Mentality

[jdgmedia]

I've been playing snooker regularly for the past few months now at my local club, but am becoming increasingly frustrated, to the extent where I'm now considering whether it may be worth me taking a break.

I seem to be very up and down. I have frames (few and far between) where I play consistently good shots and pot well (although my highest break is only 24), but generally speaking I struggle for consistency and I can't put my finger as to why.

I get frustrated because I think "why can't I play like I did last week (when I was break building fairly well)"

I think it may be something to do with my temperament and mentality. If I miss a shot I feel I should pot, I get frustrated. And then as soon as I miss a couple, I get bogged down.

Obviously everybody's personality is different, and pro players like Mark Williams seem to be very good at shrugging this off.

I guess my main question is how can I improve my mental stability for playing snooker?

[magicman]

For a start you have to reconcile yourself that you are human and will miss.

Then you have to realise that your attitude and general mental state is as much a part of the game as position, potting or safety.

Rolling up behind the green and snookering a player, even when the pot is on, is going to wind an opponent up and cause them problems. Do you want to be so easily manipulated? Show some resolve, some mental strength, and your new-found calm will translate into more opportunities to score.

[Rane]

Basicly if anyone could answer this question then Ronnie O´Sullivan would have won at least as many titles as Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White several times world champion.

I´ve never managed to carry my practise play to the matchplay, and I think it´s the problem for most people playing. Seeking a sports phychologist is probably the answer to some extent.

[Sport Focus]

A simple way to start is to get into a habit of thinking positive and when a shot doesnt go your way or you miss a pot saying to yourself something like "My next shot is going to be better" thinking this way will start to help you put a mistake behind you and move on.

rather than getting frustrated over something you now have no control over you are starting to concentrate on doing better.

[damienlch]

hi jdgmedia... snooker is not an easy game to play and i agree with you that it can get pretty frustrating at times...

you've stated that your highest break is 24, which is a good start for anyone... i would suggest you spend more time on solo practice... run practice drills and hone your technique... it'll increase your arsenal of shots and break building ability, which i'm sure will translate into more confidence and consistency during game play.

i look at it this way... the pros have loads of natural talent and can make fantastic shots. but you'll notice that when they're in amongst the balls, more often than not it's a string of simple stun and screw shots which, with a bit of practice, most of us too can reproduce when broken down individually... and for me, that's the key to break building... shot selection and doing simple shots well when you are in, not fantastic long potting and the ability to apply loads of spin and screw, although that helps when you run out of position.

last but not least... don't forget to enjoy the game...

[nrage]

jdgmedia:

Whereabouts are you in the UK? I'm in south london and it sounds like I am playing to a similar standard.. if you want someone to practice with

[exolon]

I've been playing snooker regularly for the past few months now at my local club, but am becoming increasingly frustrated, to the extent where I'm now considering whether it may be worth me taking a break.

[...]

I think it may be something to do with my temperament and mentality. If I miss a shot I feel I should pot, I get frustrated. And then as soon as I miss a couple, I get bogged down.

Obviously everybody's personality is different, and pro players like Mark Williams seem to be very good at shrugging this off.

I guess my main question is how can I improve my mental stability for playing snooker?

I used to suffer from this as well, and I still get frustrated (although I'm better at hiding it now) when playing an opponent who gets lots of flukes or who plays a very conservative game.

A friend I used to play regularly against had no break-building game, and would only take a red on if it was a shot to nothing (or a sitter). For a while, I used to get immensely frustrated at coming to the table with the white near the cushion or even fluke-snookered, but eventually realised that if I'm not enjoying playing him, I'd better get something out of it or not bother.

So every time I came to the table in a horrible position, instead of saying "great, another cushion shot from the baulk" or "hampered again" and hating it, I'd think "why do I hate this kind of shot? Because I'm bad at it... so this is a perfect opportunity to practice it! Thanks!!" - sounds cheesy, but as soon as I saw the positive side of the learning experience, I started enjoying the frames again. And possibly due to dropping frustration levels, I took every shot seriously and calmly and improved my game: during my "angry" time, I'd lose about 60% of our games, now I win about 70%.

Like you, I also get frustrated when playing badly, but when I catch myself (one trigger to wake up is when I angrily smack the balls without properly deciding what to do and lining up as normal - then I know I've wasted a shot due to anger), the same technique applies: passively pay attention to the mistakes you're making, as an engineer would observe a faulty system. If it's potting, keep track of whether you're consistently missing left/right or thick/thin. Come up with a few hypotheses for what might be going wrong, and some possible experiments to confirm or disprove each possibility (there are some absolutely superb threads in this forum which I've found recently, containing basic debugging techniques to check for problems in your game - I will be trying them out ASAP), e.g. whether your bridge hand is weak or in the wrong place, whether your stance or grip or sighting is wrong, etc.

As long as you trust that every shot you play is helping you to move forward as a player (be that by winning frames or by serving to improve your form), you'll be too busy to feel frustrated!

[hotpot]

When you are playing well , full of confidence expecting to pot everything rather than hoping and things are going your way then the game seems so easy .

But the test is how you react to bad form , bad luck , bad losses , and the feeling that you cant sting a thirty break together .

When i hear the saying , he,s got a good temperament the first thing i look for is how he reacts when the tide is truly against him , whether thats because he,s playing brilliant snooker but cant get his nose in front , or he,s having a nightmare . Thats the biggest test of temperment and mentality and the finest example of a player who has this in abundance is Mark Williams .

I,ve never seen a player who no matter how bad things get hold their head up so high and maintain their composure .

[miscuehamburg]

Anger management is one of the major mental issues of the game. It is also something you can actually learn by playing snooker and hence use it to your advantage in various daily matters. For example, how do you react when in a supermarket que seemingly everybody is paying with creditcards or small change and this goes on forever?

When things are not going smooth don't get angry but try a cynical smile instead. Stay positive at all times, relax and look forward to your next opportunity, instead of pondering over your past mistakes. Try to enjoy the game and the run of balls will eventually change:snooker:

[alabadi]

I myself have this problem, as an Engineer i am too perfectioninst so when things don't go right it frustrats me especially when i don't know why it is going wrong. also i have a practice partner who regularly flukes shots or puts me in unintentional snookers and this too gets the better of me.

i really need to be able to ignore it however a habit of a lifetime which is part of my personality is hard to break.
i will have to work on it because at the moment it is effecting my game too much

alabbadi
__________________
Originally posted at Http://www.thesnookergym.com/forums