Lowest of the low.........

[DWOT]

Right now I feel the lowest I've ever felt confidence wise when it comes to snooker, I've spent money on coaching, put in plenty of hours practice wise but can't even seem to make a regular 20 break.....

I've gone backwards, 2-3 months ago I was making regular 20 breaks, had made my first ever 50 in practice and was looking forwards to at least start making regular 30+ breaks....

The new season is 2 weeks away and I've lost all faith in my ability to pot more than 2 balls in a row, am constantly questioning myself and can't seem to clear my head and just play when it come to pracitce...

I'm going to go and see either Del Hill or Nic Barrow in ASAP and see if they can sort me out as it's really not much fun right now....

Moan, whinge, whine.......

[tommygunner1309]

Yes I know the feeling. A lack of confidence is a nightmare when you are going through these patches. But you can hit the breaks, because you have done it. You have been coached, so you know what to do. For me it is just a case of getting on the practice table for an hour at a time, starting with some easy pots, concentrating on no body or head movement, and taking the cue straight back and straight through. An hour of quality practice is worth more than 4 of poor concentration and frustration. Try to put the thoughts out of your head and concentrate on potting easy pots. And keep at it for an hour. Have a break and go back on slightly more difficult ones.

It just sounds to me as though your confidence is low. It is amazing how much it can affect your game. You look at the pot, think, this is tough I am going to miss it, then cue in an awful stabby jab, that bears no relation to your normal self. Try hitting a few balls off the brown spot up and down the table. Cue the ball dead centre, let it roll over blue pink and black spots and come back down to the tip of your cue.

[nrage]

What he said ^^ .. I've been off snooker for about 4 weeks now and my first few frames back this week were abysmal. I reckon just get on a table, relax and concentrate on the basics for a bit. Give yourself some easy ones, and time, to get back in the flow/groove/etc.

[Terry Davidson]

A lack of confidence will reveal itself in your technique and you will be doing something wrong. Tommy and nrage have it right but before you book a coaching lesson with Del or Nic I would like to offer a suggestion.

First of all, see if you can video yourself from directly behind and directly ahead on a simple pot, like for instance a dead-in blue to the middle and screwing back to the other middle pocket under your body. Then review the video and look for the following:

1. ANY upper body movement in either the backswing or delivery (are both as smooth and deliberate at possible?)
2. (VERY IMPORTANT) Check in the video and try and see when you are closing the grip on the cue. If it's before you strike the cueball then you'll have to work on loosening your grip even further until the tightening occurs WELL AFTER you strike the cueball. Y must accelerate THROUGH the cueball and if the grip tightens before the strike you will be decelerating before you even hit the cueball.
3. (ALSO VERY IMPORTANT) Ensure you drive all the way through the cueball AND LEAVE YOUR CUE EXTENDED AT THE END OF THE DELIVERY AND KEEP EVERYTHING STILL for at least 1-2 seconds or until the object ball is in the pocket or hits the cushion/jaws.

Point #3 is probably the most important as it will not only prevent upper body movement on the delivery but will also ensure that acceleration through and BEYOND the cueball.

Terry

[tommygunner1309]

As usual, Terry has got it spot on. I particularly like point 3 that Terry makes, about staying down for a couple of seconds after the shot. I do this a lot in practice, and looking along the line of the cue tells me a lot about what I am doing right/wrong.

With this good advice you cannot fail to find your form again. But be patient, and it will all click in.

[hotpot]

Some ecxellent advise , just like to add that sometimes we are so wrapped up in technique , improvements , adjustments , tinkering etc that we are no longer enjoying the game we all fell in love with .
Theres no one worse than me i,m always tinkering , changing tips , experimenting and sometimes get too wrapped up in it all . Then i have a think to myself and say its only a game , just go and enjoy it , and its when i,m enjoying it and concetrating purely on snooker that i play my best stuff .

[Luke Hooper]

all i will say, is stop expecting so much... i had the exact same problem as soon as i knocked in my first 50, and even now im playing and i EXPECT to clear the table or make a 50+ every time and get frustrated when i cant string a 16 together! snooker season in the league has just started out again, so far have a 100% record and i think my highest break is like 22! lol breaks dont mean everything, dont expect it, it will come and then you will enjoy it again... try and keep everything repetitive, im always changing tips, always sanding my tip down to get it the perfect shape, but none of that makes much difference, its the way i eye the ball up or rush into a shot i think and my concentration levels on not keeping my cue straight that messes me up sometimes... i cued EVERYTHING to the right last night but still managed to run out a very comfortable winner (63-2) in the division above where im normally used to playing... the way i see it, if your not potting well, put in a good safety and just pick a few off hope your form returns soon matey, as with mine! lol

[DWOT]

I had a job to do at dawn so went and played from 11pm-4am with Cuepower (The luckiest player to ever pick up a cue, I kid you not) didn't worry about a thing and just went and played wthout worrying about technique, cue action, where my feet were, was my wanger tucked in the left or right side etc, just played and played and played and thoroughly enjoyed it, had lots of chances too for some good breaks but as is the norm kept breaking down, however I DIDN'T WORRY ABOUT IT.....

Still do need ot work on technical issues for certain but need to remember to just play when it's play time and work on the other stuff when it's practice time.

I did however have the grip in mind, played one shot and forgot to grip completely!!! LOL

[ste bed]

i am going through the same at the moment but due to lack of playing not realy played since last november. i played my 1st league game last night so over the last 2 weeks been knocking some balls about and was utter crap. but i played anyway gave a 37 start and won potting was rubbish just played good safety and used my experience. probably playing at 40% its the hardest game in the world when you struggling with confidence/form just got to keep playing.

[Terry Davidson]

DWOT:

You are absolutely correct in saying you should reserve technique issues for SOLO PRACTICE. However, the question then becomes 'how in hell can I get all these technique things out of my head?' when you are playing a mate or in a match. It's a tough thing to do especially if, like yourself, you don't have faith in your technique.

So, what's the answer?

When playing in a match or against a mate in a knock-about, you should have ONE (and only ONE) swing thought in your mind. This is what Del Hill refers to as a player's 'dummy' or here in the Great White North a baby's soother.

After seeing your video I would recommend to you the following dummy - 'hit the object ball with the cue extended'. This will encourage you to stay still on the shot and also to 'drive' through the cueball (in other words accelerate through and beyond the cueball).

Up until recently my dummy was 'keep your #$%&*# chin on the cue' but I was still having problems with consistency and when I put the video on myself I discovered I was STILL gripping the cue too early and thus decelerating through the cueball, which leads to all kinds of consistency problems. I have recently changed to the dummy I'm recommending to you as it was like an immediate improvment in my potting, position and consistency (although all my screw shots had too much power - a good thing anyway but it's easy to adjust to).

I would also recommend anyone reading this to try that dummy out and try and hit the object ball with the cue (except when the balls are less than 8" apart, which should be a simple shot anyway). If you try this when playing off the cushion you should also find an immediate improvement in potting.

This one thing helps to eliminate almost all other problems in technique unless the player has some significant problem in their technique and won't allow themselves to try and hit the object ball with the tip.

Terry

[DWOT]

Cheers Terry, I will try and get that into my thick skull!

[deant1982]

Once you've got your technique sorted, the the main thing is to stop looking for breaks and concerntrate on playing the correct shot. The more you look for a break and try to force it, the further it will be from your reach. Ensure you're playing the right shot, and your confidence will increase, and breaks will make themselves visible to you again.
It's all in the mind, but make sure your technique is correct first, because if not, nothing will ever change.
Hope this helps, and look forward to hearing about the confidence being back, your game is flowing, and you're making regular 50+s.

[simoncapon]

As always there is alot of good advice coming your way. If i can add to the mix i would say its very easy to think to far ahead. You look at the reds spread around the black and you start thinking about making a frame winning break. What happens is you put so much pressure on yourself from the start. A simple solution is to decide that each shot you take is the only one you will take. this allows you to focus 100% on the shot you are taking instead of 40% on the current shot and 60% on what may happen and worst still what if i miss. Another important point is to think about how you walk around the table between shots. when we are confident we will stand tall. This actually has a direct baring on how you feel. I have worked with a number of players and this has made a big difference to them all. Stick at this and keep in touch.

[simoncapon]

when you think about it logically if you can make a 50 then you have the ability to make much bigger breaks. Its all in the mind.

[deant1982]

when you think about it logically if you can make a 50 then you have the ability to make much bigger breaks. Its all in the mind.

Exactly right. I saw a segment with steve Davis once where he said if you're good enough to make a 50, your good enough to make 80, and if your good enough to make 80, you're good enough to make 100. It is purely psychological, so whatever is holding you back isn't a snooker problem, it's a mental problem. It's all about confidence if your action is right.
Everyone has bad days, but it's the self belief that let's you win frames you shouldn't. When you do this, you know you shouldn't have won it, but that you did, and subconsciously your confidence starts to grow. This is one of the reasons hendry won so much. Even when he wasn't at his best in his younger days, his self belief never wained, he won frames and matches he shouldn't, and the he was back at his best again.