Concentration Help - and Consistency

[Belloz22]

ahhh why, this game can be your best friend and your worst enemy lol. Anyway, my main question concerns, how do you keep a high level a concentration on your shots? I have been playing the game for 2 1/2 years now and play in a local league, my highest match brek is a 52, 92 in practice. I feel that i don't make so many breaks in live games because i have the tendency to lapse with my concentration and make a silly mistake which i would not normally do, i.e. playing shots to quick, not hitting balls hard enough, playing poor positional. How can i learn to developt a high level of concentration so i can cut out the lapses in my game, which without these would make me an extremally reasonable player.

One last question, when you are going through a bad patch, not being able to pot and that, how do you go about trying to solve the reason why your playing bad?


Any help would be much appreciated, and would definetly help in my enjoyment of the game, instead of losing to players i should never lose to.

[Semih_Sayginer]

Bell

it sounds as if you already have a fair idea of what your problems are, as you go on to mention [some of] them. from what you have identified, if i were you id go back to basics and make sure you follow a routine when preparing your shots, and follow them almost exactly every shot. a good pro to watch such routine is john higgins.

when youve settled on your routine in practise, transfer it to the match table. make sure you follow your routine in practise seriously. you should hopefully see a difference in match play WRT eradicating the silly errors, as most of them will be down to concentration, and if you follow your "new" practise routine rigidly you will be focused and "in the zone" and shouldnt make so many schoolboy errors.

WRT in and out of form. it happens to everyone, and IMHO it depends on the person when they come back to form. again, dont be afraid to go over old ground you think is too easy for you....stance, grip, cueing etc......as its most often something simple thatll get your confidence/game back on track

best of luck