Shot making in practice vs. Shot making in a match

[lesedwards]

Les:

Did you take my advice and place a spare spot where you want the cueball to end up and also when you miss are you re-setting the shot and playing it until you get it right?

You must train your brain and you must decide what you're going to do before you get down and you must think 2 shots ahead in order to increase the size of your breaks unless you become a player who can pot anything that will go in.

Stick with it and you have 2 weeks until the next tournament.

Terry

Yes and it is amazing how you have to concentrate in order to keep position to keep going. I will update as I beat previous high breaks.

[itsnoteasy]

Les is that just red line up and you potted 35 reds in a row because that's not bad after half an hour trying.

[lesedwards]

Les is that just red line up and you potted 35 reds in a row because that's not bad after half an hour trying.

LOL.....I wish. No that was with the colours. I took my table apart today, I have guys coming tomorrow to install new Northern Rubber and rail cloth and then I will be back at Tomorrow night. I cannot wait to have a table that will take a ball rather then spit it back at you.

[lesedwards]

Well I thought I would update everyone on my progress. Played in our Qualifier last weekend lost 4 straight. Met with Cliff Thorburn on Monday for a 2 hour coaching session. Spent 2 hours a night all week practicing and really worked hard potting blacks from all angles making 75% of them. Then today I played three best of 7 matches loosing 12 games straight. I have a whole different outlook on my game the minute a real game starts which even includes playing a game against friends for fun. I get over a shot with the attitude I cannot make it and 9 times out of 10 I miss. If I do happen to make it then I have no shape on a colour. Just sad and very frustrating. This has become a mind game. Its not that I cannot pot a ball. When it comes to practicing I pot balls with a stroke that is so solid and positive. When I play games I pot balls with a very hesitant stroke with nothing but negative thoughts.

[itsnoteasy]

I have re-read this thread Les, and one thing I have noticed is you seem to be more interested in what you score than what you are doing, by this I mean, practice is for practicing things. When you report back it's about breaks you have got or how many reds you have potted, it's never , I worked hard on my contact points, or concentrated on getting the cue through straight, then questions about help for these if you are struggling,these are the things that are important, get the technique right and the rest will follow, you can't do the breaks and then try and improve technique . You played golf, I bet you didn't hit a 68, then said I better work on my swing, of course not you worked on technique then the scores came. It may even be possible you are on the table too much, at this time of year I can only get in a couple of times a week, because of this I practice really really hard on things , whereas when I could get in most days I ended up just slapping the balls around the table.
It surprises me you struggle with pressure at the table having played a sport at pro level, you obviously had to handle pressure, so you can do it, I think people's egos get them in trouble within their own minds, too bothered with what others will think if they mess up, the truth is no one is interested, it's only one game in a million games getting played all over the world, so the only folk with an interest in that game is the folk playing, and what your opponent thinks of you doesn't matter . Try your best that's all that matters, and if that's all jabby and horrible, accept that's your best, go home and improve it, come back and try again, don't ever expect to bring practice form to a game, no one does, so when you play poor in a game, remember your opponent is doing exactly the same it's just his poor is far better than yours lol.

[lesedwards]

That is an interesting point...LOL I know my mental part of the game is getting in my way. If I could only bring 60% of my practice game to the table I would be happy. You mentioned going down to my table to practice different things I am having trouble with. Thats exactly the routines Cliff put me on when I seen him on Monday. One of my big faults is being able to run the black ball. I spent an hour each night shooting high, low and dead in blacks using six reds once I made them all then I move to the other side and do the same. Then I spent an hour with the cross using 13 reds, one on the pink spot and three on all sides. By Thursday night I was making about 75% of the blacks but will continue again this week. As for the cross not so good loosing position after about three balls. Some how I have to talk my way through each shot when I am playing a match. I actually played a 6 red game against my son the other night and talked my way through the game telling him what I was going to do with each shot and the game was over by the yellow. I wonder if my opponent at next weeks qualifier would mind if I narrated each shot.....LOL

[itsnoteasy]

Commentating your way through isn't as daft as it sounds Les, I saw an interview with Stephen Hendry once and he said he did exactly that, if it's good enough for him, I think it's ok for us. Although I think he internalised the commentary , I don't think he was shouting it out loud lol.
As for practicing the blacks etc, the twenty five percent you missed, why did you miss them,? this is the important thing, not how many you got but why did you miss the ones you did, if you stay down after every shot and ask yourself what went wrong there, you then have a chance of eradicating that fault from your cue action because you have identified it ,if you don't do something along these lines the same faults will be there in six months ,a year, ten years, as nothing will have been done about them. These are just my thoughts on improving as it's what I have been doing, again I would say check with Terry before doing anything as he actually knows what he's talking about.

[lesedwards]

I text Cliff and he is calling me shortly to discuss yesterday's matches and what went wrong. I went down this morning just to pot a few balls and I made everything including long blues following the cue ball into same pocket. My game has now come down to a mental game that I must fix.