I have pontificated a lot in my blog that players who play scotch doubles together do not necessarily need to practice together if they already know 8ball well.
Katniss changed my mind a bit. I love seeing different aspects of things!
What I hadn't really thought of was when two people who don't know each other at all play scotch doubles together, it is actually very beneficial to practice together ahead of time because then you get to find out about their personalities. Some people show a different side to themselves when they are competing, right? Competition can bring out the worst in someone, and if you don't know that about your partner, you will be surprised.
You see, Katniss played in a scotch doubles tournament with that guy a while back and he is the type of player who shows his emotions when he's upset - usually a small tantrum sort of thing - walking off mad, quipping about her slot selection - nothing loud or obnoxious, just a hint of upsetness.
He's like this all the time when he plays, but she hadn't seen him play a lot in tournaments and didn't know this about him.
So when they played together for the first time, his negative emotions and reactions bothered her, and therefore distracted her from playing well, because she thought she caused his tiny tantrums. I tried to explain to her after the scotch doubles tournament that he's like that all the time, and while she understood that and it made her feel a little better, there was still some doubt and she continued to take some blame thinking her mistakes on the table upset him.
As we all know, we play our best not distracted. Therefore, because he showed his upsetness, it definitely distracted her and she didn't play her best.
They decided to play in another scotch doubles event together, but this time they got together to practice a week or so before. And what did she see? She saw him act the same in their practice session and it clearly proved that it's just his personality and nothing to do with her!
So, when they played again in their next scotch doubles tournament, she felt much more at ease with him, wasn't taking things personal if he got upset, and they played much better together! I'm not saying they won the tournament or anything lol, but they played better together and felt better much better because they got to know one another a little better during the practice session. They are also becoming friends, which helps in scotch doubles, as well.
I definitely failed to see that when two people don't know each other at all, even if they know 8ball well, finding out about their personalities ahead of time can be a key element to shooting well together.
Thank you, Katniss, for the lesson!
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