Frightened :(

[Belloz22]

hey all, been a long time since ive posted on the forums.......anyway

iv noticed over the past 1-2 years that fear seems to be creeping into my game. its not a fear of players or anything, but it seems i am overly frightened to play the shot properly, and then my mind blanks and i half hit the shot. i dont know why im so frightened to play the shots anymore, and it is nearly every shot, not just hard ones, it is easy shots and beginning of breaks. it feels like im to frightened to commit to the shot because my mind is always not confident - and then i often get a blank spot - where my mind seems to forget how to play, my concentration goes, and everything goes wrong. i really dont know why these blank spots in my mind occur, but they are severally ruining my game. i can perform 2 brilliant shots, then outta the blue i have a mind blank and the shot goes wrong

so.... any ideas why this may occur, and any tips on how to keep my concentration up in a game??

[hotpot]

What is your mindset before playing , are you doubting yourself /ability and then not fancying the job if so then it,s something you have to work on . You have to me in a positive frame of mind immediately prior to playing otherwise you,re going to be full of negative thoughts , where you cant think straight , contentrate and really struggle .

If you,re mindset is positive but you,re still struggling the it may be a technical issue , and something you,re going to have to work on , which may be difficult if you dont know what your doing wrong .

[Sport Focus]

If it is your concentration and feeling negative there are a lot of things that you can do to turn this round. Just as you would practice your game you can practice thinking positive and building your confidence.

Del Hill uses a number of routines that a player can put in place to deal with issues like this and im sure that Nigel Bond fell back on these while playing in the Shoot- Out and thats why he mentioned him at the end of the final.

I use a number of different things including visual aids to help players find a way to get through these blocks and help them understand how important these are.

something to just start with while playing in the club is to remember that there is no rush, dont put extra pressure on to yourself that wouldnt normaly be there. Take a second look at the table if you need to and re-set yourself.

[Inoffthered]

IF the OP likes the Bee Gees, i'd be frightened of his playlist

[cantpotforshíte]

Sorry to hear of your predicament, Belloz22.

There is an excellent book, widely available on amazon or ebay for a couple of quid second hand, called 'The inner game of golf' by W. Timothy Gallwey.

It's all about mental interference, the way that your conscious self meddles with and inhibits your subconcious self and stops your subconscious self from performing the shot fluently. (He puts it a lot better than I can, and he's a good writer to boot)

'This godsend to every golfer concentrates on the psychological side of golf and reveals how we can improve our game by overcoming self-doubt, tension, fear of failure and anxiety' (Sleeve note)

It needs absolutely no translation from golf to snooker, Hardly a sentence in the book is not directly applicably to our game.
There is a book written on the psychology of cue sports called 'The pleasures of small motions', but in my opinion it's not a tenth as good as 'The inner game of golf'. Do yourdelf a favour and get one.
Good Luck!
By the way, I've never played golf, not fancied playing it.

[cantpotforshíte]

I've just checked your profile and seen that you're a Psychology Student! shouldn't you be telling me about this book?

[Belloz22]

thats the irony..... im a psychology graduate, yet know little about self motivation and overcoming fear (quite a paradox lol)