Ive lost my way feel like giving up

[greatwhite]

ive been playing snooker a lot in the last 9 months,i use to play when I was young but stopped for 7 yrs, and started again, joined a local league and met lots of new people,
practised hard 2 hrs every day solo then a friendly match most nights of the week,
got a coach, russel jones coached me roughly 2-3 hrs once month,
bought a new cue bought nic barrows coaching dvds bought the 360 pure cue trainer
ive had in the last 9 months 138 total clearance on the line up,
,78,68,64,55,57,55, and loads of 40 and 30 breaks in matches,
but recently frustration has set in, my game got worse, felt like I was work hard for nothing,
I was getting beat buy people who hardly practice solo at all,
im always think about my technique
foot on line of aim front pause back pause,i feel like im second guessing myself,
trying to remember what the coach said,
to be honest I felt I played better before I really knuckled down, and worked hard on my game,
that's was when I had a 78 in a match and 138 in the line up,
I thought I should be getting better but im getting worse,
I had 5 days off, to see if a break would do me good,
but I played crap,
what should I do!!! I love snooker I love meeting new people and getting out,my league starts again in a few months,
and im already annoyed with the game and myself!!
but im just so frustrated working hard and getting nowhere!!!
please help someone!!

[Mr Badger]

Have a few more days off, go back to your coach. Rekindle your enthusiasm, practise some more. Accept that you'll lose occasionally. And man up ffs.

[greatwhite]

im happy to accept that I will lose,
I have no problem with that at all,
my performance is the thing I cant accept,
true I probably need some more time off,
and cheers for the slap!!
perhaps I do sound and bit weedy!!
just so peed off!!!

[Csmith]

Focus on your technique in practice, but in matches leave that to your muscle memory. You practice so that everything is automatic in competition, you really shouldn't be thinking about all of that stuff during your match. Your conscious mind takes care of strategy/shot selection and the unconscious (your muscle memory) takes care of execution. It's kind of like a driver and a navigator. If the navigator starts telling the driver how to operate the vehicle, then the driver becomes less efficient. Similarly if you put too much thought into what you are doing, invariably your mechanics will break down. Another analogy is that musicians are quite accustom to simply letting their muscle memory do all the work, if they start to think about the individual notes they are playing it will all break down. Best to just get down and pot the ball.

Also, how is your tactical game? An experienced player who is otherwise weak at break building can do quite well against an attacking player who needs work on his/her safety game. I've spent a lot of time improving that area so that I could have a solid B game to fall back on when I'm not getting in the balls or scoring many points when I am. Still needs work, but I'm not helpless anymore at least.

Finally, if you've only recently had coaching, your game is going to see a drop for awhile as you implement new information into your technique and approach. Keep at it and once it's all ingrained, you should see an upswing.

[coomsey76]

Nice post Smithy, couldn't agree more!!

[j6uk]

Whats stopping you from giving up?

please help someone!!

[alabadi]

It's kind of like a driver and a navigator. If the navigator starts telling the driver how to operate the vehicle, then the driver becomes less efficient. Similarly if you put too much thought into what you are doing, invariably your mechanics will break down. Another analogy is that musicians are quite accustom to simply letting their muscle memory do all the work, if they start to think about the individual notes they are playing it will all break down. .

nice analogies, your spot on, thinking while playing is detrimental. i know this because even in practice when someone passing the table while i am down on a shot, if they stand and wait i usually miss the pot. this is because i am aware that they are watching and now i am thinking , they are watching don't miss you are going to look silly pot it and make great position on the next shot.

so instead of just potting the mind is elsewhere and this leads to loss of concentration and focus on what i needed to do.

Alabbadi

[neptar]

nice analogies, your spot on, thinking while playing is detrimental. i know this because even in practice when someone passing the table while i am down on a shot, if they stand and wait i usually miss the pot. this is because i am aware that they are watching and now i am thinking , they are watching don't miss you are going to look silly pot it and make great position on the next shot.

so instead of just potting the mind is elsewhere and this leads to loss of concentration and focus on what i needed to do.

Alabbadi

It can also work the other way though. Sometimes you just go on autopilot and pot a ball without really thinking. Leading you to pot a pink while it's off its spot only to realise the pink spot is in the line of your next shot. I think the key is to do all your thinking while stood up. As soon as you are down then you have to be 'in the zone'.

[ace man]

Other guys have pointed out correctly where the problem is, but getting rid of technical thoughts is not that easy.
I propose a different approach.
Next time when things go bad during a match, try to speed up. And I mean really speed up. Even chalk quickly, move around the table quickly. You might play a few stupid shots here and there, but at least you won't have much time to analyse too much. However, don't celebrate when you make a 50 in about 3 minutes...

[greatwhite]

hi thanks for all the replys and advice, I think I will try and keep separate my practice game from my match game!!!
just had a bit of a mental scream,!!!!
im going to have at least a week off,
pick myself up and try again
thanks everyone!

[Byrom]

Other guys have pointed out correctly where the problem is, but getting rid of technical thoughts is not that easy.
I propose a different approach.
Next time when things go bad during a match, try to speed up. And I mean really speed up. Even chalk quickly, move around the table quickly. You might play a few stupid shots here and there, but at least you won't have much time to analyse too much. However, don't celebrate when you make a 50 in about 3 minutes...

Some good advice on this but I actually think this piece of particular advice works for me too. I used to slow down when things where going bad and try and correct things but sometimes more often than not it got worse so one night during a match 2 nil down I thought f it why not just speed up and at least try and loose with style and before I knew it I ended up wining 3-2 and so now if things are going bad I speed up. Does not always work but more often than not it stops any doubt creeping into your game and I think it makes me more positive and I think I possibly cue through the ball better too. So I particularly agree with Ace on this one.

[Terry Davidson]

greatwhite:

When you do go back and have some solo practice start on the very basics and check everything out.

Are you keeping the upper body absolutely still during BOTH the backswing and delivery?
Is your straight leg foot on the line of aim?
Are you dropping the head straight down into the address position?
Are you feathering max 2-3 times?
Is your grip relaxed and nice and loose?
Are you tightening your grip during the delivery?
Is your backswing slow enough that you can control it and keep it absolutely straight?
Are you starting your delivery slowly and building up the acceleration?
Are you accelerating through and beyond the cueball?
Do you have your eyes locked on the object ball at the time of strike?
Are you staying still at the end of the delivery and observing the results without moving your head?

Make sure you are at least coming very close to all these points and then drill them in until they become part of your natural technique.

Terry

[greatwhite]

that's some great advice terry,
I did notice my chin leaving the cue after I had played the shot,
I always try and stay down even when I have missed,
ive been trying to implement gripping the cue at different lengths for the strength of shot,
so my hand always comes to rest on the same place on my chest every time,
but finding it very difficult to do,
I try the line up to keep every thing the same and to try and drill in techniques
would you advise on trying to keep front pause back pause feathers to chest, on every shot
even if its a power shot or roll up? and everything in between,

[greatwhite]

the same on every shot

[greatwhite]

but just grippi9ng the cue in a different place so it always to chest?