) and take it all in.

It is just another tournament after all (thanks, Fran!). And there will be more to come... ;)
 
RackGirl said:
The RTC is the Regional Tour Championships(?) - it is hosted by the WPBA and will consist of the top players from around the country who played in regional tours in 2011 - you had to get an invite to play in this event. There is an east coast and west coast division this year with 32 players in each division. The prizes consist of a fair amount of cash (top 16 at each tournament will cash), entry in to the U.S. Open and WPBA entries for next year (I believe?). Not too shabby.

Ugh...the fear... I have shot with fear and it was the absolute most horrible feeling in the world. But I have also shot players where I have sensed their fear and oh do I feel their pain - it is a horrible feeling and you end up hating yourself after the match. The only way I have been able to channel that fear is through practice of playing tournaments and also by having that mental mindset that you guys mentioned above. If anybody has a book or a blog they could recommend, I'm all ears.

I am a very goal oriented person. Years ago, I decided to run a marathon (I had never even ran a couple miles before that). So I took the year off from pool, I did all of the training through books and clubs and I ran the DC Marathon and it was one of the best things I ever did for myself - it made me realize that what I make of my life is truly all in my mindset. Plus, if I can do that, I sure as hell can do this. Win or lose, I will come back happy that I went. I just hope my nerves don't get the best of me and I will continue to work on how to better myself in that aspect. I just want to go, play well (and play my game) and take it all in.

It is just another tournament after all (thanks, Fran!). And there will be more to come... ;)
Click to expand...

RTC - That sounds awesome! You definitely are in a no lose scenario!
 
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