How can I remain calm?

[thelongbomber]

Also, next time you get to 50 -if you count ur own breaks- start counting from one again, and when ur break ends add the two scores together. iv heard this works for some players

That's an excellent suggestion! Thanks!!

[mick.hinde]

I have a video showing Ray Reardon shaking his shoulders to relieve tension (or of course he may just have been cold!) but I now do this quite regularly as I tend to get stiff shoulders when under pressure.

[snookeq]

Learn to BREATH properly. IE...
Breath IN with your NOSE
Breath OUT with your MOUTH (slightly open).

I notice players like Ken Doherty opens his mouth slightly
while cueing.

[thelongbomber]

Learn to BREATH properly. IE...
Breath IN with your NOSE
Breath OUT with your MOUTH (slightly open).

I notice players like Ken Doherty opens his mouth slightly
while cueing.

Thanks! That's good info. I have a match tonight which I hope to record.

[cris0000food]

Breathe through your eyes like the lava lizards.........

[thelongbomber]

Well, I didn't record the match as promised, but I did win The breathing helped but I was still nervous. Especially cause everyone was watching - that made it more tense.

Next time: bananas and breathing

[Drac]

Longbomber....... well done mate, a win is a win is a win

[cazmac1]

After being really nervous at the Kent county cup I been looking into natural remedies with are supposed to have the same effect as beta blockers.
If you do a search on the web you can find loads of info along with other self-help techniques. I don’t always suffer from nerves and do like a little bit of tension to keep me focused but I am going to take a trip to Holland and barretts and see what they got that might help.

[mick.hinde]

Careful what you get. At the end of the day all remedies are effectively poisons to the body, causing it to do what it does not do naturally. A beta blocker is slowing the heart unnaturally and the herbal remedies route is merely a drug that has not been checked by the medicines agencies. I do not mean to sound like big brother here, but equally there are younger members on the forum and would hate to think anyone may try something that could have serious consequences. In the same breath, I am not against the use of alcohol, caffeine or other (legal) herbal "medicines". They are normally from plants the same as heroin! It does open up a question of what the easb and wpbsa allow though. Interesting!

[cazmac1]

Careful what you get. At the end of the day all remedies are effectively poisons to the body, causing it to do what it does not do naturally. A beta blocker is slowing the heart unnaturally and the herbal remedies route is merely a drug that has not been checked by the medicines agencies. I do not mean to sound like big brother here, but equally there are younger members on the forum and would hate to think anyone may try something that could have serious consequences. In the same breath, I am not against the use of alcohol, caffeine or other (legal) herbal "medicines". They are normally from plants the same as heroin! It does open up a question of what the easb and wpbsa allow though. Interesting!

I thing your over reacting mick, All the ingridents i'm talking about are natural and have been around for yours. I'm talking about things like green tea. At the end of the day most foods we eat have something added to them in some way or other.

[Sport Focus]

Rather than taking and adding things to your system that theres a very good chance you dont need, id sugest a first step may be to take stuff away from it.

Caffeine, Nicotine, chocolate and the like are all stimulants that can increase the feelings of anxiety, nerves and energy. Theres no point in going down the herbal route if you go and eat a lot of sweet things before you play, smoke or drink coffee, even diet coke contains caffeine.

The best cure for nerves is to build confidence and there are a lot of things you can do to increase it, it takes a bit of time and effort just like practice but its far longer lasting than trying to find a quick fix.

Dont forget either that medications are made from natural plants and chemical compounds, natural remidies although legal can still contain substances that are banned under sporting governing bodies and with the huge list of substances that are banned theres a very high chance that your box of herbs from a shop will contain some of them. Obviously not to much of a problem for your club player but something that needs to be thought of when going on to play at other levels.

www.mattandrewsmentoring.org

[Inoffthered]

I thing your over reacting mick, All the ingridents i'm talking about are natural and have been around for yours. I'm talking about things like green tea. At the end of the day most foods we eat have something added to them in some way or other.

Have you tried these? http://www.kalmsstress.com/

I sleep so much better since I started taking these again. For some reason I stopped taking them years ago ( out of habit ) and now I'm back into the old routine. Overall, make me feel much more relaxed during the day too.

[thelongbomber]

The best cure for nerves is to build confidence and there are a lot of things you can do to increase it, it takes a bit of time and effort just like practice but its far longer lasting than trying to find a quick fix.

Absolutely agree. Outside of strategy, tactics, and the human side to the game, snooker is primarily a technical sport and most players - myself included - could probably spend years perfecting and learning ball striking and ball control.

[cue1]

Well, I didn't record the match as promised, but I did win The breathing helped but I was still nervous. Especially cause everyone was watching - that made it more tense.

Next time: bananas and breathing

That's one way of doing it

Win more matches when everyone's watching you!!! You'll enjoy it more, the adrenaline (the good adrenaline) will give you a buzz and you'll be less nervous the next time round :snooker:

[Raldon]

My experiences:

Try to remember to calm down after every shot, even after the first pot, very easy pots, or even after a bad shot. This helped me to diminish an early escalation of nervousness.

Watch a match with Murphy, Higgins or even Robertson...they are imho the big masters of concentration and relaxation.