FOCUS – ATTITUDE – CONFIDENCE – PRESSURE

FOCUS

One of the more common causes of a missed shot is a lack of focus, or, having focus in the wrong place. When you step up to take a shot, there are specific things that ought to be your focus throughout execution — and things that will try to steal your attention and cause faulty execution.

A common tendency to overcome is the habit of thinking about whether the ball is going to go in the pocket. As far as your ability to execute is concerned, it’s irrelevant!

Focus in on the precise point on the object ball. Develop a feeling that every bit of your mind and body is right there on that object ball — and give it your best shot! You’ll find out in just a second whether that was good enough — but if you allow yourself to get caught up with a fear of disastrous outcome, you may end up convincing your body to execute a disaster.

Another key to proper focus in pool is knowing that all of your decisionmaking should occur before you lean down to the table:

Which ball to shoot? What position is desired? What english?

All of these questions should be answered before addressing the cue ball. If you are down over the ball making decisions, bad things can happen — the most common of which is making the wrong decision. It is common to see a player change his mind while down over the shot, and not take the time to stand up and assess whether the new shot really gives him the best chance to win!

Another common problem relating to focus occurs when negative thoughts come up immediately prior to execution. Although it can be one of the most difficult habits in pool to break — it is imperative that you learn to recognize when something does not feel right — and learn to stand up, take a deep breath, and start over with your stroke routine. Ever see Tiger Woods stop his swing halfway back because of a camera flash? He will not allow that outside influence to affect his execution – and he’s right to stop and start over.

Many players find this embarrassing, or feel it makes them look weak — but to a discerning eye, it is quite the opposite. A player who is willing to stand up and start over is a player less likely to make mistakes.

ATTITUDE

The result of any given shot in pool has few influences outside the actions of the person shooting. The balls are round and roll true (usually) and the table does not move (usually). Still many players are convinced that the inanimate objects they hold or play on are to blame for their bad fortune.

It’s amazing how much time is spent by pool players — even the very best — agonizing over seemingly inevitable, cruel, and brutal punishments inflicted by the equipment they play with — but the best players in the world know that the balls go where you hit ‘em.

Any time you are thinking about what the equipment is doing you are ignoring what the cue ball was doing — even if you were shooting with your finger and you miscued, you can learn more by watching the cue ball than by thinking about your finger.

Try to have a positive attitude while you play. Take responsibility for your actions! If you find that you are blaming anything and everything but yourself for your lack of success on a pool table, it will be very difficult to improve your game. On the other hand, if you see a guy in your local pool hall who struggles with this aspect of the game — he may be worth a lot of money.

PRESSURE

Many situations in competitive pool result in perceived pressure on the player shooting. Generally the things that increase this feeling of pressure are the table stakes, the opponent, the match situation, or the environment — none of which have anything to do with what you need to do on this shot!

Remember that the pressure you feel while playing is artificial — it is not a physical substance — it is a perception that reflects the level of fear you have of failed execution. Get rid of the fear, and you get rid of the pressure.

Face it: if you need to make this 9-ball to win — you need to make this 9-ball to win — no matter where you are, who is watching, who you are playing, or how much you are playing for.

There are several good ways to deal with pressure. The easiest one that you can use today is to breathe! Oxygen helps focus and calms the body — so a few deep breaths can go a long way toward helping you deal with perceived pressure.

In the long term, your performance under pressure will probably be helped the most by experience in the situation. Try to seek out opportunities to put yourself in artificial pressure, and see how you do. Play in tournaments or challenge players that are difficult for you, or join a league with a bunch of hot girls in it. As you begin to see that you can deal with both internal and external pressure — it will be that much easier to be confident in your stroke the next time the money is on the line.

CONFIDENCE/overcoming SELF DOUBT

Another mental challenge in pool involves the shooter’s level of confidence, or the presence of self doubt. Many poor shots have resulted because the shooter was not sure about his own ability to execute. The key to remember here is that you should be confident in your chances to do what you are trying to do on every shot. If you don’t, stand up and breath until you do! Still think you’re going to miss the shot? Perhaps a safety would be better.

Know your own limitations, and be realistic about them — but try to learn when you get down over a shot to convince yourself that you are going to give it your best shot, with your best stroke, no matter what. Outcome be damned! Just give yourself the greatest chance to execute to your full skill level on this shot.

It may help to develop a mental exercise for situations where you get down over the ball and start to feel the nag of fear that comes from self-doubt. Here’s an example of one trick you can use to overcome this lack of confidence:

Stand up. Breathe deeply twice, and imagine yourself executing the shot to perfection. Imagine your opponent racking the balls, and imagine your following break. Do it again. If nothing else, the mental energy it takes to visualize the desired scenario will take your mind off of the fear for a moment, and you have at minimum identified the outcome of the shot you desire.

Another trick is to find a good symbol, or scenario, for yourself that establishes confidence — and recall it in moments of doubt. Each player’s symbol or scenario will be different — but practically everyone can find something to recall that re-establishes confidence. Perhaps you can think of how you landed your wife or girlfriend. Maybe you can think of how much your daughter looks up to you. Maybe you’ve held up a trophy before — and you can picture and recall the feeling that it gave you.

CONCLUSION

It may help to know that even the greatest players in the world miss for exactly these same reasons — even the best let mental obstacles get in their way from time to time – in fact, when the very best do miss, it is more often a mental hangup as opposed to a problem in execution.

The mental dimensions of pool and your relationship with them reflect who you are as a player — but they reach far beyond your pool game. The difficulties you encounter on a pool table can teach you a great deal about your self and the way you handle situations in other aspects of life.

Pay attention to yourself! Take the time to think about your game in a positive, reflective way nearly as much as you practice it — you’ll become a better player, and you’ll become a better person.

YOU CAN DO IT!

DEVELOP A STROKE AND A STANCE YOU CAN RELY ON

The ultimate goal of evaluating the mechanics of the game is to produce a sound shooting routine that you can rely on in any situation. Different players will have different routines, but all successful routines share a proper implementation of the following elements:

BODY – STANCE – SIGHT – BRIDGE – GRIP – STROKE

Your stroke is simply the movement of your forearm and wrist – which should be fluid and loose. Your stance is the position of the rest of your body – which should be comfy, steady, and still. The stroke is not reliable unless it is built upon a sound stance, while a good stance will do nothing for an erratic stroke. They are mutually dependent and equally important.

In pool, your body is the only moving part you control – so you must know it and treat it right. The bridge you use determines how steady the cue is, and your sight, or eyeball action, determines the reaction of your subconscious muscles through your brain.

BODY

The first stop in the physical part of pool is your body. Since it is the only thing you directly control in pool – it is essential that you understand it and treat it right.

Think of Tiger Woods, think of Bruce Lee, think of Jackie-Joyner Kersey. These world class athletes take their bodies seriously, and it shows in their work ethic, success in competition, and the soundness of their spirit. Improving the condition of your body can dramatically improve your performance, even in a relatively non-exercise sport such as pool.

Knowing where your body is, and what it is doing, is essential to performing at a high level.

STANCE

Getting into your stance is the first motion of getting ready to shoot. Once your stance is set, the only moving parts of your body until the shot is over should be the forearm and your eyeballs.

Your stance should be well balanced, steady, solid, and comfortable. Most good players keep their heads low and centered over the cue, with the eyes an equal distance from the table for a balanced view.

Above all, as is so often the case in billiards, the stance you settle on should be consistent and produce predictable results. Once it is fundamentally sound, comfortable, and consistent, it will be one less thing you have to think about when shooting — and that will allow you to move on to learning other things.

SIGHT (Eye Action)

Do not underestimate your eyeballs when playing pool, they are crucial to your game — and don’t ignore what they are doing while you shoot.

Establish a routine in which your eyes recognize all the relevant points in your environment and their relative proximities – such as the striking point on both the cue ball and the object ball, as well as the center of the pocket at which you are shooting.

Your eyes will have a tendency to stray to irrelevant targets at times — just recognize this, and remind yourself to focus. Learn where your eyes need to be during different parts of the stroke routine, and stick with it.

BRIDGE

The bridge hand steadies the front end of the cue stick as you stroke it back and forth. It is essential that this be a non-moving part, so as not to introduce sideways motion — which causes an undue margin for error. You need to know exactly where that cue will touch the cueball, and your stick must go in a straight line with the desired path of the cueball. A wobbly bridge makes it impossible to achieve that level of accuracy.

There are many resources for developing a sound bridge, and there are many different styles. The key is that it is solid and does not allow any sideways action during the stroke.

STROKE

Your stroke is simply the action of your dominant wrist and forearm — it should be comfortable, natural, and predictable. Your goal should be to make your stroke ultra-consistent — so that it is reliable in all situations.

There are many drills to practice your stroke, but the key is that the stick must travel in a straight line. Many, many different looking strokes have been used to force the cue-stick to travel in a straight line — but all the good ones share this in common.

Common mistakes during the stroke include ‘pushing’ the cuestick forward too early, as opposed to letting it swing back and forth like a pendulum. Much like golf and baseball, and contrary to popular belief, the less you use your muscles, and the more you let the weight of the cue do the work — the more power and accuracy you will have. Compare the sweet swing of ‘Big Easy’ Ernie Els to yours — you may find you are trying too hard!

Another common stroke mistake is a failure to swing the wrist backwards and forward in a straight line — but instead introducing a sideways direction to the path of the wrist. Make a conscious effort to let the weight and momentum of the cue stick do the work — and keep the muscles in your wrist loose. This will go a long way toward ensuring a straight stroke.

GRIP

The grip of your dominant hand on the cue stick should be secure, but it should not be too tight. Many of the great players hold the stick very lightly, like an egg. Others have a slightly tighter grip, but none of the good players have all five of their fingers gripped like a fist around the cue.

Many players grip too close to the end of the cue — but the hand should be right around the center of the woven grip on a custom cue, or about 6-12″ up from the end of a house cue. The cue should rest on the pads of the fingers on a dangling wrist — and the fingers should be supporting the cue more than they are holding it. Generally speaking, the forearm — which makes a line between your elbow and your wrist — ought to be at a near 90 degree angle to the cue stick, pointing straight down to the floor.

CONCLUSION

Once you commit a fundamentally sound shooting routine to your muscle memory – you can rely on that part of your game without thinking about it – and your pool game will truly soar to new levels.