My week? Ok. My Cousins week? Not so good

My week started out pretty good, and then I got to work.  On Monday I found out my cousin was admitted to the hospital and later diagnosed with a pretty serious condition.  He's a real trooper though and has managed to keep a very positive outlook throughout the week.  I'm real proud of his maturity (he's only 21) and the way he's handled the news.  The doctors are hopeful too, which helps a lot.  If the treatment works, then the worst he can expect is to have to take some expensive medication for the rest of his life.  I don't even want to think about the alternative.

So far the meds they're giving him are helping so there is lots to be positive about given the nature of his condition.  I'm just really glad that his mom is there for him, and he's got a lot of good friends checking in on him. I've got my fingers (and toes!) crossed and I'm saying all the prayers I know for him.  He could use a little extra help right now.  So if you have some extra prayers tucked away, just send 'em to Jason's cousin.  Thanks. :o)

My thoughts are with you Cuz'.

A great night at league

I don't know why I get so nervous when I go out to play 8 ball on our league nights.  Yet, every time I'm out, my heart races in anticipation of proving that I'm a half decent pool player.  In reality it shouldn't even matter how I do during the regular season.  Our regular season actually doesn't mean much as far as the standings go.  Unless you're in first place, then the stats are not particularly relevant.  In the end every team ends up in the playoffs and everyone makes it into the money.  The best teams will go on to win Vegas trips, so there is motivation to do well in the playoffs.  Which means that playing in a regular league night is nothing more than an opportunity to have fun, and earn some bragging rights with your teammates and opposing players.  Why do I feel like I'm playing for the world cup then?

I don't know to be honest.  I think it's a combination of several things.

• I am a very competitive player, no matter what the sport is.  To be more specific though, I'm very competitive with myself.  If I think I could have done better, I get very mad at myself.  I put a lot of pressure on myself to do well and do not like it when I under perform.  I put in a lot of hours practicing during the week between games.  I focus on improving my game and do plenty of drills to help bring up my abilities.  I even have a coach to help me out.  With this invested effort that pays dividends between games, I feel that it should also show up on league night.  I know I'm improving and I can see it in my practice, so I want to make sure it's not wasted effort and have it prove itself on the table during league night too!
• I also want to make sure I don't let my team down.  Yes I know the games don't mean anything during regular season, but our team gets pretty pumped when we win and often quite down when we loose.  I want to make sure I'm a top contributor so I guess there's pressure to do well from my team.
• I don't want to embarrass myself on the table in front of my peers and opponents that I play against.  I want them to know that I belong in this division and that I even though I'm a fun guy to play against, I'm also a decent competitor who has earned the right to play at this level.  I don't want to be "that guy" everybody knows.  The one who they feel is an automatic walkover. 
• We also play with a low man rule.  This means if you're the low man for the night, you have to sit the next night.  I love to play, so I don't want to sit.  That means I have to shoot better than the next guy/girl on my team.
• As part of being a competitive person, I also have the desire to be at the top of the pack as well.  I want to be the best player on our team.  I like the knowledge of being the best player on the team even though there is added pressure that comes with that.  I love reading the stats from week to week and seeing my number go up and up.  It's fun having a rivalry with 1 or 2 or 3 players on my team.  It makes us all strive to be better which I think is pretty normal for a competitive person or team.

So with all these things contributing to the excitement I get when I go to play pool, it definitely has an effect on how well I do.  I find that my heart races, and my muscles tense up.  It affects the way I hold the cue, and how well I stroke the ball.  My aim is affected and my shots start to falter.  Once I start playing poorly, I start to loose confidence in my ability and it just magnifies the problem.  The mental game really gets to me.  I think once I master the mental game, I'll be master on the pool table as well.  When I play from a calm and confident place, I actually play very well.  

Knowing all of this makes last night's league night a moral victory for me.  Out of a possible 40 points I managed to score 35 last night.  This means I also won 3 out of the 4 games I played in.  Not only did I win 3 of the 4, but in the game that I lost, I was only 3 balls shy of winning that game too.  I was only 3 balls shy of having a perfect night on the score board.  

I have a lot to be happy about as far as my performance goes.  To be fair the team we played last night was not as strong as the previous teams we've played this year.  However, despite the fact that they did not run us out on every game, I still played well enough that I would have beaten anyone from the previously played teams as well. I moved the ball around on the table nicely, and I executed my game plan on the table well, and I made the shots I needed to when it was important to do so.  I made some great safeties to retain control of the table and I made some difficult shots to get myself out of trouble when I was in a tough spot.  I played well and it was reflected in my scores.

I should be able to retain my 7 average and possibly even jump it up to a 7.5.  I also ended up being top player on our team for the night.  I think my stats overall are moving in the right direction.  I need to build on this momentum now and continue to shoot well.  As Darren (my coach) says, the more often I play under pressure situations, the more I will be comfortable with it and as a result the more often I will do well, and improve as a player.  I need to play under pressure more often to learn how to deal with it and improve as a player.  I think I'm getting there.  I'm already looking forward to next Tuesday! 

Another weekend in the books

The weekend turned out to be a pretty good one!

Friday night I went over to the Classic Q and played a bit of 9 ball and a lot of 8 ball.  I'm not sure if my game improved or not, but hopefully the time I put in on the table has a cumulative effect and starts to show improvement in my game again. I found a few drills in my book (Phil Capelle's - Play your best eight ball) that I'd like to try out.  I just have to find some time on a table by myself where I can actually run through some of them. I'm finding that when other people join me to play some 8 ball, I don't focus on improving my game all that much.  I tend to play with winning in mind instead of practicing and improving my shot (at the expense of winning the game).  Certainly playing 8 ball can give me more experience but I need to be highly focused on my shot making and my shot choices.  If I play someone in 8 ball and I make a poor shot, I don't get to set it up and try again, like I would if I were just doing drills.  Don't get me wrong, drills can get boring in a hurry but they sure accelerate the learning curve.

I think if I play 8 ball against someone in practice, I'm going to have to start finding ways to add pressure so that I get more accustomed to that aspect of play.  I think one of the ways for me to simulate the pressure of a game is to play in a tournament once in a while.  I think this will mean that I need to spend waaaay more time on the table.

This has also prompted me to start thinking about ways I can put in a table at home.  When I first measured my basement and decided that it wouldn't work. I was measuring for a 5x10 table and with the rails added on plus the extra room needed around the table, there just wouldn't be enough room.   That definitely won't fit in the basement space that I have available.  However, it occurred to me yesterday that I could still practice on a 3.5 by 7.   So I started the calculations.  Add a foot for rails, so now the table is actually 4.5 by 8.  I also have to make sure I have room for a cue to fit all the way around.  That means 5 feet added to those numbers.  When went down again to measure the basement I had a 8.5x12 space in mind and thought that this could actually work.  Then I realized that I need 5 feet *ALL* the way around not just on 2 sides.  so my numbers are more like 13.5 by 17.  I think I could still make that work though.  There would be 2 poles in the way though (a plumbing stack and a support beam).  So if I can live with that, then maybe a table in the basement could actually work!

Just for shits and giggles, I went on the internet and checked out used bar tables (3.5x7) and actually found one for 20 bucks in Edmonton.  It was pictured unassembled but even if it was missing a few parts I'm sure I could source them and still have a working table afterwards for well under the going used rate of a 1000 dollars. The only problem is that I would have to buy and store the table before Friday this week.  Did I mention that it's in Edmonton?   Yeah, I'm not that motivated.  I'm sure another deal will pop up before I'm ready to put in a table.

If I did put in a table, I'd have to sacrifice my other plans for my "man cave".  I don't think I could reasonably put in a couch and a couple of chairs as well as my big screen TV, plus fit in my elliptical trainer as well.  Hmmmm decisions decisions.  I think I might just wait on the table and focus on buying a house next year. ;o)

Anyway... I woke up early this morning and snapped this picture of a beautiful September sky.  I think it's going to be a good week!