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Dealing With Pressure
by
Blackjack David Sapolis
by
Blackjack David Sapolis
Copyright 1995 Blackjack David Sapolis
Copyright 2004 Blackjack's Billiards Inc.
(excerpt from The Growling Point)
What would it take to make you choke during a match??? A television camera showing your next shot to a national audience? The chance to earn several thousand dollars if you were to run out the rack? What about the risk of losing $1000 if you were miss it?
When I was doing research for this book I decided to find out. With the help of the University of New Mexico Psychology Department, I designed a research project to determine how 10 players of various skill levels would react to the stress of shooting straight in shots on the 9 ball. Each round consisted of 20 shots with varying levels of pressure. The first round, the players were asked to make a straight in shot on the 9 ball 20 times (no pressure).Then I added pressure by asking them to repeat the 20 shots while being filmed for a nationally televised show. They had the added pressure of a crowd full of people, cameras around the table, and adverse lighting conditions. In the third stage, we added even more pressure by telling the players that they would get $300 each by matching their performance on the first round of tests. That's not all. I warned them they would lose $1000 if they didn't match their first round scores. While they shot, we monitored heart rate and brain wave activity. Here's what happened.
Five players matched or exceeded their initial scores from the first round and collected $300. The other half didn't -- they choked. But our test found that all 10 players equally displayed all of the measurements of anxiety. The test concluded that it's not the level of anxiety that determines performance, but how the brain processes the increase in activity. Our chokers had the left side of their brain doing most of the work when the pressure increased. The successful players had brain activity that was spread evenly throughout both sides of the brain. Remember that imagery and target awareness are created in the right brain, while the left side focuses on the technical aspects of making the shot.
It's not just amateur pool players who get nervous. One of the great myths of sports is that elite athletes in all sports don't experience the same kind of anxiety that the rest of us do. As a professional player, I get nervous. You must realize that it's okay. Getting nervous is part of the game. World-class players such as Efren Reyes and Ralf Souquet experience a temporary case of the nerves, but they have learned how to handle their emotions in ways that don't hinder their performance. I would argue that they know how to use both sides of their brains.
"Balanced Brain Activity" under stress is a skill that can be practiced, but it's not something that can be developed overnight. Below are several suggestions for getting both sides of the brain involved to avoid choking. Here are a few of them:
• Use mental (visualizing the target) and verbal cues (positive self-talk).
• If you become distracted during your pre-shot routine, start over. Don't try to fix the problem in mid-stream.
• Be specific in your thinking about what you want to do with a shot. It's easier to concentrate when your attention is sharply focused than when the objective is vague.
• Do your thinking prior to getting down in your stance.
• Avoid overthinking during your pre-shot routine. That stops the psychological momentum you've already created. If you are still unsure of what you are about to do, get back up and start all over again.
• Visually connect with the target on your last look.
• End your routine with a breath. Exhale, then take the cue back.
Always remember that to be a top class player, you should practice -- on and off the table. If you can use some of these stress management techniques away from the table, (in rush hour traffic, for example), they might transfer to your game during a match.
Pressure is a pool player's occupational hazard. Whether you're playing in the local tournament or the U.S. Open, it's always there. Some seem immune to nervousness simply because they choose to ignore it. Others go to pieces. How do you cope with it?
I have many theories about dealing with pressure. I believe that negative feedback is the key to it all. It's so difficult to con your mind. All the great players seem to be hypnotized. They eliminate negative thoughts and breed positive thoughts. They put mistakes and errors out of their mind prior to coming back to the table. They focus on winning and eliminate thoughts that are not focused on that.
You build up subconscious muscle memory, and it takes a while to block those things out. When you're shooting, don't even think about shooting. Just think about stroking the ball. It's not your nerves; it's the way you think. How you go about it is the key.
Successful players have different ways of coping with pressure. Some see sports psychologists, who stress visualization, remaining calm and positive reinforcement; others psyche out pressure by thinking negatively, sort of reverse psychology. Some just tune out. One year, I played the MPBT Tour listening to music on a Walkman to relax. I would remove the headset while I was shooting, but while I was in the chair, I wore the headset and stayed in my own little world. While in the chair, I would focus my attention on the playing surface of the table while I listened to music.When it was my turn to shoot, I would remove the headset. When the music stopped, it was like a starting gun in my brain.
I played the tour for 17 years and saw a lot of players self-destruct. Sooner or later, it happens to almost everybody. Our worst faults come out in competition. We are all creatures of habit. If choking is our habit, we need to treat it as such. We need to unlearn habits. If we keep our thoughts simple, we will do better. As you get into competition, your stroke speeds up and so do your thoughts, that's natural. You need to back off and be more deliberate. Trust your stroke and don't doubt yourself. It's a matter of being organized and remaining calm. If you overload your brain with negativity, anything you try to do will also be negative.
Many players have a common fault--thinking big. They often try to make shots they're incapable of making. All of a sudden they're trying to win the match with every shot instead of using good judgment and playing safe when they need to. Newsflash - YOU CAN'T MAKE EVERY SHOT!!! You can't make things happen out there and waste your opportunities by being overzealous. You will only turn the table over to your opponent. This caused by getting ahead of ourselves. I know you've heard it before, but you have to play one shot at a time. You have to put that last shot that you missed, or that last error out of your mind.
Most top players agree that mental preparation is essential. The night before a tournament, visualize each shot and how you would like to play it. That way your mind is focused the next day and simply needs reinforcement. If you can't see yourself making a particular shot, chances are you won't, so don't try. Always try to play within yourself and your abilities. Visualize your break shot, watching your cue ball stop dead after contact, making a ball, and controlling the one ball perfectly. Then visualize yourself running out.
The average stroke lasts 1 - 2 seconds. Francisco Bustamante sets up for 12 to 15 seconds before each shot and 10 seconds for his break. If he makes 1 ball on the break, that leaves him with 8 shots. at 17 second intervals, each game lasts an average of 2:16 per game. If his opponent breaks and makes nothing, it takes him an average of 2:00 to run out the rack. This will vary at lengths of shorter and longer due to how many balls he makes on the break. Seeing that each shot lasts 1-2 seconds, he averages about 16 seconds per rack when he is actually pulling the trigger. That leaves a lot of time where he is left thinking about what he is going to do and how he is going to it.
We are going to look at those 12-15 seconds. What you do and what you think about is very important. Some of that time is spent evaluating your situation. Some of that time is dedicated to recognizing the shot you are going to take, and what route you will be sending the cue ball for your next shot. These are task oriented thoughts. Whenever a thought creeps into your mind, such as "I can't get there from here," or "I missed position," or "I screwed up", these are non-task oriented thoughts. Those thoughts are not useful in accomplishing the task. From here, you need to recognize these thoughts and create a system to interrupt these thoughts to get your mind back on track with task related thoughts.
I believe in a four step thought process:
1) Recognize your shot
2) Prepare for your shot (this includes getting behind the cue ball and seeing your position route)
3) Get into your stance
4) Make the shot (notice the word make, NOT take)
If anything interferes with this process, start over. If the negative thoughts, or if the non-task related thoughts start creeping in, use one word interrupting statements such as "Stop", "Backup", "Rewind". This can be practiced and perfected. You can practice your thought process. I try to time my thoughts with the steps I take while moving from one shot to another. That works for me. Plan my position route while chalking my tip. When I am positive that I know what i am going to do, I stop chalking. I then get down into my stance and go through my practice strokes. If any self doubt creeps into my thought process, I stop. I get out of my stance, and walk to the other side of the table and start all over again. I don't pull the trigger, and I don't stand back up to breed more negative thoughts. The key is to stay positive, no matter what the circumstances. When the going gets tough, stay cool and collect your thoughts.
Thought Process After a Miss
The trick is putting missed shots and mistakes behind you and moving forward. Don't let one bad shot ruin the entire match. What you think, and what you say to yourself while you are sitting in the chair can affect your performance when you get out of the chair. I have a three thought process that I use, and I believe that if you start to apply this you will start to see a major difference in your attitude.
1) Stay positive
2) I will win regardless
3) Push it aside and win
If you go back to the chair disgusted, chances are you'll start mentally battering yourself with statements like, "Gosh, why did you do something so stupid?" or "I always screw up!" When you say things like that yourself, you increase the odds of repeating the process. If you return to the table and you are still fuming over the last error, chances are you will make further errors. Put it behind you, and NEVER allow your misfortune to be the key to your opponent's victory. If he is going to win, let him earn it. If you self destruct, you will hand him the victory on a silver platter.
Now lets look back at the times I mentioned earlier for Francisco Bustamante. It takes him 1:45 to 2:00 on average to break and run a rack of nine balls. Does this mean that he concentrates fully for 2:00 straight? No it doesn't. Remember I said that he sets up for 12-15 second between shots and then the shot actually takes 1-2 seconds? That's an total of 17 seconds per shot. That means he is applying his concentration for approximately 17 seconds at a stretch, give or take a few. Between racks, he shifts his concentration away from the balls, but it remains in the match. He wipes down his cue, examines his tip, gets a drink of water, whatever. Then he is able to reapply that concentration when he sets up for the break, and then reapply it to run out.
Many players make the error of trying to stay completely focused for the entire match with no breaks in concentration. Think of it like a rubber band. The more you concentrate, the more we stretch it. Well if we continue to stretch it, sooner or later it will snap. What usually happens is that our rubber band snaps during competition, then we get frustrated. Frankly, we just ran out of gas mentally. I firmly believe that if you practice your mental game, you can develop it in much the same way that a bodybuilder builds a muscle group. The more you exercise your mental skills, and the greater the resistance, the stronger it will get. It needs to be fed correctly, tested, pushed, and then relaxed. We nourish our mind with the thoughts we allow in. We test our mind by using it in competition to overcome obstacles, which can be compared to bodybuilder lifting weights. We push our mind by overcoming the resistance to negative thoughts. We relax our mind by taking rest periods. If we don't work out, chances are we will become lazy. Going into competition without being mentally fit is like trying to run a marathon without preparing for it. After running the first 50 yards, you'll get out of breath. After the second 50 yards you'll start asking what you got yourself into. Shortly after that you'll probably stop. I guarantee you will never see the finish line. A lot of pool players do the same exact thing. They don't prepare, and usually they don't realize that until after they are already running the race. By then it's too late. Laugh if you want, but there are many players out there that expect to win the marathon yet they don't have the energy required to make it around the block.
Many players shift their attention to technique. All the technique in the world will only get you so far. It does not assist your endurance. Mental endurance is the key to winning tournaments. Champions understand this. Champions use that to their advantage.
Copyright 1995 Blackjack David Sapolis
Copyright 2004 Blackjack's Billiards Inc.
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