Re: ChokeStoppers ?

Unfortunately, the bar we set for ourselves is always a moving target. Just like our skills and knowledge :-)

Lou Figueroa


JakartaDean wrote:
Ron Shepard wrote:
This could be just inexperience of some sort when you find yourself in an unusual situation. Maybe people start watching the last part of your match and you weren't accustomed to playing with an audience. Try setting up a video camera while you practice, and the same sort of thing happens the first few times, you can't make even simple shots because you are so self conscious. I've never played a game on TV, but I expect the same thing would happen to me there too. Some players have problems playing important league matches because they feel a new kind of pressure to win that they aren't accustomed to. Or the first time you gamble against someone with a backer. Or the first time you yourself gamble with a backer. Or the first time you play against someone you've seen play on TV. Or the first time you play against a hall of fame member. For some reason, it seems to be human nature to react to these strange situations in unexpected ways. You might think that you should be able to play in any situation the same way as you practice alone on your favorite table on your best day, but that's not always what happens. The answer to these problems is experience, just keep at it and you will eventually be able to bring out your game when you need it.

$.02 -Ron Shepard

Thanks Ron. I'm inclined to believe it was psychological. I'd broken up with a girlfriend (who also played, and quite well). I wasn't playing as much as I used to. I could still make balls, but would from time to time just choke. There's no other word for it. I also generally had less confidence than I had before.

These days, FWIW, I know my skills and routines are much better than they were, say, 4 years ago, but I don't have that beginner's misplaced confidence that I can make every shot. I'm somewhere on the journey where I know better where my abilities are, but I'm also aware of how much farther I need to go to be able to beat most people I play most of the time. The skills and the self-confidence are moving forward together, at about the rate they should be, but it takes time.

Dean
.

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