Awesome Email Exchange: Handling Pressure

I got the sweetest email the other day!  One of my blog readers (can't believe I actually have readers!) wrote me for advice.

He wrote:

"Love your blog.  I have been reading it for quite some time now, and in this time I have gained great respect for you, your game and your opinions on it.  As such when faced with this dilemma I thought of no one else to ask.

I’ve been playing blackball (English pool) for a while now but this year I started playing in our countries opens. This is my first foray into national level games and the pressure is getting to me. 

I have been shooting really good. Last night for example I ran the rack to black twice on my first visit and even after being awarded 2 fouls on black I was still not able to pot it.

Granted we have to play from the kitchen but still. Heart racing palms burning, when the shot mattered I folded like a bad poker player.

I’ve been training with a coach which has made my technical game good. In the US it would be ranked a 6 I think.  My problem is playing under pressure can’t be taught like running drills.

I hope you could grant me some pearls of wisdom.  If this mail is too random for your liking please ignore it."

I was so honored he emailed little 'ole me! 

I put together a little list off the top of my head and sent it to him.  Less than a week later, he sent me this note:

"It Worked!

Very well I might add.

I tried to soak up everything in your email... and last night it showed when playing league.

On my pressure shots, I took a walk around the table, took deep breaths, reminded myself that my body knows what to do already.

My coach was there too and he was very impressed. Even in the 2 games I lost, my opponents conceded that they got lucky and didn’t deserve a win.

It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside :P

I thank you sincerely for the help.

I hope I can share this advice with everyone that may need it.

You're an absolute star!"

I told him how pleased I was that he was doing well!  I then asked him to keep me posted, and also asked if I could share our email exchange on my blog and he said yes, and also added:  

"I played an FHM blackball event this weekend and made it to the quarter finals.

I was cool as a cucumber."

I am so glad he was able to use some of the tips I have gathered over the years.  I hope I listen to my own advice in tough situations!

Here is what I sent him:

I can give lots of advice, but sometimes learning to deal with pressure is best taught through more and more tournaments and experiences.  Every pressure situation makes you stronger for the next one.  It takes time playing in tournaments to get better and better at it.

In the meantime, here are some quick tips:

- Be aware of your body.  If you can FEEL your heart pounding, then take in very deep breathes and hold.  Then release slowly.  When your heart is racing, it means your adrenaline is flowing.  You can slow it down by deep breathes, holding, then letting it out slowly.  I repeat this til my heart finally calms down.

- Trust your fundamentals.  It sounds like you and your coach have created a good technical game and your fundamentals are good, so trust them. 

- What I do to stop me from *thinking* when I am down on a shot is to focus completely on my pre shot routine.  The only way for ME (personally) to stop thinking negative thoughts is to focus, literally, my thoughts on my stroke, staying down, etc. This way you aren't thinking about pressure or anything else that can affect your game. 

- Accept pressure as part of the game.  Look at pressure in a GOOD way.  If you are in a pressure situation, it means you are playing in a good game!  It doesn't have to be a bad thing.  Also, what exactly is on the line?  Your house?  Your life?  In reality, it is just a game.  Pressure is what you make it, so try to make it work for you.  Embrace what pressure is - it means you are blessed to be playing in a good match.

- If you are thinking negative, try to reverse it.  Here's a tip:  Try to think of negative/positive as 100% of fluid in tall flask (like from a chemistry class).  Your goal is make the positive thoughts have more percentage than negative thoughts.  If you feel nervous, you might be 10% positive and 90% negative.  Try to make the percentage of positive thoughts higher.  I don't have tips HOW to do it, but that is the goal.  I sometimes use little successes as positive thoughts.  "Oooh, I drew that well." or "Ohooh, I stayed down well on that shot" allows some of the embarrassing or nervous energy to focus on my shots and not be negatives.

 - And finally, the last thing I can recommend is to try and find out why you missed right away.  Once you figure it out, you can change what you might be doing wrong.  Don't let a match finish and then after you say, "oh, I was nervous" or "oh, I wasn't staying down."  ACCEPT you missed, then figure out why, then work on it right then and there.  If I realize I'm nervous, I try to work on that by focusing on my shot routine, or realizing it's okay to be nervous or telling myself, "stop it!" 

I'm sure there are more tips, but these are off the top of my head.

Oh, and I just remembered this blog post from Mika about Pressure:  http://icemanmika.blogspot.
com/2010/03/how-to-deal-with-pressure.html

Let me know how it goes!  This game is wonderful, isn't it?  :)

Sincerely,
Melinda