Sharing Those Shots!

I still find it incredibly adorable when my friends get so excited about shots they make at league.... that they send me a text about.  With a diagram!

Makes me smile!

If You Can't Say Something Nice....

In early April I shared some of my most helpful tips with Katniss of things she can do when she has that self realization during a match she is having negative feelings or emotions (here's the link to the blog post).

To recap, to help curtail negative feelings and emotions, simply follow these three important things:

1. focus on 3-ball shape, 
2. focus on your pre-shot routine, and 
3. stroke on your shots more.

Ironically, just about a month later, I saw a friend of mine playing on a stream and I could tell immediately just by the way she was shooting that something was off - either she was nervous or felt pressure, something was bothering her. Whatever it was, it affected her mechanics. She wasn't staying down on her shots, not walking around the table, and shooting much faster than I'm used to seeing her shoot her shots.

I reached out to her about a week later and broached the subject carefully. She was open to suggestions and then I gave her the same advice on how to calm negative emotions. (They really are great, solid tips that helped me for years!)

Fast forward only a month later, and my friend shared a story with me.

She shared that she watched a fellow female pool player (a friend of hers) playing on a stream on a Sunday afternoon.  And what do you know - she noticed and recognized right away that her friend was also not playing up to par and wasn't playing like she normally plays. Turns out she was feeling a lot of pressure and had a lot of nerves because of it.

She reached out to her friend a day or two later and passed on the advice that I had just given her a month before!

But, there is more to the story than me tooting my own horn, lol. There is actually a greater learning lesson here.

What I thought was more intriguing with what she shared with me, was that her friend told her no one had given her advice on how to solve her nerves... All everyone else did was just tell her how badly she played.

Poor girl!  Ugh, I felt so bad hearing this.

But... how powerful is this reminder!

If you 're going to bring up something to someone that is negative about them, instead of just making rude remarks, make sure you bring to the table something that is beautiful, something that they can learn from, something that is positive about the topic you're about to bring up.  Don't just dog them; help them!

Pool Tips from a Friend

I asked permission before I shared these, and my friend said yes.  Lucky us!  This is from a fellow pool player/friend who has great knowledge of the game:

------------

Was just reading your blog and enjoying your writings there...

Been a little while and just wanted to say hello and say thanks for sharing all your thoughts and heart felt feelings..

As I have stated before, I do enjoy reading about all you have to say and feel. You are such a giver and caretaker.

Hey, I also wanted to share some pool things with you as well...
I know you really love pool and the pursuit of perfection with the game..

Rafael Martinez----Most amateur players have a crooked stroke and that is why they do not play like a pro...they do not hit the ball where they really want to and therefore they miss the ball or miss position too...

He says to hold the cue very lightly on most all shots...I mean very LIGHTLY...."like when your mother played that little game with you when you were a child and you had to drop those cloths pins from high above into the jar that was on the floor and you were standing on a chair....very light like that...

Jim Rempe--  The game is best played in regards to position of the cue ball...Always try to be at least within a shafts length of your next ball....you can be a farther away if the object ball is mostly hanging in the hole or very close to the pocket...However, if the object ball is say 1 diamond or farther from the pocket, then you really need to be within a shafts length for position on the ball...

Dan Louie--- World Champ..
Determination...."When I was playing my best and was beating all the best in the world, I had the mindset that I just had to win...second place was just not good enough...I HAD TO WIN AND WIN ONLY....Be DETERMINED  and always give it your best effort in all areas of the game..."

Buddy Hall---DEAD STROKE.... When a player is in dead stroke, he is only thinking about one thing....SPEED...all other things are already on automatic and already taken care of ....SPEED IS ALL YOU WILL BE THINKING ABOUT....(basically how hard you will hit the cue ball..)

Ok...hope you like these and you probably already know but who knows and just wanted to share with you cuz your are worthy of it for sure...

Your friend in pool .. Jeffrey

Celebrations, Good and Bad

After my teammates and I came home from winning TWO ACS Nationals titles, they each had families to come home to to celebrate with!

Here is a pic from one of my teammates' welcome home from her kids:

I thought it was super SUPER sweet!

Another teammate lives with her Mom, and so she was waiting home for the huge hug!

And the final teammate, her Mom was actually IN Vegas with her so they were able to celebrate on the spot (okay, later that weekend in Vegas).

I feel very happy for my teammates, because I wouldn't wish my welcome on anyone:  I came home to an empty house.  I am not here to take away from my teammates' blessings, and that's the last thing I want to do.  But if I am to be honest in my blog entries, I have to say that coming home after such huge accomplishments to an empty house, with no one to even hug or share my achievements with was actually extremely depressing.

As you all know, my Mom passed 2 1/2 years ago, am an only child, and have no children.  No roommate, either.  My lovely dogs Lily and Izzy ALWAYS welcome me home, but they didn't know I came home as a 3-time National champion.

I have to say:  It sucked.

Most of my friends live too far for anyone to even say, "let's go celebrate."  (luckily one friend contacted me, who I will mention in a minute)

I'm NOT saying that we all need celebrations after a big accomplishment.  But I am saying coming home to no one and nothing was down right brutal, sad, and depressing.

Unless you are in my shoes, you have no idea even remotely what I am trying to say.  Let's just say it was a very lonely time and I was very sad.

Even one of my girlfriends told me this:  "I watched your team after you all won the second title.  Everyone was SO excited!  And every one of them got on their phones to call their families and loved ones.  Not you, though.  You were smiling and happy, yes, but you simply put your cues up and turned in the score sheet.  You didn't jump on your phone or text or nothing.  It was eye opening."

I don't want to harp on this, so let me share that my teammates and I DID celebrate the night of our wins, IN Vegas!  Although Janet was with her family in Vegas, Courtney and Nina and I went to MGM across the street from the Tropicana to try and find somewhere nice (and not super expensive) to eat.

After a couple of shots

We finally ended up a WolfGang's place.  

I admit I was apprehensive, but I was WRONG.  I LOVED the food.  AND, we got champagne, too!   So, we toasted our wins with the sparkling.  It was super cool!

It was a lot of fun!

After I came home, my friend Julie (who I wrote about recently) was so happy for me about my wins, she offered to meet up and have a toast.  It meant so much to me, that yes, I cried.  More than once! It was so very moving for me, and she had no idea how tough things were going.

Here we are:

So, coming home was bittersweet.

Can't take away that I'm a National Champion, though!  I just know in my heart my Mom and Dad are proud of me.