Dealing with loss of confidence

[Rahal]

I seem to have highs and lows in my game, particularly my potting performance. Each phase usually lasts about a week.

Anyhow, my question is: When experiencing a low, how do you deal with it?
Do you switch to a more defensive game as a kind of damage limitation measure or do you keep your normal game and hope it will pass?

thanks

[Tiger800]

You could try a more focused regular practice routine working on the areas you feel you are lacking confidence in.

[davipp]

I too have been suffering from lack of confidence/form and tried changing my stance, grip etc and then realised something I was doing between turns at the table.
I was, as the non striker sitting down. Unlike the professionals, I never sit down, I'm always standing and alert in preparation for my turn. I also realised I was very sedate/slow in my approach to the shot and decided with nothing to lose just go for it and quicken the pace.
What happened, after a while I felt more motivated, my timing improved, my cue power increased and I started potting balls and my position improved. So overall my whole mindset changed and I'm enjoying my snooker once more. After a number of frames I had brought myself back to the pace I'm more comfortable with but I'm still not sitting down, even during long sessions. Works for me anyway.

[Rahal]

Thanks for the replies.
davipp. Glad you mentioned that you were sedate, I was going to use the word placid or uninvolved which is how I feel when I'm on the low.

The thing I'm curious in knowing is whether you change the way you play if you feel you're missing a lot, lets say by refusing a ball on and opting instead for safety play because you feel you'll miss if you attempt it.
Im bringing this up because I cannot help thinking that perhaps by changing from arrack to defence I am running away from the demons not confronting them and therefore not overcoming them.

[davipp]

Probably in the earlier stages of confidence/form loss I don't tend to stop attacking. I miss more often during that period and that just compounds the downfall of confidence levels. After a week or two of not enjoying my game I now have to re-focus my attention on what I'm doing different (after excluding stance ,grip etc) as opposed to what I am not doing when I'm playing in-form and confidently and in this case that was instead of standing, I was sitting down (relaxing) between my turn at the table which in turn I believe was approaching each shot too relaxed and not fully committed to each shot.
In short when we lose form we tend to go into our shell so we are more reluctant to take on a shot that requires more power, screw, side, whatever and until we convince ourselves that things are not really working normal than we bring ourselves back to basics. As i said it works for me.

[golferson123]

snooker is like any sport! you fall in stroke then fall out of stroke,trick is when in stroke hang on.when out of stroke just wait for it to return,it will! of course does not apply to people who don't have one to begin with.

[davipp]

True golferson123. What most of us are trying to achieve is a longer period of being in form. Its a bit like an earlier thread where some-one said they have one good frame and a shocker the next its all in the head as far as I'm concerned so we try to find that mindset where we can focus longer.

[cyberheater]

On thing that has struck me recently is when you watch someone like Selby is that he follows exactly the same pre-shot routine and when he's down on the shot. He plays all the shots exactly the same way. 2 slow feathers followed by a long slow backswing, a deliberate pause and then he delivers the cue until the grip hand hits the chest.

Even if he's not playing well he plays exactly the same way. His form seems to return quite quickly.

In my game. I think thats the key. To be as consistence as possible.

[davipp]

Exactly. There maybe a very slight adjustment of the feet position that he changes which is something people don't take into account. Unfortunately TV only shows the top half of the player and that as you say looks like it is all happening the same.
I wish he would stop that body wobble before he takes the shot. Selby has been out of form of late and to me that movement is more apparent.

[cyberheater]

Exactly. There maybe a very slight adjustment of the feet position that he changes which is something people don't take into account. Unfortunately TV only shows the top half of the player and that as you say looks like it is all happening the same.
I wish he would stop that body wobble before he takes the shot. Selby has been out of form of late and to me that movement is more apparent.

Trump was playing pretty poorly today and the one thing I noticed was that on his long pots. He was raising his head as he took the shot. He probably didn't even realise he was doing it.

[simmo]

try having a few weeks without playing .

[Byrom]

Knock in a TON

it will soon come back

[lesedwards]

try having a few weeks without playing .

That's what I decided to do a few days ago. After spending an hour to two hours a day for the past 6 months on my own snooker table practicing and also playing in 8 Ontario qualifiers and loosing all 8 matches and only winning 4 games in total. I felt it was time to take a break from a game that has become so frustrating and not enjoyable. I have had coaching from Terry Davidson and also Cliff Thorburn but they cannot coach the mental part of my game or crawl in my head and tell me what my next shot is. My average high break in any match is usually around 10 to 16 with my last match being 8. I have bought The Inner Game of Golf book plus two Hypnopsis CD's, snooker has taken over my life and the worse I play the more aggravated I get. Confidence has completely left me and I think it is time for a change.

[MikeTheBigMonster]

when I'm lack of confidence, i usually play a shot without considering the positioning for the next shot. this actually reduced my mental stress of missing a shot with deliberate positioning. it happens from time to time when i try to position a shot with tough screw or side, so i'll let my mind pass that and take a plain stun or follow through shot and see where would the CB ended up. take the next shot with increased confidence if the position is good by luck, or just pass with a good safety shot without having my mind distracted. afterall, the previous shot was pocketed nicely too yeah!