Do you use ALL your tools when you play pool?
There are so many. Do you use them all?
Maybe it's taking breaks.
Remembering to act/be confident.
Breathe to slow down your adrenaline.
Drink lots of water.
Have no mercy.
There are SO many things to remember when you play in tournaments. Let's face it. Stay down. Sit still. Breathe. Try to beat your opponent 7-0. Wear comfy clothes. Hit balls before hand. Eat something effective. Keep mental notes handy to review. Oh, and pause then follow through.
While obviously you shouldn't be thinking about all of this during a tournament, you must still be aware of SO many things in your tool box.
For instance.
I was talking to a player back in December during a break she had after a tough win.
She shared something with me, that I'm still shocked about.
The tables are kind of close to each other in a certain part of the room. She was playing a tall opponent.
She would deliberately leave a safety down a certain end of the pool table, so her opponent would have a difficult time making the shot b/c she would be crouched against another table to shoot, and have an awkward stance.
WOW. I had never thought of that.
Talk about using ALL the tools in your toolbox!
Makes me wonder what other tools are out there, as I hadn't thought about this one before!
Not in tournament but in league, i've used a timeout to gather my thoughts; once when i had a hanger, because i was shooting poorly, so i knew i had an easy shot next but wanted to think what to shoot after that because i saw the runout but didn't want to second guess myself and found myself shaky. Another time was when i was shooting well and had made a tough shot and my adrenalin was high, so i wanted a breather before wrapping up final "easy" three shots.
ReplyDeleteBoth times I used the timeout to mentally compose myself rather than need help with a shot. So just stepping back from the table and talking to someone for 40 seconds helped me focus.
Just a tool I've used in unordinary fashion.
That's a good "tool" to use when you have the option for timeouts. Thank you for sharing!
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