Okay kids its story time...
Last night we had quite the interesting night at my pool league. There aren't a lot of teams and the people who do play have all known each other for years now. So when we walked in and our League Director told me that I was playing the former top team in the house, 3 Amigos I was a little pleased. My very first session with the league was horrible. I was new to the game and just tried to do my best. That sesh the Amigos took it all and then skipped out the next 2 sessions. In the 2 that they didn't play, my team took 1st. So last night, when we finally met after a year of not playing an official game, we were all chomping at the bit to throw down.
So we start shooting and I draw the better player out of their team first. I break and scratch on the break, not good. He picks up the ball and cleans it up. I was a little rattled but still pretty composed. The next match I ended up missing on a tight bank shot that, in hindsight, I shoulda safed. The next guy cleans up. So then I knew, it was gonna be one of those nights. One of those "don't ever miss" nights. The rest of my games were intense to say the least. I refused to go down without a fight and they brought the fight to me. I rode into game 6 without a win but the previous losses were hard fought. By this time I'm so pissed off that I'm chain smoking and my hands are shaking. I want the win more than I want to breathe. The guy I'm playing breaks and I get out of my seat... and then it all clicked. I forgot how to do everything except play pool. Every shot was quick, maybe 6-7 seconds at the most, and solid. I skunked him 10-0 (10 for win, 7 for loss with no balls on table, 0 for no balls dropped). When the 8 dropped my team cheered and I was looking for more balls to drop. Apparently, my win won the match for us.
I find it odd that I lost almost every game, but still my last game mattered. I love the pressure. It was such a rush dropping that 8 after getting whooped on all night.
MORAL: I need to learn how to deal with my losses better, but getting intense helped a little bit.
Last night we had quite the interesting night at my pool league. There aren't a lot of teams and the people who do play have all known each other for years now. So when we walked in and our League Director told me that I was playing the former top team in the house, 3 Amigos I was a little pleased. My very first session with the league was horrible. I was new to the game and just tried to do my best. That sesh the Amigos took it all and then skipped out the next 2 sessions. In the 2 that they didn't play, my team took 1st. So last night, when we finally met after a year of not playing an official game, we were all chomping at the bit to throw down.
So we start shooting and I draw the better player out of their team first. I break and scratch on the break, not good. He picks up the ball and cleans it up. I was a little rattled but still pretty composed. The next match I ended up missing on a tight bank shot that, in hindsight, I shoulda safed. The next guy cleans up. So then I knew, it was gonna be one of those nights. One of those "don't ever miss" nights. The rest of my games were intense to say the least. I refused to go down without a fight and they brought the fight to me. I rode into game 6 without a win but the previous losses were hard fought. By this time I'm so pissed off that I'm chain smoking and my hands are shaking. I want the win more than I want to breathe. The guy I'm playing breaks and I get out of my seat... and then it all clicked. I forgot how to do everything except play pool. Every shot was quick, maybe 6-7 seconds at the most, and solid. I skunked him 10-0 (10 for win, 7 for loss with no balls on table, 0 for no balls dropped). When the 8 dropped my team cheered and I was looking for more balls to drop. Apparently, my win won the match for us.
I find it odd that I lost almost every game, but still my last game mattered. I love the pressure. It was such a rush dropping that 8 after getting whooped on all night.
MORAL: I need to learn how to deal with my losses better, but getting intense helped a little bit.
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). Those that understand this is just a game; and develop the knack for LOVING victory, but NOT minding defeat, will almost always do better under pressure than those who have not discovered this.