Staying confident and keeping your cool during a match?

Gogafem

Gogafem

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I am talking about important matches... Like Tournament and League ones. I sometimes get a lot of fear and I think that can worsen my game... What is the best way to stay calm? But not to pretend it's like practice? I want to know I'm playing against an opponent, which will help me try to do as well as I can...
This can really mess up my game...
What would you recommend?
 
Gogafem said:
I am talking about important matches... Like Tournament and League ones. I sometimes get a lot of fear and I think that can worsen my game... What is the best way to stay calm? But not to pretend it's like practice? I want to know I'm playing against an opponent, which will help me try to do as well as I can...
This can really mess up my game...
What would you recommend?
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My first session of playing in the APA, and my first tri-state tournament, I experienced a lot or nervousness. This was of course because the stakes were quite different than playing alone during practice or playing with friends for fun. But what I learned since then was that the more that I practiced and worked on my game, the more confident I became when playing competitively. The nervousness faded and disappeared. In it's place was an eagerness. A desire to get up there and give it my all, with the confidence that the things I've done a thousand times in practice, I can do just as well when it matters.
I've never "pretended [that] it's like practice". Instead I rely on practice to increase my level of preparedness. And the more prepared I know I am, the more confident I feel. And confidence, (not to be confused with cockiness,) is the opposite of fear when it comes to playing matches.
 
I know that for me the important thing is for my game to be ready going in. Knowing that I have put in the time before the competition helps a lot when the pressure is on and I feel like choking. When I am prepared I feel like I can overcome that and do what I do.
 
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You just need more experience. I know what you feel, it gets better the more you compete. Until then, during the important matches, just make sure you are well rested and stay well hydrated.

Cheers!
 
Experience does help, when playing a tournament becomes routine instead of some big special rare event... you will have fewer nerve issues. A weekly tournament is a great way to get into this mindset. League will also come to be routine after a few seasons.

Some thoughts:

• If you're scared or nervous, it's probably because you don't want to show your ass in front of other people. But really, do you care about their opinion?

• You probably won't show your ass unless you fail to pay attention, or fail to give full care to each shot. Trying a hard shot and missing is nothing to be ashamed of. Other players who are watching have all been there. If you give full care you probably won't miss the easy ones unless your hand is literally shaking so bad it causes your stroke to swerve.

• Be honest about how you define "the easy ones". Don't confuse a 70% shot for a 99% shot, and get mad if you miss it. Be realistic about your odds on every shot.

• We also do embarrassing shots when we're uncomfortable trying something new that we haven't mastered, and are hitting the ball in an awkward way trying to force it to happen. You might have seen someone draw a ball the length of the table from 8 feet away... but if you've never personally done that, trying to pull it off for the first time during the tournament is only going to result in something embarrassing... CB jumping, OB flying off the table, brutal miscue, etc. We're all scared of doing that ugly public ****up. So why try something like that knowing full well you're probably gonna embarrass yourself? Accept that you still haven't learned that technique, and come up with a "plan B" that's more realistic. Then do your best to make plan B happen.
 
The fact that other people are watching is probably from where your trepidation stems. It is all about FOCUS! The question is how do you remain focused. FOR ME, it is fear, but not fear of my opponent. In league it is fear of letting my team mates down. In one on one, it's fear that I might mess up & LET my opponent win. When I'm playing, my 56 yr. old wife of 31 yrs. could walk up & say that she is pregnant & it would not phase me until the game is over & then I would ask her, 'now what did you say earlier?' You have to stay in the game (FOCUSED) even when you are not shooting & ignore or be oblivious to everything else but the game. Even if someone, like a coach or teammate talks to you, don't let your eyes leave the table. You don't see the crowd, You don't hear the crowd, even if you make a great shot & they erupt, you don't consciously hear it. I find that, that works better, at least FOR ME, than being, confident, sure of myself, or cocky. Being a bit humble, I think, is a good thing. I know my abilities are gifts even if I had to learn them & I know from where they came & I know they can be taken away. Sorry for being so long winded & sounding a bit preachy. Just trying to help if I can. Hope I have.

PS Earl Strickland, on the other hand, seems to look for 'distractions' & maybe possible motivation. To each his own. But, I don't think most, if any, of us here are in the same class of player & have played under as much high level tournament pressure as often as Earl Strickland. But, you never KNOW. An alias is an alias. Who really is ___________?
 
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Just relax and remember that you are having fun. Once you get into the mindset that you are playing to have fun, not just to win, you will likely find that pressure isn't such a big factor and probably play closer to your best when it counts.
 
Being a little nervous is good sometimes. It can make you focus .
Being scared is not good and will destroy your stroke and focus.
I'm guilty of shooting scared at times. I don't know why?
I caught myself in the first game on Monday of that crime.
I had not won a match since my Lasic surgery about a month ago.
I lost the first game because of fear. My first thought after the loss was,"Here we go again"!
When I realized it, I got pissed at myself and said "screw it, just shoot the damn balls in the hole".
I then won the next 5 straight and the match. Maybe you just have to get mad, even if it's at yourself?
 
You just need seasoning it comes with time hard work and paitnece i suck at spelling.


This is the time to learn how to start grinding.
 
Shaky1 said:
Being a little nervous is good sometimes. It can make you focus .
Being scared is not good and will destroy your stroke and focus.
I'm guilty of shooting scared at times. I don't know why?
I caught myself in the first game on Monday of that crime.
I had not won a match since my Lasic surgery about a month ago.
I lost the first game because of fear. My first thought after the loss was,"Here we go again"!
When I realized it, I got pissed at myself and said "screw it, just shoot the damn balls in the hole".
I then won the next 5 straight and the match. Maybe you just have to get mad, even if it's at yourself?
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Sorry to disagree. But 'scared' is a subjective term. 'Scared' to let my team mates down NEVER destroyed my stroke or my focus or my confidence or my game. Ask those who have won the Medal of Honor, and I have spoken with a couple, if they were 'scared'. They will probably tell you, 'hell yes, I was scared'. Being 'scared' does not have to effect performance in a negative way.

Maybe I should have used the word 'aprehensive'. Some people don't like to use the word 'scared'. My point, & I thought I made it, was to REMAIN focused. 'Over' confidence, IMHO, is worse than being a little 'scared'. The reason is because you CAN lose focus because of your 'over' confidence.

I'm not critcizing you or your belief & opinion. I'm just trying to clarifying mine. To each his own & whatever works better for each one of them.
 
JoseV said:
You just need seasoning it comes with time hard work and paitnece i suck at spelling.


This is the time to learn how to start grinding.
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That's some good advice. The reason someone like Earl has ice in his veins is because he has done it a million times.
 
I'm using scared as in afraid to make a mistake. I also tend to play like that against a person that I have never seen/ played before. I lose a lot of times because of whatever that is?
Once I figure out (usually later) that I could have beaten that person, I will generally play better the next time against him or her.
That's just me. fwiw. I call it playing scared?
 
Its all in how you approach the game and your life as a whole. Some may call it cocky but every game you approach knowing that YOU will win.

No matter what opponent you play they are worse than you. They will miss more and you will sink more balls than they will.

When I play in a tournament it doesnt matter who I am playing. I have nothing but disdain for their game. Now don't get me wrong- this doesnt manifest itself by me being rude or having bad manners. I just know that it doesnt matter who I am playing- they arent as good as me and I will be the winner.

Now I'm not saying that in the real world this is always the truth but it has to be the truth in your head. In order to have confidence that you will win a game or a tournament you have to know in your own head that you will win that game or tournament.

This gives you the ability to focus because nothing else matters but winning. I recently strung together 7 cash tournament wins in a row and the way I did it is by approaching each tournament with the single thought in my mind that I was going to win.

Now this thought can be broken down into smaller parts as well. Have disdain for the object ball. There is no way that it will beat you by missing the pocket. There is no way that the cueball will not land exactly where you want it to.

If you harbor doubts in your head about a shot or a win you will miss that shot or lose that win. With confidence you can make any shot no matter the difficulty.

Whenever you miss consider it an act of god because there is no way you should have missed that shot. The next time you step to the table after your opponent has missed- which they always do eventually, because they aren't as good as you- you will sink the object ball.

And after you sink that object ball you will sink the next object ball. On to the 8 or 9 or 10. That last ball will go in just like all the balls before it. There is no way it wont because there is no way you will miss.



I remember one tournament in particular where I was left with a three rail bank. Now usually I would walk up and measure the angles and decide the exact english to put on the cueball and study the shot for a long time before attempting it. But I didnt. I walked up to the table knowing and trusting that the shot would go in and my aim would be perfect. The ball went in for the win but because I knew it would happen there was no reaction. I remember someone saying, 'good shot' and me not caring in the least. I was supposed to make that shot because I believed I would make the shot.
 
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Shaky1 said:
Once I figure out (usually later) that I could have beaten that person, I will generally play better the next time against him or her.
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Eventually you will believe in yourself at the beginning of the game/match. Confidence is everything. You'll get there. You are not the only player that gets anxious or frustrated. I guess it goes along with competing against strangers or tougher players.
 
ENGLISH! said:
Sorry to disagree. But 'scared' is a subjective term. 'Scared' to let my team mates down NEVER destroyed my stroke or my focus or my confidence or my game. Ask those who have won the Medal of Honor, and I have spoken with a couple, if they were 'scared'. They will probably tell you, 'hell yes, I was scared'. Being 'scared' does not have to effect performance in a negative way.

Maybe I should have used the word 'aprehensive'. Some people don't like to use the word 'scared'. My point, & I thought I made it, was to REMAIN focused. 'Over' confidence, IMHO, is worse than being a little 'scared'. The reason is because you CAN lose focus because of your 'over' confidence.

I'm not critcizing you or your belief & opinion. I'm just trying to clarifying mine. To each his own & whatever works better for each one of them.
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Yes, I agree that the "Hero's" probably were scared and it didn't effect their performance as much as it did the people who died in the same battle who were probably also scared.
Pool is not that type of battle. Fear comes in many ways. Some fear the dark, others fear spiders, some fear heights. It is still a fear. If you are afraid, you are scared.
 
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