What is your private receipe for entering the zone?

[ghost121]

This is not a problem for me since I am permanently in the zone. The only thing that breaks it is taking the cue out of its case.

[jonny66]

Someone should open a snooker hall called "The Zone" everyone would want to play there.

[SnookerFan]

Here is my recipe

Good video. I'd never have worked that out otherwise.

[pottr]

This is not a problem for me since I am permanently in the zone. The only thing that breaks it is taking the cue out of its case.

I think everyone can relate to this...

It's rare to enter 'the zone' but if you're asking for a little trick to help you focus?

There's a couple of things I do...

I make sure that my bridge is nice and firm and that I'm keeping a deliberate pace around the table... When your thoughts can slow down enough for you to play well it's a nice feeling...

"where do I want the white" The only thought you want... For me anyway

[itsnoteasy]

I think everyone can relate to this...

It's rare to enter 'the zone' but if your asking for a little trick to help you focus?

There's a couple of things I do...

I make sure that my bridge is nice and firm and that I'm keeping a deliberate pace around the table... When your thoughts can slow down enough for you to play well it's a nice feeling...

"where do I want the white" The only thought you want... For me anyway

yep this is a far better question to ask, I haven't got a clue what the answer is though

[Pedantic Stroke]

A cup of PG Tips, 1 sugar, a splash of milk and a few Hippopotamus tranquilizers. I doesn't make me enter the zone, the zone comes to me.

On a serious note I think snooker is one of the hardest sports to find the zone. I played footy to a high standard and I went in and out of what I considered the zone almost at will. For me in football the zone was the ability to slow things down around me making me think I had more time than I actually did to pick out more accurate decisions. For example, through on goal, just me and the keeper - I could slow down the keepers movements in my head, I could pick out when he shifted to the right and slot the ball to his left as he was off balance. Nothing actually slowed down, but my decision making was pin point and faster than normal. In snooker I've had this level of obscure vision only a handful of times. What basically happens is I see lines, and lots of them pointing all over the place. One is for the pot, the other for different positional paths. Not only this but when cueing I could slow down time almost and pick out and feel any errors in the stroke and instantly adjust then to make the balls travel along the lines I picked out. I know what some will be thinking, the tranquilizers are starting to kick in. But this is what actually happens to me. Weird, eh. If only I could switch it off and on like I could in football.

[rimmer10]

As we all know too, it is hard to enter this zone, or even know what it is? Perhaps it is a mystery.

Perhaps the question should be, why is so much harder to enter the zone playing snooker compared to many other sports. I believe the answer lies in the nature of the game. In order to enter the zone you have to bypass the conscious mind which is relatively easy in fast sports like tennis or ice hockey for example. You just don't get time to think. Snooker is the opposite. The biggest problem with conscious thinking is that the mind doesn't live in the present. You are either fretting about your last shot or some missed opportunity or you worry about the outcome of your next shot. Expectation is another killer of entering the zone. That's why we so often see when a big favourite plays an outsider, the outsider often plays superb at the beginning of a game. He's playing with no expectation i.e. anxiety about the outcome, he's in the zone. Only when the realisation sets in that he can actually win this thing, in other words when he starts to worry about the outcome, that's when the tables usually turn. I think the trick is- and I know this is easier said than done- is to relax, have no expectation and don't worry about any outcome. Just enjoy, and practice, practice, practice because the less you have to consciously think about what you are doing the easier it is to bypass your mind.

[inevermissblue]

I think everyone can relate to this...

It's rare to enter 'the zone' but if you're asking for a little trick to help you focus?

There's a couple of things I do...

I make sure that my bridge is nice and firm and that I'm keeping a deliberate pace around the table... When your thoughts can slow down enough for you to play well it's a nice feeling...

"where do I want the white" The only thought you want... For me anyway

Spot on pal! I'm getting rather close to zeroing in on 'my' zone. I've managed to condense it down to 4 aspects! At first I was getting it slightly wrong. As i m that geekyfied I resorted to converting what I know and do into the written words! Also not easy. As you tend to misread it later on. Unless it's word for word and cannot be confused with anything else...well now it's working BIG TIME!
Would I say that I am the happiest I've ever been while playing the game??? Hell yeah.

[Fairuz]

This what i learn, in order to get into zone you must understand you brain and how it work, human brain consist 3 part 1)memory, 2)IQ & Sence 3)Soul, how all of these work? exp: fist time learning how to stirke ball, your brain act like this.. you command your "soul" to hit the ball with a cue, "IQ" find a way to how do it, 1ly by refer to any data in "memory" that similar to the task, because its a new thing "IQ" have to rely to Sence which your sight,touch,hearing & feel.. it work more like trial and error so it trigger all muscle,power,nerv & etc.. so you feel more on that shot.. then it store inside your "memory" that data for future use. 2nd time its actions will be similar but because you have the previous data it refer straight away from "memory" and then combine with "IQ & Sence" to improve it, your brain now start to learn and now it trigger less to give an improvement to your shot.. and so on the 3rd to more and more shot you do..

Basicly if you train so much in the past on every aspect and every angle, you now should only do thing naturally when playing in match, by letting your memory to do all of its work naturally. what you should focus is just about your game, think in advance possibilities and action require to counter that situations in a game, but not to think about your cue actions, stance, etc.. if you manage this and giving good result then slowly u are already in the zone..

my key point here : your brain need to be in good health conditions so it could recall memory faster. Practice and practice with dicipline so it will store as many data in your memory as much as you can, when come to match, just rely on IQ & Sence to do decitions making about how to response to your game positions only. Soul use to set your aim,belive & confidence.. you manage all of this, then you are in zone every time..

[throtts]

''What is your private receipe for entering the zone?''

Mine is,

Good meal before a match, good sleep the night before so tiredness is not a factor before the match and not rushing around just before the match.

If all the above is good then concentration should be too which should bring you in that zone.

Jmo, guys. Its the simplistic thing that still count.

[tomwalker147]

I think everyone can relate to this...

It's rare to enter 'the zone' but if you're asking for a little trick to help you focus?

There's a couple of things I do...

I make sure that my bridge is nice and firm and that I'm keeping a deliberate pace around the table... When your thoughts can slow down enough for you to play well it's a nice feeling...

"where do I want the white" The only thought you want... For me anyway

'The Underhill strut' I like to call it. Can always tell when you're on it mate.

My recipe- Get in from work, bite to eat and a nice soak in the bath before setting off. I always need to relax before leaving the house to play snooker.
So many times i've played snooker after playing football or going straight from work-never have I played well when doing this.

Being in the zone is a strange phenomenon, it's like being on autopilot. Your cue action is automatic, you spot the shots quickly, nobody else in the room matters, just you, the table and your opponent.

[pottr]

'The Underhill strut' I like to call it. Can always tell when you're on it mate.

I was on it yesterday mate... Well, until I missed a black on 73 with 5 reds left and I decided that Callie put me off from upstairs and that was the only reason I missed

Being in the zone is a strange phenomenon, it's like being on autopilot. Your cue action is automatic, you spot the shots quickly, nobody else in the room matters, just you, the table and your opponent.

I think this is about on the money. This should tell you that when you practice and worry over your technique you should try and keep as few thoughts in your head at a time. This is why coaches will advocate working on one aspect at a time.

[tomwalker147]

I was on it yesterday mate... Well, until I missed a black on 73 with 5 reds left and I decided that Callie put me off from upstairs and that was the only reason I missed


I think this is about on the money. This should tell you that when you practice and worry over your technique you should try and keep as few thoughts in your head at a time. This is why coaches will advocate working on one aspect at a time.

Haha i'll never forget being on one against you and playing up for the blue.

The above is why it sickens me to see new players bombarded with technical ideas, I know people are trying to help but in most cases this does more harm than good. Teach the basics then let them play and figure out some of it for themselves.

[throtts]

Teach the basics then let them play and figure out some of it for themselves.

I agree, big time. But if we all shut up then TSF would be a very quiet place.

Its practice practice and practice, we all know that. Its all this snooker physic stuff that makes me laugh. Think there should be a ""Snooker Physics"" section now, for all the geeks

[itsnoteasy]

I agree, big time. But if we all shut up then TSF would be a very quiet place.

Its practice practice and practice, we all know that. Its all this snooker physic stuff that makes me laugh. Think there should be a ""Snooker Physics"" section now, for all the geeks

Agreed Throtts, I don't mind all the science stuff, but it has nothing to do with playing the game really, touch and cueing and for that matter cues are such a personal thing, a physics equation can't describe it IMO.
Any way back to the zone , slowing down definitely helps me get there, but then I have no idea what pace I'm at once I get there, I'm just playing, as soon as I notice it, it's gone ,sometimes for days or weeks.