Snitches Among Friends (and a Great Tip!)

I mentioned before that I sparred a few times with two friends in the spring.  It's been really fun because we get to spend quality time together not just playing pool, but we usually eat before or after, which is always nice to do with great friends.

One important part of the game I have shared with others, I consequently shared with these two ladies as we sparred.

I learned from my friend June Hagar Walter a very long time ago, don't ever tell your opponent you fouled.

She instilled in me that it's my opponent's responsibility to pay attention to the game.

Now, I'm not saying you're not supposed to fess up if you are asked, "Is that a foul?"  I'm NOT talking about lying at all! But what I am saying is, if you foul, simply walk away from the table and sit down. If your opponent asks you if you foul, you absolutely be honest and say yes.

However, she taught me to not pick up the cue ball and give it to your opponent. Nor tell your opponent that you fouled.

I'm not going to be able to truly express why this is an important part of the mental strategy of the game, but let me try. It could be because it is the opponent's responsibility to pay attention and you aren't their keeper. It could also be because it is more a 'killer instinct' kind of action. Remember on the table you are not suppose to be friends. It could also be that it might annoy your opponent, right? But it's a legal part of the game - you aren't going against any rules.

However, I fully admit to you that because I didn't get even a smidgen of the killer instinct until about 15 years into my pool journey, I picked that cue ball up or offered my blunder to my opponents all the time, lol! It was only when I got more mentally stronger and that killer instinct ramped up, that I was finally able to walk away from the table knowing I fouled without telling my opponent.

Here's the kicker: this goes completely against my grain of being a nice person!  It was actually REALLY hard to do, because I felt like it was going against my own personality and character. I am serious - it was truly difficult! I felt like I was being mean, and that's not like me. But once I figured out more about the killer instinct and to be tougher (not nice friends with my opponents), then I realized it was just part of the game.

Okay, back to my sparring friends!

I think we sparred together about four times, and so you can imagine that fouling happens often enough that it happened every session. And I would give them this June Hager Walter advice. But, they seemed to forget the advice a lot (because it was a habit) and they would always want to give me the cueball after they fouled.  I would remind them to stop doing that. Sometimes they would say, "Well we're just sparring, we're not competing, so I'm just doing it to be nice." Well, that allowed me to use the moment to remind them that even when we spar, we are to treat it like a real match. And in matches, we are not suppose to be nice!  I also reminded them they needed to get into that 'routine' / 'habit' (just like I had to) - so even when they're practicing or having fun, don't go out of their way to tell their opponent they fouled.

I know it was difficult for them, as they are two of the sweetest people you will ever meet, and so it goes against their grain to not just tell their opponent they fouled, also. I get it, I really do! But I wanted to remind them (when it came up) that this is a great tool to have in their toolbox because it IS a mental toughness and strategy thing.

Eventually, towards the last of our sparring sessions, if one of them fouled and almost grabbed the cue ball, the other one would kind of pick on them because that's what they weren't supposed to do. And they knew that I would get on to them, lol. It became really funny!

So imagine my surprise when in May I was having dinner with one of the ladies.  And she snitched on the other one!

Their teams were playing league against each other one night, and in their own match, the other friend fouled, picked up the cue ball, and gave it to her. And my friend, eating dinner with me, sharing this story, was almost like an older sister who snitched on the bad behavior to her mother! She couldn't wait to tell me our friend did that LOL!

My friends are so cute!

Prepare to be Comfortable Playing Pool

I know I keep mentioning I sparred this month, but you have to realize I haven't played pool for an entire year, so these two sessions have given me many topics to talk about lol.

Even though I haven't played pool in a year, I still wanted to bring my A-Game.  And the best way I know how to do that is to prepare for it like I would like I was going to a tournament or playing league.

So, I needed to figure out everything that made sure that I felt comfortable.  Because I know that I play my best when I'm comfortable.

So, I had to think about things I hadn't thought of in a year, lol. Let's face it.  If we are getting ready for work or to go out shopping (as an example), we don't really think too much about how comfortable we need to be in all aspects of ourselves.  Sure, we need to make sure our clothes aren't too tight or our shoes are comfy, but when we are going to compete (no matter the sport), we need to prepare for all aspects of comfort so that we aren't distracted and instead can play our best.

So on these two afternoons I was going to spar, I had to make sure of my "comfortableness."  That means a comfortable pair of jeans and also wear a shirt that was long enough that it didn't ride up in the back, lol.  Additionally, it was kinda cold so I needed to wear a light sweater, but one that was light enough to keep me warm but not too heavy to where I was hot.  I can't play good pool when I'm too hot.

The next two things might seem girly and trivial, but in reality they're not if we our goal is complete comfort.

I have talked before how being comfortable is key.  There's nothing worse than pulling at your shirt or your hair being in your eyes while you're trying to play pool - all that does is distract you from focusing on the ball in front of you.  This is why I pontificate about comfortableness a lot in my blog.  I have lost matches because I was too worried about a shirt or shoes or pants, etc.

And so one of the other things I had to think about was that I changed my moisturizing routine on my face in the last year.  You might think, "What does that have to do with pool?"  And quite honestly every one should ask that, lol.  But the reason I mention it is, when I was competing I would use a certain moisturizer that did not get oily throughout the day.  When you play pool, you do sweat a little bit and I recognized that particular moisturizers made me feel like I was sweating more than others.  Gosh that's distracting!  So, that morning before I sparred, I had to think, 'would my new moisturizer withstand a session of pool playing without being a distraction?'

Additionally, in the past year I kinda figured out how to put my hair up in a bun, which is affectionately known as the "messy bun."

Here's a picture of me with a messy bun:

As I was getting ready that morning I was thinking to myself, "Should I put my hair in a messy bun or not?"  The reason why is (don't laugh) because I've never played pool with my messy bun, and I have no idea when I got down on a shot, if my hair would come out of the bun, lol.  I have to admit I'm not very good at the messy bun yet and so even if I shake my head some of the strands come out. So the last thing I want to do is try to play pool and strands fall down and get in front of my eyes.  Distracting!

The other thing I had to think about (which I've discussed numerous times in my blog) is when/what should I eat. The pool room opened at noon so I had to figure out when to eat; I always tried to eat at least 2 hours before I played pool.  But I also couldn't have a huge lunch.  If you don't recall - if your stomach is too busy trying to process food, then that takes away blood from the brain which takes away from thinking best.  However, you have to have energy and food is energy, so I couldn't go in without eating anything that morning.

It was so weird to think about all these things I hadn't thought of in a year!  But, I wanted to bring my A-Game.  And my A-Game involves preparation.  :)

I hope you are also planning for complete comfort when you compete, also!

Ask Why, Then Decide Solutions

I shared in my previous blog post that I sparred with one of my clients/students/friend over the weekend.  It was actually the second time we sparred this month - we met up two weekends before that.  But otherwise, I have not played pool for an ENTIRE YEAR.  The last time I played pool was January of 2018.  

Yes, seriously.

The first time her and I sparred earlier this month, though, I was tired towards the end of the 2nd hour, and distracted by several things.  One was the weather was nice for once and I wanted to work in my garage, lol (it has been so cold, I haven't been able to do that for a couple of months).  Two was, a few guys came in and played a couple of tables away from us and started to engage in conversation a little bit (not much, but enough to where it was bothersome).  And three, I was having some digestive issues (I know, tmi, lol).

While I played decent in the beginning, toward the end of the sparring sessions, I was definitely missing more shots.  And of course, that didn't spur me on to want to keep playing that afternoon lol.

However, we did schedule to spar again in two weeks.  

During this two-week period, it crossed my mind one day that the reasons why I played poorly toward the end was because of the typical demons:  (1) I wasn't staying down on my shots, (2) I wasn't focusing on my shots, (3) I wasn't comfortable and felt kinda tired, and (4) I was distracted.

Therefore, because these items are in my control, I was very cognizant of what I wanted to do differently when we met up again.

So, two weeks later, I deliberately ran errands before I met up with her - this allowed me to feel more "awake" and also give my body time to wake up.  I had this same routine for when I used to compete regularly.  I was also more cognizant and stayed down on my shots longer and focused on looking at the object ball last - both of these allow me to play my best.  And finally, I deliberately didn't have other plans that afternoon, so my attention was solely on the sparring session, and not thoughts of what I needed to do when we were done.

And sure enough, I played jam up and a lot better this time around!

Even though I haven't competed in an entire year, and barely competed the year before that, the problem-solving process remained.  I figured out what was off, thought about what I needed to do, then did it.

This tells me I have a good habit (in general) of figuring out what is going on/wrong, and then preparing to resolve it.  

So my question to you is, have you incorporated this into your game?  Or how about your daily life? This is a great trait to have, right!?

Playing Preparations

I mentioned the other day I had sparred with a friend (video edition).

And I had some important preparations to do beforehand.

Because I don't play that often anymore, I don't think of things I need to do to better prepare myself for playing.

This time I remembered! 

Yep, needed to tape my chalk up so I can easily identify them.

:)

I know - sound crazy that THIS would be my only preparations.  lol.  But, even being comfortable with your chalk is important.  My other pieces were either too low, had bad-colored tape, or not tape at all.  All aspects of comfort are important, peeps!

Sparring on Video

My friend Tina and I had a sparring session yesterday.  I really love our time together - it's nice to get to know her better every time we play.  She has a great heart and soul, and I love learning from her about life-things.

Then it's time to hit the table and get good practice in!

When we spar, I talk about shot selection - reasons why to go for outs or why not, lol.  We talk about runs, break outs, safeties, etc.

We mentioned in passing a few times in the last year about video taping our sessions.  So, I finally came through with our idea, lol.  I brought my camera tripod that my friend Janet gave me last year as a Christmas present, and I captured 10 games on video this day.  But, am only showing one right now.  Main reason is I miss in most of the other games lmao!  And the other reason for not showing more right now is Tina hasn't even seen them yet.  So, need her permission first.  Gots to be proper, ya know.  So, since this one mostly shows me, I figured I was safe.

On the video, you can hear me (hopefully) talking about why I chose stripes and some of the difficulties that were on the table.  I happened to somehow run out this game; not sure how - especially considering I made it tough on myself lol.

One more thing - this is a great example of why I like to practice in the pool room.  Normal distractions all around us, like in a real tournament.  You can hear people around us and even see someone talk to me during the run.  I love it!