mental coaching recreation vs. tournament

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fti

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I'm in need of some mental coaching.

I find that I play and perform much better in tournaments than I do when I play just for fun (free, for a drink, small wagers). In local and league tournaments I often (if not consistently) manage to get to the last eight at least.

I keep on telling myself to take the game serious enough so that I can play as good off as I do when I'm under pressure, but that doesn't help.

So what's the best approach?

fti
 
HI,

This is a common problem, isn't easy to cure either, the mental aspect of pool is what seperates good players from great ones. If you have tried to get yourself to bear down more when practicing and u just can't... isn't much else u can do... try playing more by yourself.. play the ghost and really really try and beat it in a race to 5 or 7.. maybe trying to beat urself will help u concentrate harder instead of playing a much weaker opponent....... hope this helps:)
 
When I'm playing against someone, I would much rather have our game go in complete silence; with as little conversation as possible. When I play Casper (the not so friendly pool ghost), I get annoyed that he's so damn silent. :)
 
Interesting..... theres one more thing that really works for me... when ur opponent is at the table try abd route the balls like ur at the table.. plan a run although ur not shooting.. helps keep u in the game better so when its ur turn to shoot ur not "mentally cold".. works for lotsa players:)... hope this helps
 
fti said:
I'm in need of some mental coaching.

I find that I play and perform much better in tournaments than I do when I play just for fun (free, for a drink, small wagers). In local and league tournaments I often (if not consistently) manage to get to the last eight at least.

I keep on telling myself to take the game serious enough so that I can play as good off as I do when I'm under pressure, but that doesn't help.

So what's the best approach?

fti

I play with my friends who are better than me. The pressure is off whether it is just games or even games with a small wager. To me, I just was not baring down as intense as in a real match.

I finally went to just practicing fundamentals and nothing else, that set, pause, finish, freeze and no lifting the head,stance, bridge, alignment. The goal is perfect perfect perfect in my fundamentals so that it will be automatic and I can play no other way.

This does seems to be working because now I am playing better, whether with my friends or in a tournament/match.

My husband said how I practice I will play. But I had gotten sloppy.

When I took karate, we drilled techniques to perfection. There was no judgment but if something was not perfect, we were gently correctly and then drilled some more. I had this ahhah experience where I wondered if there were some similarities between that way of practice and pool practice.

I do not know if mentally this is what is going on with you. I have seen the same stuff about playing the ghost. Then one day I remembered how hard I worked to become excellent in karate, always with perfect as the goal, no number of hours of this 'perfect' pracitice was too much, and wondered why I was so sloppy with my pool practice.

My karate instructor used to say 'practice does not make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect'. It was a sort of epiphany. I was either going to be no better in pool than mediocre at the best or I was going to go for perfection/excellence. The choice was mine to make.

Laura
 
Training is definetely my weak point.

The thing is that I'm spending less time at pool than I'd like to. So when I do eventually hop down to the pool club - always after 10.30pm unless I'm playing tournaments. - I end up wanting to play somebody rather than drilling shots. > I'm particularly fond of taking money off from my follically challenged Irish/French friend < (just in case he's readin'...)

The only way I can see myself taking time to really practice is by getting my own pool table.

fti
 
(The only way I can see myself taking time to really practice is by getting my own pool table.

fti)

and that would be a bad thing?????
 
Sounds like it's a matter of focus. When you're playing in a tournament you're bearing down hard. When you're playing for a little money or for fun, you're not focused. I would suggest you make a pact with yourself that whenever you address the cue over a table, you push yourself to focus the same way no matter whether you're practicing by yourself, playing cheap with a friend or playing in a tournament. Make it part of your routine and it will pay off. I watched a bigtime money player, Bucktooth, play for $3.00 a game (he's usually playing for hundreds or thousands) and there was no difference in his intensity between playing for a few dollars than when he's playing for the big money. Like him or hate him, he's one of the best and most successful money players of all time. Yes, a lot of his success is due to his ability to match up right but he still wins the cash and you have to play to win the cash.
 
Chucklez65 said:
and that would be a bad thing????? [/B]

haha. Definetely not. The thing is that I'm getting married next year and we're looking for a house. Since i don;t want to live too far away from Amsterdam, the choice of housing with space within an affordable budget is pretty much non-existent. :(

fti
 
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