When you've lost confidence in a match. How do you get it back?

C

cuesport

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Ok, so playing a race to 5 9ball yesterday.
against somebody I've never played before.
I am supposed to be 2 to 1 ball better than this guy.


I dog the 8ball on the first rack. He cleans up.

Next rack I run a beautiful 5 to 9 and I am out.

1 to 1 so far.

3rd rack I miss an easy shot on the 7, he is out.

Down 2 to 1

4th rack I miss an semi tough 8 and he is out.

Down 3 to 1

5th rack he gives me ball in hand on the 8 and I've lost confidence at this point. Supposed to be easy rolls on the 8 and 9 and I miss hit the 8 and get bad shape on the 9. Miss...

Down 4 to 1

I didn't know what kind of approach to take. Call a "break" and go to the bathroom and freshen up? Slap my face a couple of times?

What do I do? It was almost as if I was accepting defeat.
 
Doesn't always help - nothing does - but, in the end, you can only control being attentive, making what you consider the best decision, & putting the best stroke on every shot that you can. Wasting energy on anything else isn't productive. Any break you take, or re-centering effort you use, has to bring you back to this...
Execute & repeat.
 
cuesport said:
Ok, so playing a race to 5 9ball yesterday.
against somebody I've never played before.
I am supposed to be 2 to 1 ball better than this guy.


I dog the 8ball on the first rack. He cleans up.

Next rack I run a beautiful 5 to 9 and I am out.

1 to 1 so far.

3rd rack I miss an easy shot on the 7, he is out.

Down 2 to 1

4th rack I miss an semi tough 8 and he is out.

Down 3 to 1

5th rack he gives me ball in hand on the 8 and I've lost confidence at this point. Supposed to be easy rolls on the 8 and 9 and I miss hit the 8 and get bad shape on the 9. Miss...

Down 4 to 1

I didn't know what kind of approach to take. Call a "break" and go to the bathroom and freshen up? Slap my face a couple of times?

What do I do? It was almost as if I was accepting defeat.
Click to expand...

I have told friends of mine in these spots to just have fun, but try to win. Sometime is better to go ahead and say "I lose" and then just get up there and play. If you were playing pretty good and then start dogging, its all between your ears. Sometimes its easier to say 'I'm just gonna let go and have fun'. If you wanna bank a ball rather than play safe, fire down. You'll find a lot of times rolls will change along with the way you play.
 
think about why you're playing badly, and I don't mean to dwell on negative thoughts. I mean really think and try to figure out why you're messing up some shots.
ask yourself......am I not staying down on a shot? am i not thinking ahead enough and only making the one ball without thinking about the three ball? is something outside the game distracting you?

and when you figure it out make an attempt to fix it. and watch the balls fall neatly into the pocket :)
 
I think you should really check your fundamentals. It seems that on important balls you collapse. For me it helps not to think if I can make it or not. Also The Inner Game of Tennis and The pleasures of Small Motions are excellent mental training books.
 
Couple of things - first, you must make it clear to your mind that everyone is going to make mistakes in a match. If you miss an easy shot, don't dwell on it, it's done over, move past it and focus on your next turn at the table. Like in the situation you described, if you have given you opponent several games, don't dwell on the fact that the score should be 3 to 1 you or whatever you think it should be.

Second, take a break, acknowledge to yourself once that the score should be reversed, then tell yourself mentally that the only reason the score is lopsided is not necessarily because they are a better player, but because you allowed your focus to be placed on things in the past that you cannot control (missing an easy 8 for example). From this point on, tell yourself that instead of focusing on the mistakes that have been made in the match, that are in the past and out of your control, that you are going to focus on what you can control, which is the next shot when you get to the table. If you acknowledge this to you brain and really focus on playing well during your match, you can normally find yourself gaining momentum and coming back from defeat.
 
Thanks for all the good input guys.

I know I don't have ADHD. But I can't relax/concentrate well sometimes.

lol. I should look up some breathing techniques and what not to calm me down.

I will go at it with him in the near future again. I will think about what you guys wrote up in here and hopefully it won't happen again....
 
I dont want to sound like an asshole but man thats pool. You cant let that crap bother ya and destroy confidence. I can 100% promise you that if you keep playing its gonna happen again at some point. Accept it period, its part of the game. The more you play and the more you practice these types of nuisances will be few and far between but they still happen. Everyone dogs it.
 
I think it is important to identify what you are having problems with and try to work around it for the rest of the match. For example, if your shot making is off, play a more defensive game. Don't take on difficult shots unless you are guaranteed easy position. I know we all want to run every rack and play Efrenish shots, but if you have to resort to scrappy play to win, then do it.

If your having difficulty locking your opponent up with your safeties and the cue ball always peaks out for an easy shot, play more basic safety shots just keep him/her from making the ball.

I remember one match in particular where I kept giving away the table with less than perfect safety attempts. I would try to lock him up, but the cue ball always peaked out giving him a perfect run out opportunity. I gave up on those shots and my only aim was to put distance between myself and the cue ball and not leave a shot. Obviously this wouldn't work against a professional or even a strong A player, but you have to know your opponent and I knew that he wasn't going to lock me up every time. FWIW I won 7-3 and the second match 7-2.
 
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