Not Exhausted During Tourney - Project Hunger Games

Katniss (of the Project Hunger Games series of my blog) shared with me in January "Oh btw...I reached a milestone this weekend. I was at the tournament all day mainly waiting, but I did not get tired! Usually by 7 pm I am wore out. I felt strong and awake at my match in the evening!"  

Being the nosey, curious person I am, lol, I asked her, "That's great!  What was the difference or what did you do different?"

Katniss: "I really don't know? I drank water and pepsi; no alcohol. I was nervous playing a super-high ranked player my very first match and even remember seeing my hands shake while trying to rack for him...but just did deep breathes. By my 4th match, all my nerves were gone!  I waited 5 hours before that match. I really don't have any idea. Maybe my mental toughness is getting stronger?"

I listened to her words, but my gut was telling me something different.

I prodded some more, "Didn't you mention you have been working out?"

Katniss: "Yes I am.. More lifting weights than anything."

Me: "Hmmm....I don't think mental toughness helps tiredness.  I think instead you working out helped you from getting exhausted."

Katniss exclaimed: "Oh, that could be very true! How many pros claim a healthy lifestyle helps keep them on point. Mmmm...interesting."

Me: "All pros in every sport.  Golf, too."

Katniss: "I will need to make a mental note of this milestone!"

Me: "Absolutely!"

I was so happy for her - overcoming exhaustion and finding out why is huge - and it will help her in future tournaments with long wait times.  

Awww, I love our journey with pool!

Danielson Series: Which Tournament to Choose?

There's many personal reasons that help us decide what tournaments we want to play in.

And I was lucky to get in the head of Danielson to see how and why he decided to play in a certain tournament one weekend.

Normally, he just plays in the tournament that is being held that weekend, but last Fall there were THREE tournaments on the same weekend. Pretty fortunate he had to suffer to make a tough choice, huh?  lol.

But, he had to weigh what each tournament offered (or didn't) and then figure out why he wanted to play.

One tournament was on bar tables and players had to have a Fargo under 640 to be able to play. The problem with that handicapped tournament was, the Tournament Director lets players play who didn't have "established" Fargo ratings and he would let them play due to "known ability" from word of mouth. Turns out, the top 3 players of the two previous tournaments were all unranked and "unestablished." Danielson didn't want any part of that again.

Another tournament was not handicapped at all. And it drew the top players from the area, because most top players do not want to play in handicapped events, they have a better chance cashing when they play everyone even. Danielson didn't want any part of playing all the top guys even.

Then there was the third tournament. This one also only allowed players who were ranked under 644 Fargo, but if players were not "established" in the Fargo system, that TD wouldn't let them play. Further, the other handicap tourney that weekend was winner break. This event was alternate breaks. Danielson WANTED a part of that, lol.

He said, "So if I play...I'm going to give myself the best odds...and alternate breaks with confirmed handicaps sounds best to me."

I was a tad surprised as that tournament was the farthest out of all of them, but he choose the tourney he thought he could place the highest in.  If you have choices, wouldn't you do the same thing?

Skills from Competing Transitions to Other Areas

I talked yesterday about being concerned that my friends who love pool my be deterred or confused by my happiness to not be playing pool anymore. 

What I want to also say is I don't think retirement from pool means I'm not still working hard or being challenged.

I watched a show the other day about this pro skater who was admired and envied by many of the other pro skaters. It was very interesting because everyone talked about how he just quit the game one day when he wanted to. One of his friends said a lot of pro skaters (well, this is probably true for most athletes), that a lot of them quit competing when they lose their sponsorship, or they get hurt, or start a family or something like that. But this pro skater (his name was Heath Kirchart) decided on his own one day that it was just simply time for him to quit; and he has not once regretted his decision.

He was one the TOP skaters around! Doing extremely tough jumps with intricate aspects that not many others could do. He was adored and admired. So, everyone did not understand and were very surprised he could just quit so easily. 

It's important to point out he didn't stop doing things in retirement that were creative or mentally tough, hard, or challenging. On the contrary, he is actually doing some pretty amazing, challenging things. So while his sport of choice used to be pro skating, he just transitioned being challenged in other ways.

This really resonated with me. I didn't even realize I am kinda doing the same thing. 

I'm still successful, just not with pool anymore, and instead in a different part of my life (my job). You see, I want to be a better employee at my job, and I'm up for the challenge. So, I work hard, need to be mentally strong at times, handle stress, and am more involved to put 100% of my focus now towards my career. Just like I was doing with pool! Don't get me wrong, I still have more peace without competing in pool, but the hard work to become a top player is now directed towards a different area: my career.

I hadn't thought about this connection at all til I watched that tv show about Heath. 

Pretty cool!

BTW, Heath added something else pretty profound:  "I just think that life is really long," he says. "And I didn't want skateboarding to be the only side of life I saw."

Something for us all to ponder.