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Hi guys,
Davis, I firmly believe in mind over matter, but I just have to find a way to knock that into his head somehow
Hotpot, he was pleasantly happy when I mentioned that you wished him well (and that the song was suggested by you). He won 2 out of his 3 games, and as always, the games he actually won are those which required him to come from behind. Typical.
On the last game, he tied 2-2, opponent broke off, he played a good safety, opponent made a long pot and a 78 which marks end of frame. Nothing which can be done about that now, but at least his team is still topping the league, although just barely.
But overall, I think we are getting somewhere. He had a bit of self-doubt at the start when none of his long pots were coming in, but having preempted these issues, it was much easier to control the negative thoughts. Some issues are still creeping in, but we do accept that misses are the nature of the game, and the more we work on the psychological issues, eventually they'll be corrected.
damien, i have to admit that he initially doesn't really have a clue as to who MW is. While he obviously can see it's such a good looking cue, I suspect he thinks it's a stroke of blind luck that I happen to get him an excellent playing one. And I do try to support him, but I have to admit that sometimes I crack a face/laugh when he misses, and though it sounds a bit cruel, it's just to ease the tension as sometimes he gets so discouraged due to these misses.
Watching him today, I realize that when he's making big breaks, his natural rhythm around the table is considerably slower (not his cue action though) in that he takes in the table a lot more and looks at the angles just a fraction longer. This is interesting since he's always considered himself as quite a fast player. While all this is subconscious, I suspect this additional deliberation has something to do with why his pots go right in the heart of the pocket at these instances. In contrast, when he's having self-doubt, I can only explain what I saw as him "skimming the angle" as opposed to deliberately taking in the angle.
This is of course only speculation, but we are going to experiment with these a bit more on the practice table. We are both very grateful to everyone for chipping in your thoughts, they are very interesting and he's found some new motivation now to work on his mental strength. The Dutch Open is next week, we will see how it goes
Davis, I firmly believe in mind over matter, but I just have to find a way to knock that into his head somehow
Hotpot, he was pleasantly happy when I mentioned that you wished him well (and that the song was suggested by you). He won 2 out of his 3 games, and as always, the games he actually won are those which required him to come from behind. Typical.
On the last game, he tied 2-2, opponent broke off, he played a good safety, opponent made a long pot and a 78 which marks end of frame. Nothing which can be done about that now, but at least his team is still topping the league, although just barely.But overall, I think we are getting somewhere. He had a bit of self-doubt at the start when none of his long pots were coming in, but having preempted these issues, it was much easier to control the negative thoughts. Some issues are still creeping in, but we do accept that misses are the nature of the game, and the more we work on the psychological issues, eventually they'll be corrected.
damien, i have to admit that he initially doesn't really have a clue as to who MW is. While he obviously can see it's such a good looking cue, I suspect he thinks it's a stroke of blind luck that I happen to get him an excellent playing one. And I do try to support him, but I have to admit that sometimes I crack a face/laugh when he misses, and though it sounds a bit cruel, it's just to ease the tension as sometimes he gets so discouraged due to these misses.
Watching him today, I realize that when he's making big breaks, his natural rhythm around the table is considerably slower (not his cue action though) in that he takes in the table a lot more and looks at the angles just a fraction longer. This is interesting since he's always considered himself as quite a fast player. While all this is subconscious, I suspect this additional deliberation has something to do with why his pots go right in the heart of the pocket at these instances. In contrast, when he's having self-doubt, I can only explain what I saw as him "skimming the angle" as opposed to deliberately taking in the angle.
This is of course only speculation, but we are going to experiment with these a bit more on the practice table. We are both very grateful to everyone for chipping in your thoughts, they are very interesting and he's found some new motivation now to work on his mental strength. The Dutch Open is next week, we will see how it goes
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