Coos Cues
Coos Cues
She was just the "Ice Queen"Wasn't this about the same time as the "Ice Cream Queen?"
The internet never forgets
Newbie and nerves
- Thread starter SeniorTom
- Start date
The internet never forgets
Get the book "Play Great Pool" by Mark Wilson. It goes over all the fundamentals in great detail:
- how to grip your cue and where on the butt to hold your cue
- how to hold your hand for various bridges and how long your bridge should be
- how to address the ball
- stance
- backstroke
- forward stroke
- what your eyes should be doing during your practice strokes
- Pre-shot routine
Mark Wilson comes from the Jerry Briesath tree of pool instruction.
I also practice diagonal straight in shots(about 1/4 of my practice time). I place the balls so the distance from the CB to OB and OB to pocket is equal, and I place the CB and OB as far apart as possible such that I can still bridge on the table. I actually bought a 360 degree vertical laser so that I can set up the shot exactly straight. I put donut shaped stickies on top of the laser line for the CB and the OB, and I put a tape line on the floor over the laser line to mark the shot line for my feet. Then I turn the laser off, and I practice straight in shots. I have a measles cue ball, and I line up one of the measles as my target (low and center ball), then I chalk the tip of my cue, and after every shot, I check the chalk mark. One time, I made 15 in a row before stopping (table had large pockets)--but I cannot hit the center of the CB either. I always hit slightly to the right of center, which causes the CB to rotate a turn or two counterclockwise when it stops at the OB, so I understand your frustration. I would really like to see a random pattern of chalk marks inside the measle that I use for a target!
I look at CB last. I'm trying to figure out how to straighten my stroke. I've learned that I'm severely cross eye dominant (right handed, completely left eye dominant), and I'm trying to figure out if that has something to do with an aiming issue. Good luck.
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Didn’t know that. I wasn’t familiar with the mechanism of how they affect the body. Thanks for the explanation.
I know if I take a benzo like Xanax I just get sleepy and don’t function well.
Best Fatboy
Guy Manges
Registered
We need nerves, they challenge our game... Guy
Sudafed worked for me. Coincidental to playing with a head cold, there was a marked difference in focus and especially ball control. The cold and medication seem to pad a very nice low gear performance state. Also been on pain meds and low doses of those just about bullet proof your playing.
The Feijen video points out one thing I come away with. You can have it all figured but if you aren't the winner, you won't win.
I had the opposite results. Doctors put me on various med's including beta blockers. Hard to get and keep my head in the right place to compete. While I don't have an issue with taking it for a head cold and getting some coincidental benefits from it, I would never take Sudafed for a performance enhancer.
I don't recommend anything because if you win something worthwhile you will look back on it years later, "Yeah, I won that but I was on xxx at the time." Much nicer to not have any qualifiers. I have known people who smoked half a joint, others took half an aspirin. Aspirin, a half-dozen or so, will mellow you out. I think half of one was just a mental crutch. Still every win he had, every record he set, he had to qualify to himself, "but I took aspirin to do that." Cheated himself out of many clean wins he could have had in my opinion.
Do it on the natch. It will mean a lot more to you later.
Hu
Bingo! 100% spot on!
Getting nervous is your mind's way of preparing your body for something that feels out of the ordinary. Stress, anxiety, fear, anger, carelessness, etc.... these things are nothing more than the mind sending certain hormones/chemicals throughout our body, causing our muscles to tighten or loosen and our emotions to run berserk. None of this is good when it comes to performing fine motor skills.
Learning how to deal with it is the key. Developing a stronger EQ (emotional intelligence) is a great way to do that.
Your emotional intelligence is simply your abilty to control your emotions. It's a skill that can be developed, and it is very helpful when it comes to dealing with stress or anxiety or other mental distractions. Learning how to keep your cool is the best way to prevent or limit the mind from automatically pumping out unnecessary hormones/chemicals.
One of the best books to help develop a more solid EQ is titled, "Emotional Intelligence 2.0". It's not a bunch of mumbo-jumbo or happy-feel-good type of stuff. It's a very real mental skill that just about anyone can develop or improve upon.
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Ghost of OBC
Well-known member
This is a great thread. I'd recommend reading The Inner Game of Tennis: The Mental Side of Peak Performance.
I'd also recommend an idea that has helped me in my career. I am an instructor and spokesperson for a large organization. When I started out with public speaking, Toastmasters and the like were very popular. The recommendations were to practice techniques, expose yourself to difficult situations, basically learn to endure the unpleasantness. It wasn't until I read a different book that I really sorted it out. The suggestion was that regardless of technique or conditioning, the most important thing is wanting to be there.
Now, when I need to do a press conference or play a pool match, I say to myself, "I'm here because I want to be here," and with time, it has had the effect of totally calming my body, so that my mind can perform. Just remember, you choose to play competitive pool, and your body is reacting to help you do so the best it can. Trust it, and enjoy the rewards!
I'd also recommend an idea that has helped me in my career. I am an instructor and spokesperson for a large organization. When I started out with public speaking, Toastmasters and the like were very popular. The recommendations were to practice techniques, expose yourself to difficult situations, basically learn to endure the unpleasantness. It wasn't until I read a different book that I really sorted it out. The suggestion was that regardless of technique or conditioning, the most important thing is wanting to be there.
Now, when I need to do a press conference or play a pool match, I say to myself, "I'm here because I want to be here," and with time, it has had the effect of totally calming my body, so that my mind can perform. Just remember, you choose to play competitive pool, and your body is reacting to help you do so the best it can. Trust it, and enjoy the rewards!
Toastmasters was cool. Is that still a thing? Or is it over with? Public speaking is cool. Comes natural to me. I don’t do it often but when I had 900 employees I was always comfortable speaking to large groups when necessary. Wasn’t ever difficult for me.
Constructing a speech and delivering it impromptu to convey an idea to an audience is fun.
I enjoyed being a pitchman on the phone, was me vs customer. If I sold them I was the winner, if they didn’t buy I was the loser. All I had was my words. Man that was fun. The real joke is I got paid to do it. I loved it so much if have done it for free.
Best
Fatboy
Ghost of OBC
Well-known member
Toastmasters is still a thing and it helps lots of people. But I think you are really on to something with enjoying the process. If you think of a talk or an engagement or a pool match as an opportunity for fun and success, you've already won. "Hey, this is an opportunity to show what I've got or test myself against the best," is the winning mindset. If you can summon that mindset on demand, you can be very successful at pretty much anything.
DeeDeeCues
Well-known member
I've told the story before, but I'll tell a short version.
I used to be able to lose any pool match I played just by telling myself that I shouldn't win. I didn't even realize I was doing it. 6-2 up on a friend and I lost 7-2 by botching easy shots and making hard ones.
I quit playing pool and started playing competitive foosball. I didn't have the ability to win a match in foosball...I couldn't win a single game... It wasn't rare for me to not score a point in a double elimination tourney.
It was liberating to know I could play my best and still not have a chance. It allowed me to actually play my best through the entire match. It taught me that I could do the same thing in pool.
I learned to enjoy the experience and let the result come. The Inner Game helped me understand how I was getting over listening to the noise. Sports Psyching helped further in teaching me my motivations and aligning my desires with those motivations. Specifically, I have a desire to win, but I'm motivated by 'looking cool'. That is why I could make very tough shots, get perfect shape, then miss the hanger. I can still do all of those things, but now I understand and sometimes anticipate and avoid it.
People are complex, I don't think most people know themselves as well as they could.
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Guy Manges
Registered
Thank goodness for free words... Guy
Guy Manges
Registered
Right on ... Guy
That’s great! I’ll look into that, sounds fun.
And tie you are right. Words/speaking has always been my strong suit. Pool, athletics, mechanics, work I’ve never been very good at for the effort I’ve put in.
Best and thank you!
Fatboy
when you come to grips with how little this pool game matters you will start to feel relief. When you get nervous just think about something that actually matters, put your situation into perspective. If you miss this shot nothing in your life is going to change, same if you make it.
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Remember, iron sharpens iron. Play with folks who you know are better than you, whenever possible. Take note of their table habits, strategies, stroke, etc. When I was a kid, I asked my Dad once when I would get better at pool, he said "when you get tired of racking."
Very true for getting better at playing. I have noticed several times that the best players tend to be the ones playing and practicing and talking with each other about shots or strategy while the worst players just sit in a corner complaining about how the good players beat them and talk about what the handicaps should instead of actually playing to win. I see players miss or scratch or get no position and complain about it like some outside force is doing this to them, so I ask them "well what are you doing about this missing? You missed this shot for 2 years now, what have you done to correct this?" and the answer is usually "I am just not as good as you" like knowing to play happens without any work. Then they sit and sulk in their chair or go to the bar for a drink instead of practicing what they made a mistake in, so that way they can make the exact same mistake 20 more times and continue to be mad about it. Some people just like losing so they can complain about it instead of using that time to get better.
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Hey SeniorTom - welcome to the forum. I've appreciated your posts that I've seen so far.
There is a lot of great advice in this thread that will help you tremendously. I'll add a slightly different lens that some have touched on and then give you my go-to technique for overcoming nervousness and bad mental state.
First of all, Everything is practice. Practice being nervous and overcoming it. Practice winning a match when you are nervous. Practice making a good break when you are nervous.
Embrace being nervous as an opportunity to practice something you can't practice alone. This is a slightly different take on getting experience.
I've been playing a long time and won hundreds and hundreds of local tournaments and been at or near top shooter in virtually every league I've played in. So I shouldn't get nervous right? Wrong. I still get nervous. A lot. I recently returned to playing after not playing at all during covid and I was so nervous I was shaking just walking in the pool hall. A pool hall I had never been to in a city where I don't know anybody.
Sweaty palms, heart beating out of my chest. I don't want to look bad or stupid in front of them or the other players/spectators. What if I'm underrated? What if I'm overrated?
My go-to technique:
Understanding your mental state:
Nervousness and anxiety are two bad mental states. There are a lot of bad mental states in pool.
Another type is feeling hopeless like "This guy is too good" and "I am not playing well, I have no chance".
Yet another is the distracted arrogance: "I really could win this tournament but it's getting late and I have an early day tomorrow, it's ok if I just lose this match, he seems like a nice guy." You're still playing and already making excuses for losing. Not good.
Whatever the bad mental state is, it's most likely to infect your brain while you are sitting in your chair watching your opponent run out. It works on your brain and like a virus, it leads to desperation and hopelessness. Then, when you do get to the table, especially if your opponent has left you in a difficult situation, you are likely to slam at something and hope it works out. Of course this just gives you another long break in the chair to think about what a failure you are for going for such a stupid shot.
The Motion creates the Emotion:
When you are in a negative mental state, your body shows it. You might slump in your chair. You might be looking down or scrolling on your phone instead of focusing on the match. You will sigh and drop your shoulders after you miss or when you look at the shot your opponent left you. These physical symptoms not only show you have a negative mental state to your opponent, they actually contribute to the bad state of mind. Because the motion creates the emotion.
If you are sitting at your desk now, take a minute and just slump down. Frown. Give a big sigh and say "Whoa, my life is crap..." And then just sit there for 30 seconds. How do you feel?
I bet not good.
Now, I stand up, stretch your arms as high as they'll go and then bring them back at a 45 degree angle like you are flying through the air, throw your head back and look to the sky and smile as big as you can and say "Wow! My life is great!" And then just hold that smile for 30 seconds. How do you feel?
I bet you feel fantastic. Nothing you have to do today seems overwhelming now, right?
That's what we call a state change. You went from normal, to awful, to great in dramatic fashion.
The same thing happens in pool.
The good news is we can control our state and change it when we need to.
Get your swagger back:
Next time you are playing a match (or practice) and get into a bad mental state, nervous, anxious, stinkin' thinkin'. Whatever. Remember a time when you performed spectacularly. Maybe that was a great pool match you had or maybe you are a great golfer or have some other hobby or skill that you excel at and enjoy. Imagine your body language during that time. Think about how you stand, how you looked at people, how you moved your hands, were your movements quick and decisive or slow and lumbering?
For me, if I catch myself sitting in the chair, defeated mentally and feeling hopeless or nervous:
I sit up straighter.
I study the table intently to look for opportunities.
I smile to myself.
And when my opponent gives me a chance at the table I jump up like I just got the opportunity I've been waiting for.
I approach the table without hesitation, actively looking for a solution.
I get my body into the place where it is when I play my best and you know what? Within a few shots usually everything turns around. I may not win the match but at least I know I gave myself the best chance to win.
And you know what? Because my body language is so positive and makes me feel so good I have a much better experience and enjoy the tournament more.
Do this during practice too and see what types of physical movements can trigger state changes for you. I used to practice changing my state while practicing all the time by shooting like a lump for an hour and then trying to elevate my state and play better. I used to practice during tournaments as well, shoot lethargically and then at a key point in the match flipping the switch by physically changing my state and try to win.
Nerves are the good part.
When people think of skydiving they don't care about the plane ride up or the slow float down. It's standing in the doorway, the rush of stepping out, the freefall, the danger.
Enjoy looking over the edge, enjoy the jump.
When people think of skydiving they don't care about the plane ride up or the slow float down. It's standing in the doorway, the rush of stepping out, the freefall, the danger.
Enjoy looking over the edge, enjoy the jump.
I wouldn’t be writing this advice about dealing with nervous stress if I wasn’t absolutely sure that I knew from personal experience that it works beautifully as (a) a remarkable de-stressor and (b) a means of assuring that I am able to focus completely and confidently on performing challenging tasks creatively and skillfully. Intriguing challenges (for me ) like billiards, creative writing, painting, bodybuilding, and advanced scientific research.
The simple act of methodically feeling and affirming Gratitude can have an astounding impact on your mental and physical well-being.
Anyone can systematically and quite easily make Gratitude a deeply ingrained and extremely productive habit.
Research in psychology and neuroscience has proven that gratitude can be a transformative habit in both your career and personal life, and not least -- for the present discussion -- radically diminishing nervousness in competitive pool playing.
With conscious daily intent, it’s almost ridiculously easy to accomplish when performed regularly. A “regimen” of having a 5-minute gratitude break -- every day without exception -- during which you affirm to yourself -- from memory -- things that you’re profoundly grateful for (after having deliberately created a written list – which will dependably grow over time).
During middle age and now in old age it was/is so easy for me experience deep Gratitude:
-- Remembering that so many of my Army buddies tragically didn’t get to come home as I was so fortunate to do.
-- Grateful daily for health achieved via my own health research and application of the principles.
-- The GI Bill enabled my four years of college.
-- Cherished loved ones in my life
-- The privilege of actually reaching advanced years of age. A lifespan historically denied to the majority of people who ever existed.
-- And adequate resources to enjoy the years pleasurably.
-- I'm exceedingly grateful for the simple joy of having high-functioning taste buds able to daily savor appealing flavors.
You have to intentionally practice gratitude. The default human condition is to see the negative. No matter how stressful or nervous you might be in a variety of situations you will be increasingly amazed at how your daily gratitude breaks have transformed and strengthened your reactive resources and confidence in handling yourself productively.
Be thankful for all that you have (to enjoy and share) and you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.
Arnaldo
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The simple act of methodically feeling and affirming Gratitude can have an astounding impact on your mental and physical well-being.
Anyone can systematically and quite easily make Gratitude a deeply ingrained and extremely productive habit.
Research in psychology and neuroscience has proven that gratitude can be a transformative habit in both your career and personal life, and not least -- for the present discussion -- radically diminishing nervousness in competitive pool playing.
With conscious daily intent, it’s almost ridiculously easy to accomplish when performed regularly. A “regimen” of having a 5-minute gratitude break -- every day without exception -- during which you affirm to yourself -- from memory -- things that you’re profoundly grateful for (after having deliberately created a written list – which will dependably grow over time).
During middle age and now in old age it was/is so easy for me experience deep Gratitude:
-- Remembering that so many of my Army buddies tragically didn’t get to come home as I was so fortunate to do.
-- Grateful daily for health achieved via my own health research and application of the principles.
-- The GI Bill enabled my four years of college.
-- Cherished loved ones in my life
-- The privilege of actually reaching advanced years of age. A lifespan historically denied to the majority of people who ever existed.
-- And adequate resources to enjoy the years pleasurably.
-- I'm exceedingly grateful for the simple joy of having high-functioning taste buds able to daily savor appealing flavors.
You have to intentionally practice gratitude. The default human condition is to see the negative. No matter how stressful or nervous you might be in a variety of situations you will be increasingly amazed at how your daily gratitude breaks have transformed and strengthened your reactive resources and confidence in handling yourself productively.
Be thankful for all that you have (to enjoy and share) and you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.
Arnaldo
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thats taking your daily dose of Vitamin G!