DeeDeeCues
Well-known member
Pressure is just your mind telling you something matters. Don't avoid or try to reduce the pressure, embrace it and let it work for you.
What are your favourite mental tips & tricks for competitive play?
- Thread starter Oikawa
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Pressure is just your mind telling you something matters. Don't avoid or try to reduce the pressure, embrace it and let it work for you.
(not exactly mental, but....)
I think you may have found the "quiet eye" technique/principle. A brief search on "quiet eye sports" gives a lot of interesting links.
Here's Dr. Dave's resource page:
Quiet Eyes in Pool - Dr. Dave Pool Info
Answers to frequently-asked questions about why it is important to keep your eyes quiet when playing pool.
billiards.colostate.edu
I'd think that level of stress is included in competitive competence. Call it performance tension. There's pressure way beyond that that has everything _not to do_ with what you need to do. Forces of that nature have to be faded or nuthin.
Flakeandrun
Well-known member
A touch of stoicism / 'it is what it is' (I hate 'it is what it is' or how we are pushed into ascribing to this school of thought in many other contexts in life, but I think it works well in game-based scenarios. When applied more broadly to life, I am not so much a fan of a stoic approach).
I feel there is need to develop something that can help you be more mindful, literally insert anything that can help you be more mindful (and that really is different for different people). Anything from PSR and breathing, to thinking the right thoughts. You have to find what works for you. Lately, as strange as this sounds, something that has worked for me is never removing my cue from my playing hand (unless switching to a left hand shot). I think about how heavy the cue is in my hand and how I am gripping it. Like cradling a soft-shelled egg.
I feel like this has stopped me from thinking about a lot of other things/removes a lot of clutter in my head. Especially at points where I would have been irritated previously. Certain things aren't lingering or messy in my brain. As a result of having this background noise/thought which I can be in control of at all times, I feel I am playing patterns better, thinking about mechanics/blaming mechanics less when things go wrong, not dwelling on things like good or bad rolls, and generally accepting things can ultimately boil down to luck... that's just pool.
Call me weird, but having something that you are always thinking about and in control of, that no external factors can really influence or control, gives me a feeling of permanence over something which only I can be in control of, and which I am clearly in control of at all times.
6am, pre-coffee, hungover, work desk thought ended
interesting thread OP, enjoyed reading it.
I feel there is need to develop something that can help you be more mindful, literally insert anything that can help you be more mindful (and that really is different for different people). Anything from PSR and breathing, to thinking the right thoughts. You have to find what works for you. Lately, as strange as this sounds, something that has worked for me is never removing my cue from my playing hand (unless switching to a left hand shot). I think about how heavy the cue is in my hand and how I am gripping it. Like cradling a soft-shelled egg.
I feel like this has stopped me from thinking about a lot of other things/removes a lot of clutter in my head. Especially at points where I would have been irritated previously. Certain things aren't lingering or messy in my brain. As a result of having this background noise/thought which I can be in control of at all times, I feel I am playing patterns better, thinking about mechanics/blaming mechanics less when things go wrong, not dwelling on things like good or bad rolls, and generally accepting things can ultimately boil down to luck... that's just pool.
Call me weird, but having something that you are always thinking about and in control of, that no external factors can really influence or control, gives me a feeling of permanence over something which only I can be in control of, and which I am clearly in control of at all times.
6am, pre-coffee, hungover, work desk thought ended
interesting thread OP, enjoyed reading it.
I have a couple of breathing/relaxation techniques I quietly do while sitting at bar. You’d be surprised at how much tension is stored in your jaw, then shoulders.
Shoot a few easy shots with my left hand to stop the chatty side of the brain and focus on the contact point of OB.
Usually all I have to do anymore
Shoot a few easy shots with my left hand to stop the chatty side of the brain and focus on the contact point of OB.
Usually all I have to do anymore
Isolation of focus.
Worked best for me when I was a “hired gun” on a team toward the end of my regular play many years ago.
City Championships. Final round.
Your stroke is what it is.
You can play under pressure.
Your pattern play is what it is.
You just need to deliver your best.
Isolate your focus. Easier in this instance because I had no real relationships with others on the team.
BCA, best 13 of 25. I got 5. The other 4 could not get 8.
But, I delivered on what I was called on to deliver.
Worked best for me when I was a “hired gun” on a team toward the end of my regular play many years ago.
City Championships. Final round.
Your stroke is what it is.
You can play under pressure.
Your pattern play is what it is.
You just need to deliver your best.
Isolate your focus. Easier in this instance because I had no real relationships with others on the team.
BCA, best 13 of 25. I got 5. The other 4 could not get 8.
But, I delivered on what I was called on to deliver.
A bit wordy but an excellent post!(grin)
In this fairly short thread I see breathing mentioned at least three times I believe. Been preaching breathing a couple decades, using it for half a century. Breathing controls emotional temperature and it is also possible for emotional temperature to affect breathing. We can be too calm in which case a few quick shallow breaths can raise our emotional temperature a little. More common is to be a little anxious or afraid in which case deep slow breaths work wonders.
Breathing is a core tool that I take with me regardless of the form of competition. The core tools are huge!
Visualization can be hugely important too. When I visualize the shot falling in the pocket my chances of missing are small. If I can't really visualize it falling I am in poke and hope mode and really should be looking for a better option.
VarmintKong, tying up the mind is second level stuff and can sometimes be the door to the third level. One word is better than a lot of random crap distracting you but no thought is much better. Nice thing, thoughtlessness can be practiced. Stand up, think. Bend over shut down thought. Best to practice this in private as it looks a lot like a chicken pecking!(grin) What really caught my attention is that we use the same word, "smooth". I like it because the word itself starts smoothly and finishes smoothly. Best to not think at all but I believe if we can't shut down this is one of the better words. Smooth backstroke, smooth transition, smooth forward stroke, all condensed down to just "smooth".
The first part of "Pleasure of Small Motions" is much better than the second part I believe. I think the second part was mostly add-on to make the second edition seem more impressive. The issue, in my opinion, is that the second part focuses too much on not losing rather than on winning. While it might seem like the same thing, focusing on not losing usually just causes a player to lose more slowly. A short section on not losing, a half-dozen paragraphs, is plenty. Then let's get the focus back on winning!
Here is a true mental trick I use. Instead of thinking I have to beat the competition, I flip things and think they have to beat me. I am going to lay my best down, anybody that wants to win has to top that. This may not seem like much but I have found it to be quite powerful. It is the difference between being in a pack of hounds chasing the leader or being the leader. There may be better back there in the pack but it is on their shoulders to prove it. Speaking of dog packs, it pays to remember if you aren't the lead dog the view is always the same!
Hu
One little mind trick I use sometimes is to consciously revert to my "snooker style" of potting when I have an extremely hard shot to make, but the position after it basically guaranteed.
Basically it is just focusing entirely on the pot/contact point with a pure (no side spin), smooth shot and rely on my muscle memory to hit it correctly and forget about the position entirely.
Basically it is just focusing entirely on the pot/contact point with a pure (no side spin), smooth shot and rely on my muscle memory to hit it correctly and forget about the position entirely.