Thinking about too many things!

[Tom Read]

Hi peeps.

I've been trying so hard recently to sort out my stance, cue action... everything about my technique. I seem to be thinking about too many things at once now, such as "are my legs correct, is my head still" etc. that I end up mucking up completely.

Then when I try to not think of things, I think "how can I stop thinking of these things"! I seem to be in a never ending loop!

Any ideas or suggestions as to how I can just relax around the table?

Thanks.

[stephen povey]

Just chill and get back to enjoying yourself when playing if you must have thoughts just keep it to JUST ONE AND ONE ONLY.... like keep still on the shot!!!!! Good playing regards Steve.

[Bigmeek]

Tom ha ha most of us have the same problem. There's too many things to remember if you have to think about it. The trick is to try and work at it untill it all becomes 2nd nature. Personnally I would forget about stance and a few other things. I always keep a Willie Thorne quote in my head when I'm struggling. The quote is "keep your head still and bring the cue through straight. Pot is unmissable".

[CoachGavin]

Think and work on your cue action in solo practice. When you are in a match practice then you are practising to win and so you need to just play and concentrate on potting balls, getting position and putting your opponent in trouble etc. Also when working on your technique work on one thing at a time and build your technique in steps. If you try to do everything in one go its too difficult and will only lead to frustration and a lack of confidence. Good luck!

[Terry Davidson]

A good golf pro once told me to have 'just one swing thought' when hitting the ball and I've since found out this is taught by all teaching golf pros and is common practice in golf, tennis, baseball, cricket and any other sport where you hit a ball with a tool of some sort.

So it goes with snooker...HAVE JUST ONE SWING THOUGHT. My own is 'KEEP YOUR F&^%$#G CHIN ON THE CUE' as I've always had problenms with head movement before and after the shot. This swing thought has helped me a lot.

Working and thinking about technique is reserved ONLY for the practice table As Coach Gavin says) where you are on your own and NEVER in a match (although most of us are guilty of that).

Also, do not get overly-concerned about technique. Every player has minor differences in technique, including the top 16 pros, but most of them manage to deliver the cue straight, which it is all about.

Terry

[renniwevarb]

I was through this rough patch just. What I've learnt and hope will be helpful to you is this:

When you are at the table, you are in full control. Take your time to make your decision on what shot to play, and then commit fully to take it - Be a pig! (my fav quote from some golf books and sports psychology books - The hen is involved, but the pig is committed!) Don't ever be half-hearted with the shot you are going to play, else don't play it as you will surely regret it.

Second is, always reset your shot routine if at any point along the way you feel that the potting angle you're down on is not correct (you lost your line of aim, or went down into the shot slight off the aiming line) Once you commit and fire, no regrets! If you miss, you miss. Simple as that. At least you know it was a clear decision you have taken. It is the same in life ya?

Finally, if you miss and are not at the table, don't rue your misses, your opponent's fine potting and good break after that, and a good safety that lands you in trouble, or whatever that happens. Remember that when you are not at the table, you have no control whatsoever to what is happening before your eyes. Just stay focused, and be ready for the next opportunity for you to step up to the table and be in control again. One way I've found that works for me is the self talk I do to keep myself focused, and the keyword "WATCH" when I'm not at the table. Many a times we waste our energy hoping for our opponent to make a mistake, or lose our focus thinking too much about our mistakes or letting negative thoughts come into our minds, when we should just simply "watch" the proceedings and let our minds stay focused while waiting for our next chance.

Another comment from a player that has enlightened me is this - If you play a safety and the opponent still makes a good pot, you can only applaud him on his attempt. But if you decide to go for a tough shot instead of a safety, and miss and leave your opponent a good chance, you have no one to blame but yourself.
What i'm trying to illustrate is not to have a misplaced expectation on yourself, which I have done previously. When you are out of position, and you have low percentage shots available, it's time to play safe. Given my standard of play, I would rather win a match having made little breaks and good safety, as I know my breakbuilding ability is limited. Not try to play beautiful snooker but keep losing. Just play to your ability. Leave the rest to be sorted out on the solo practice table.

Hope this helps

[Sport Focus]

I was through this rough patch just. What I've learnt and hope will be helpful to you is this:

When you are at the table, you are in full control. Take your time to make your decision on what shot to play, and then commit fully to take it - Be a pig! (my fav quote from some golf books and sports psychology books - The hen is involved, but the pig is committed!) Don't ever be half-hearted with the shot you are going to play, else don't play it as you will surely regret it.

Second is, always reset your shot routine if at any point along the way you feel that the potting angle you're down on is not correct (you lost your line of aim, or went down into the shot slight off the aiming line) Once you commit and fire, no regrets! If you miss, you miss. Simple as that. At least you know it was a clear decision you have taken. It is the same in life ya?

Finally, if you miss and are not at the table, don't rue your misses, your opponent's fine potting and good break after that, and a good safety that lands you in trouble, or whatever that happens. Remember that when you are not at the table, you have no control whatsoever to what is happening before your eyes. Just stay focused, and be ready for the next opportunity for you to step up to the table and be in control again. One way I've found that works for me is the self talk I do to keep myself focused, and the keyword "WATCH" when I'm not at the table. Many a times we waste our energy hoping for our opponent to make a mistake, or lose our focus thinking too much about our mistakes or letting negative thoughts come into our minds, when we should just simply "watch" the proceedings and let our minds stay focused while waiting for our next chance.

Another comment from a player that has enlightened me is this - If you play a safety and the opponent still makes a good pot, you can only applaud him on his attempt. But if you decide to go for a tough shot instead of a safety, and miss and leave your opponent a good chance, you have no one to blame but yourself.
What i'm trying to illustrate is not to have a misplaced expectation on yourself, which I have done previously. When you are out of position, and you have low percentage shots available, it's time to play safe. Given my standard of play, I would rather win a match having made little breaks and good safety, as I know my breakbuilding ability is limited. Not try to play beautiful snooker but keep losing. Just play to your ability. Leave the rest to be sorted out on the solo practice table.

Hope this helps

Theres some good advice in these posts, You cant commit fully if you have doubts in your mind, obviously if your thinking about all of these things while your down on the shot the chances of you missing it are going to go up.
Clearing your mind of all these things takes a lot of practice, just as much practice really as you spend potting balls.

[davidwu]

well tom, i was in the same situation for the past 3 months when i was in china, i thought the same things which in result i lost my long range shot accuracy completely. i was watching videos and asking for other player for advices, but all these things had just made me worse. cause i wasnt paying enough attention to the cue ball and objective ball. my advice will be forget those so called correct techniques, find a comfortable position where u dont feel any pressure or stress in the body. then focus on the cue ball and the way u move ur cue. if the movement of the cue looks straight to you then ur in the good position and less likely to miss a pot.

[Raldon]

My experience:

Thinking about too many thinks is the bad result of wrong practising or/and playing bad matches most of the time.

If you are working on your technique start with very easy shots. When you hit 7/10 shots as desired you can go to the next step, which has to be just a little more demanding...and so on.

Someday you will feel more confidable and all will come more natural.

Than, in matches with the most of the time very difficult shots, you will loose your confidence very quick again...and you will start thinking again.

But there is no need of thinking, if you are aware that it is just a very bad match with very difficult shots all the time.

Dont think your technique is totally wrong, because you are not playing the perfect game...practise only easy routines while adjusting your technique.

Just my opinion...hope this helps a little bit.

[The Doctor]

Some very good advise there. If you are working on your technique then do so with one thing at a time.
A lot of players try too much. If you are working on your pause for example, then do it correctly and don't beat yourself up if you miss the pot, as long as you have got the pause correct.
If you do this with each part you have concerns about, you will quickly correct them and will do so much quicker than trying to do too much at once.
Another important thing is to trust in your work. After working on your game, you must learn to let go and trust your training.
An example, when you are young you need to learn to tie your shoelaces but after practise and time you do it subconsciously. Try to adapt the same mentality to your snooker.

[thelongbomber]

I was through this rough patch just. What I've learnt and hope will be helpful to you is this:

When you are at the table, you are in full control. Take your time to make your decision on what shot to play, and then commit fully to take it - Be a pig! (my fav quote from some golf books and sports psychology books - The hen is involved, but the pig is committed!) Don't ever be half-hearted with the shot you are going to play, else don't play it as you will surely regret it.

Second is, always reset your shot routine if at any point along the way you feel that the potting angle you're down on is not correct (you lost your line of aim, or went down into the shot slight off the aiming line) Once you commit and fire, no regrets! If you miss, you miss. Simple as that. At least you know it was a clear decision you have taken. It is the same in life ya?

Finally, if you miss and are not at the table, don't rue your misses, your opponent's fine potting and good break after that, and a good safety that lands you in trouble, or whatever that happens. Remember that when you are not at the table, you have no control whatsoever to what is happening before your eyes. Just stay focused, and be ready for the next opportunity for you to step up to the table and be in control again. One way I've found that works for me is the self talk I do to keep myself focused, and the keyword "WATCH" when I'm not at the table. Many a times we waste our energy hoping for our opponent to make a mistake, or lose our focus thinking too much about our mistakes or letting negative thoughts come into our minds, when we should just simply "watch" the proceedings and let our minds stay focused while waiting for our next chance.

Another comment from a player that has enlightened me is this - If you play a safety and the opponent still makes a good pot, you can only applaud him on his attempt. But if you decide to go for a tough shot instead of a safety, and miss and leave your opponent a good chance, you have no one to blame but yourself.
What i'm trying to illustrate is not to have a misplaced expectation on yourself, which I have done previously. When you are out of position, and you have low percentage shots available, it's time to play safe. Given my standard of play, I would rather win a match having made little breaks and good safety, as I know my breakbuilding ability is limited. Not try to play beautiful snooker but keep losing. Just play to your ability. Leave the rest to be sorted out on the solo practice table.

Hope this helps

Excellent! Thanks for this tip!! A friend/mentor suggested some time ago, to "watch" the white ball. That's all he said. He said, watch the white and focus on it and that will help you get in stroke for the next opportunity.

[shamreez]

So many great advices here...

Hope I would be able to implement at least some of it when I play

[Luke Hooper]

Tom, dont worry yourself matey...im struggling with exactly the same thing recently...ive been trying to perfect my stance recently since not playing for a month or so and ive developed so many different faults, so much so that i video'd myself to find these faults and saw just how terrible i was cueing and all the amazing faults i had - correcting them is the next step..

i was playing so bad that even in a lineup, in fourty minutes worth of practicing i could not hit a break above 25. thats right, in a lineup. as you can imagine this only frustrated me further and i started hitting the balls even harder (even though i was really wacking them previously, which is one of the reasons i missed and ended nowhere near in good position)

matter of fact, i may even trim the clip and post it on here for coaches to have a giggle at how frustrated i was getting and how badly i was cueing...its funny because three or four days previous to the video i hit a 59 clearance and had 3 breaks above 25 in 2 frames lol

funny old game, snooker.

[Terry Davidson]

luke:

See my answer to you on another string as I answered both of your posts there at one time.

I've set you a test to resolve this situation you have outlined above AND I EXPECT TO SEE (OR HEAR ANYWAYS) ABOUT IMPROVEMENT ON YOUR PART!!!!

Terry

[Luke Hooper]

Terry,

just seen your post, and seriously cant thank you enough i think you have hit the nail on the head...i concentrated on these things the last day or two and have noticed a magnificent improvement already, i only concentrated on the holding of the cue so far and this has helped dramatically but i will keep you informed...thanks again