mental thing

[bonoman1970]

Hi everyone, Ive come to the conclusion after 25 years or so of playing,at all levels club,pro-am, pro,that snooker really is just a game of mental direction, its all about how much you desire that cue ball to go exactly where and how you want it to ,if your focused you can do anything on the table ,if you appear and try to be focused (but really thinking about other things ,you will do nothing).Look at the two greatest players of all time, Davis and Hendry,they both have phenominal cue actions,know every shot inside out, but they appear slightly jaded, afraid to play them almost,you would think that after playing every shot in the book for years that they would just play with complete freedom but no,they play sometimes as if they have one hand tied behing their back,whereas Mark Selby,with a local league cue action for example plays with total confidence and freedom.
Im not knocking Mark Selby,very very good player,but what he has is that mental freshness and confidence that is so more important than technial ability.

[davidhawkes]

I think both are important.

Some players have a natural ability, but if you strong enough mentally with a deep enough desire, you can practise sufficiently to develop a good cue action.

If there is a flaw in your technique, no matter how much you desire the path of the cueball to take, you may well fail because of whatever error you make.