i think i am turning into one of " those " league players

[LIAKOS27]

I've always been in the camp that believes you DON'T have to get your brains beat in by better players and you are actually wasting your time getting beat.

If you wanna watch/see better play youtube is your friend, you can watch/rewind etc and fully concentrate on what exactly they are doing. Then when you go "play" you can spend all your time on the table - don't even play league(maybe a day or 2/week) just play the ghost or do drills.

If you go to league how much time do you actually play? 1/5th, 1/8th, a 10th of the time you are there?

If you play the ghost or drills it is 100% of the time, think about that for a minute. Let's say it's a 10th of the time you are there, by changing how you spend your time you could get 10 times the amount of practice everytime you go.
Jason

Very well stated!!

 

[Maniac]

Either I am turning into one of " those league players " or at 62 I just dont have the inclination to improve....feel like my better days are behind me any way.

Here's my take...and what I experienced.

About 4 years ago I was playing in 3 leagues (2-APA, 1-BCA). I was the Captain on 2 of those teams. The BCA team broke up. By the end of the session on my APA teams, I was suffering from burnout. Just got tired of all the league BS. I took the next session off....no league pool at all.

I missed shooting competitively and decided to go back and play APA league. One 8-ball league...that's it. I went back in with the decision that I was just going to have fun, shoot as well as I can even if I'm spotting games to players that shoot as well as I do, and try to fade all the BS.

First night out I was a bit nervous but shot pretty good. I missed one makeable ball that cost me the match (spotting a game to a SL4 that shot as good as I did, of course). I was a SL5.

Well...I won my next 14 matches to finish the session with a 14-1 record. About 1/3 of the way through the session I was raised to a SL6, then ran off about 9 consecutive wins. For the first time in a long time, I had fun and played relaxed.

I couldn't get past all the BS though and dropped out of leagues altogether. On January 9th of this year, after 3 years of sitting out, my wife and I are going to start playing in an APA league (Double Jeopardy). We are not going to get all wrapped up in the winning and losing, and all the other BS that I've experienced in my many years of APA.

What I'm trying to say (being long-winded with it) is that I feel the session off did me some good. A chance to get some fresh air and my head together. It can wear on you, especially if you are doing it more than twice a week imo. My advice to you is after Spring session is over, drop off of all your teams but one, maybe two. I bet you'll get your edge back again.

BTW, I'm 63 1/2, and before I dropped out of leagues (and tournaments) altogether, I was shooting better than I ever had in my lifetime.

Hang in there...but scale back.

 

[Carolina_Giant]

You know the kind I am talking about. The type that most of you lump all league players into. Social player....no interest in improving yada yada yada .

I get to the pool hall tonight to play my scotch doubles league and I just so happens our opponents were no shows. My team mate asks if I wanna practice some. free play I say nah...just gonna sit here and watch football.

A lil while later a young girl brings a tray of balls over to the table next to the one i am sitting at...cant be a day over 16. She proceeds to start a simple drill. Straight in spot shots. She missed the first one but I never saw her miss another.....but i was spending my time just watching her between plays during the game so she may have missed some when I was not looking.


What was so interesting was watching her psr. She spent quite a bit of time setting up her stance between shots. She was deliberate in making sure her feet were in the exact same place on the exact same shot every time. Her stroke was the same in every shot. It was a nice was pendulum stroke every time. Nothing moved but from her elbow down shot after shot. Her closed bridge was the same distance from the cue ball shot after shot. Her chin was down on the cue on every shot.

Sad to say ...she has better fundamentals than I do .

When I first joined apa I aspired to become a 7. Over the last year I have fluctuated between a 5 and 6. I also play masters because I wanted to play better players in hopes of learning a few things. As I watched her the thought entered my mind about getting up and practicing some myself. Then I thought....nah....i going home and watch tv.

Either I am turning into one of " those league players " or at 62 I just dont have the inclination to improve....feel like my better days are behind me any way.

Appreciate the honesty, and the first thing I'm going to ask is are you ok with either of those scenarios? Because ultimately, your game is your game, and no one has the right to expect you to change it because they say so. If you're feeling good about where you're at, don't feel pressured to change it.

I took two years off the game, and I'm still relatively young. Actually, I've taken one stint of 4 years, the other was 2. I came back refreshed and ready to grow each time. You could be in a wave, or the last wave. But you'll know deep in your heart which it is.

The ultimate truth that any and all of us, yes even the professionals, must face is that pool ultimately should be fun. It doesn't have to set a fire under you 24/7, but you have to enjoy it. If you don't enjoy it, or the social aspect of a league, there is literally no reason to play. If you were to just play for money or for the sake of improving your game but didn't enjoy it, you would grow to resent the game and everything related to it. Even if you were a pro and pool was serious business, it has to be fun and make you feel alive or at least content. Otherwise, what's really the point?

There has to be room for all types of players, be they gifted amateurs, league players, professionals, or what have you. And I wouldn't worry too much about being one of "those" players. "Those" players that get people out of sorts are people who are often rude at the table, or brag like they are world beaters when they can't beat a 4 on a regular basis. Just be you and enjoy your game where it is, work on improving it if you aren't happy, and otherwise just play the game you love. And if the love is gone, walk away. You may come back, or you may not. But you'll know when it's time to retire that back arm (which for most of us who have played the game with a purpose in our lives is often never, or when mother nature and father time make it impossible to lift the arm anymore.