The Value of NOT Playing Pool (especially when you are struggling)

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kollegedave

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Over the years, the concept I am discussing here has helped me greatly, so I am sharing it with the group in the hope that it will help some others.

From time to time I think all of us go through periods in our game where we are particularly dissatisfied with how we are playing and we are finding it hard to get back to some better place. We are in a slump or encountering some difficulty that we are finding it hard to get past. O.k. maybe not you, but me for sure. In one of these frustrating places some (including me in the past), may feel like we just have to play through it. Practice will help us overcome this trouble.

In this situation, more recently, I have found it very helpful to NOT play pool for a period of time that helps my mind to "reset". For me, this is at least a day, but two days might be better. Who knows, maybe three days is even better, but I have not tried three yet. I am used to playing pool every day. If you are used to going long periods of time without playing, maybe consider a period of time that seems long enough for you to "reset" for two reasons.

1) I find that when I come back to pool after a "resetting period", I notice things about my stroke that I did not notice before. I see it with fresh eyes. This may help you identify some flaw in your PSR. Without this period off, I feel like I am "too close" to my stroke to see the forest from the trees sometimes. A break illuminates my stroke in new ways for me. It makes me more sensitive to all sorts of things. I think this is because most movements at this point seem a bit foreign and awkward after a period of time off that seems like a long time.

2) Suppose you were already trying to make a change or break a bad habit, the "resetting" period makes the change seem less foreign and easier to accommodate.

I hope this helps someone.

kollegedave
 
kollegedave said:
1) I find that when I come back to pool after a "resetting period", I notice things about my stroke that I did not notice before. I see it with fresh eyes. This may help you identify some flaw in your PSR. Without this period off, I feel like I am "too close" to my stroke to see the forest from the trees sometimes. A break illuminates my stroke in new ways for me. It makes me more sensitive to all sorts of th
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I agree. Somedays something is just off and you can't figure it why. Maybe you're too tired. Maybe you drank too much coffee. Maybe you're blood pressure is high. Maybe your timing or coordination are off. Who knows?

Sometimes playing through it will work but I usually just put the cue down and try again another day. There's no point in reinforcing bad habits, even if you have no idea what the bad habit is lol.
 
kollegedave, Howdy;

Yea, I can relate to what your premise is alluding to. Have been in the same situation
myself. Get to a certain level or point and ya seem to plateau. After a break few days
or a week and come back you can and will notice an improvement.
The mind and body require time to 'process' and reload.

hank
 
This, to me, is the most damaging , and most prevalent way to stay at the same level forever.
If you’re tired, ill, or going through tragedy in your life then see it for what it is and don’t play. If you’re not a seasoned player and need help with your stroke, stance, psr, spf or whatever then seek that help and fix it. BUT ……
If all is well and you are confident in your fundamentals, ball pocketing, position play and you think you’re in a slump then there is a reason for it and you need to find it.I found mine as grip and focus and have exercises I do the same day to get back on track.
I spent years playing inconsistently, going back to working on fundamentals, psr .. etc when it wasn’t needed at all. What it did was make me lose confidence in all that I had already learned and created a cycle that kept me at the same level.
I still know strong players who have been at the same level for 20 years and every time their game gets off they go back to fundamentals… etc!
 
I find that when work gets busy my play goes down substantially. Regardless if I can play daily. The mind sometimes isn't on board with the body.
 
I struggle with pstd and find it hard to compete in leagues or tournaments to the best of my ability. I am a very good casual pool player but never reach my potential in the more stressful competitive environments. It really is disappointing, and extremely difficult to overcome. Taking time off wouldn't help me, but I am considering leaving League and competitive play because of it.
 
In most other sports there is an off season and periods of scheduled rest.

College sports have maximum practice and competition guidelines.

During the off season is the best time for athletes to get their sports IQ up.
 
SeniorTom said:
I struggle with pstd and find it hard to compete in leagues or tournaments to the best of my ability. I am a very good casual pool player but never reach my potential in the more stressful competitive environments. It really is disappointing, and extremely difficult to overcome. Taking time off wouldn't help me, but I am considering leaving League and competitive play because of it.
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That's a really tough situation. I hope you find a way to play your best in league and similar. You might check out a couple of books for the mental side.

I've found Zen in the Art of Archery and The Inner Game of Tennis both as good books to help get the mind and body on the same page.

Best of luck to you.
 
Everyone layer has to find what works for them, it is different for all of us. For me if I am struggling and get frustrated the best thing is to walk away until I feel like playing again.

Trying to play through a slump does not work for me. The time spent is wasted as is the money spent while laying poorly. Both are negative experiences for me.

I would rather focus on other things until I truly want to do play pool again.

Starting back I focus on having fun, the fundamentals of my stroke and my mental game.
The pre shot routine kid vs not to be ignored either.
 
Nice write Dave.

When my game is outta ''cue''.

Here's what helps me.
1. Stop playing and be nice to myself as I go thru each day, how long does this take, it's never the same.
2. During this break away period I think about what triggered it.
3. With me it's always just ''one thing'' that I've got wrong that needs correction.
4. Once I realize this, and understand why, I'll implement and practice to confirm.
5. I did this very recently, fixing my walk up to the shot.

How much did this help, here's a compartive.
If was averaging 85 for 18 holes of golf, I'm now averaging 75.
 
If you don`t feel like playing it is probably best not to. However, I find that playing through my slumps improves my game. When I finally emerge from the doldrums my game is a little better. Sitting around and hoping my game comes back never worked for me.
 
I relate this to work when solving a difficult problem and am stumped. Taking lunch and resetting helped solve many problems.
 
Sometimes I take a few days off to just reset my head. This week for example I was not playing up to par during league play, so I took the weekend off and skipped an expensive tournament. Hopefully I can come back in full force this week
 
SeniorTom said:
I struggle with pstd and find it hard to compete in leagues or tournaments to the best of my ability. I am a very good casual pool player but never reach my potential in the more stressful competitive environments. It really is disappointing, and extremely difficult to overcome. Taking time off wouldn't help me, but I am considering leaving League and competitive play because of it.
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You might ask your doctor about the beta-blocker Propranalol. It has long been used by actors, singers, etc. to help with performance anxiety and stage fright. It might also be helpful in competitive situations to remind yourself that it's not you against your opponent, or you against the other team; it's you against the table. Since the table doesn't judge your performance, you can feel free to cut loose against it without worrying about failure, criticism, etc. Good luck!
 
Like someone else said everyone is different however I don’t see taking one day away from playing helpful or harmful. I’ve played very little since February, but anytime I take a week or more off from playing when I do start playing again I have all kinds of bad habits.

I always hear people say when struggling work on psr and fundamentals. For me if I try to work on something it only makes me play worse. I play much better when I just play. I don’t have a psr or I don’t have a particular way I approach a shot. Maybe that’s why I’m still a banger.

I did get 2nd place in a regional 10 ball tournament over the weekend. I have only practiced 2 days in the last 2 weeks and that was for an hour each. Maybe if I had a psr I could do better, I’ll guess I’ll never know.
 
I play everyday and i do see the value of taking a day to reset. But if i'm in a slump it's probably something wrong with my fundimentals and i try to work the problem before i take some resetting time.
 
ive forced myself to stop playing for periods of time and everytime i did i came back better
cant always play through rough patches in my experiences
 
kollegedave said:
Over the years, the concept I am discussing here has helped me greatly, so I am sharing it with the group in the hope that it will help some others.

From time to time I think all of us go through periods in our game where we are particularly dissatisfied with how we are playing and we are finding it hard to get back to some better place. We are in a slump or encountering some difficulty that we are finding it hard to get past. O.k. maybe not you, but me for sure. In one of these frustrating places some (including me in the past), may feel like we just have to play through it. Practice will help us overcome this trouble.

In this situation, more recently, I have found it very helpful to NOT play pool for a period of time that helps my mind to "reset". For me, this is at least a day, but two days might be better. Who knows, maybe three days is even better, but I have not tried three yet. I am used to playing pool every day. If you are used to going long periods of time without playing, maybe consider a period of time that seems long enough for you to "reset" for two reasons.

1) I find that when I come back to pool after a "resetting period", I notice things about my stroke that I did not notice before. I see it with fresh eyes. This may help you identify some flaw in your PSR. Without this period off, I feel like I am "too close" to my stroke to see the forest from the trees sometimes. A break illuminates my stroke in new ways for me. It makes me more sensitive to all sorts of things. I think this is because most movements at this point seem a bit foreign and awkward after a period of time off that seems like a long time.

2) Suppose you were already trying to make a change or break a bad habit, the "resetting" period makes the change seem less foreign and easier to accommodate.

I hope this helps someone.

kollegedave
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Totally agree. For me after a period of intense drilling to improve some aspect of my game I find that I am too much in my head and then I start to play poorly from thinking too much. I will then take a week or so off from "learning" and only play for fun or on league nights. When my game feels good again I will go back and see what needs improvement and start the cycle again.
 
I agree with the premise completely. I only wish it worked for me, recently. I had an awful spring in league, on both my teams. At the end of the last session I didn't play the last week. Both teams missed the playoffs, so we had the next two weeks off, and due to my work schedules, I didn't play the first week of the new session. So four weeks off, the longest I've gone without playing pool (other than during the Covid shutdown) in 14 years.

Didn't help much. I still suck. :)
 
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