Seeing Improvement in an Unexpected Way - Project Hunger Games

I received a message from Katniss (the pool player of the Project Hunger Games section of my blog) last month, and as usual, I was super excited to hear from her!  Usually that means a blog topic will creep up in our discussion and I will get to write about it and share it with you all!

She said, "I’m not sure if you watch many pool matches online, but there are these two guys playing a race for $500.  It's on FB Live.  I see some awesome blogging ideas."

Hey, wait a second!  Is she telling me I should write about a certain topic?  WTH, I thought that was my job?

lol.

I told her, "Let me know the topics!"

And she shared, "Too much body movement while making their shots. On guy especially is the worst. I have to give them props, though, for matching up and recording it."

Of course I had to dig deeper (you all know me!)

"What do you mean exactly, please?"  

She laments, "That guy just lets go of a shot, and then his body moves. Kinda like he is willing it to go in...  with his body.  The other guy is missing, also, while moving.  His misses may be from nerves, too?  He's missing more than usual.  They are both missing badly."

I told her, "Interesting."

She continued, "I’m just not use to seeing them play so badly like this. It also didn’t help that I was watching the Mosconi Cup warm-up matches. I was watching pro’s play with great form and technique before I was watching these local players play lol."

I could go on and on and on about the importance of staying down and staying still, but like I said recently, I'm trying not to write novels so I can blog more frequently (so here is a link to a previous blog post about the importance of "stillness").

Instead, what I really REALLY want to point out is:  how much Katniss is improving!  You see, let's say a player named Cindy (made up name) is not working on her game or trying to improve, Cindy would never have noticed such an important part to our pre-shot routine of staying down: being still.

This tells me SO much about Katniss!

It tells me just how far Katniss's game has come. Cindy may be watching the gambling match because it's fun and exciting to watch. She is most likely watching to see if they are winning or not. But, is Cindy noticing the shots or patterns they are trying to make?  Did she notice they are moving their body a lot and maybe that's why they are missing?

If she's not trying to improve or work on her game, the answers are no.

When you notice things such as stance, body movement, not staying down - that's an extremely good indicator of your own game improving!

Submitted Q: Playing Over a Shot

Someone sent me a question the other day and wanted to try and answer it today for him:

"When you are playing and over a shot, what is going thru your mind? Is it all the little things we've been taught (follow thru, stroke strength, where to hit, English, etc); or, do you try to clear your mind and leave those other thoughts for part of your next pre-shot routine?"

What I was taught with this shot, shooting over a ball, is to keep my body completely still and focus solely on a smooth, calm, steady stroke looking at the object ball.

When I first tried this new-to-me approach over 10 years ago, I was surprised when I made the shots more and more in competition!  I got excited I was finally able to make them more consistently, instead of missing them all the time hahaha.

Let's face it, shooting over a ball is nerve-racking - a lot of things to think about and worry about.  But, keep your body still and focus all your attention on a smooth, calm, steady stroke.

Just like in basketball, focus on the follow through and the shot, not your opponent trying to block you (which in pool would be the ball you are shooting over).

And of course, because being so still while shooting over the ball felt "beautiful" (yes, I said beautiful), I incorporated that 'stillness' in every shot.  It has made a HUGE difference.  Imagine that - not moving while shooting helps.  ;)

Thank you for the great question!