Well that sucked.
The APA team I'm on, Excalibur, just came up short of repeating as league champions. What did we get for being 2nd?
Zip.
Zilch.
Nada.
We had a good chance to win. It was tied 2-2 and our team had the lead in points but in the 5th and deciding match our captain came up a bit short.
That's what kills me the most - we were so close! And, strategically, we had it set up the way we wanted with the match up we wanted only it didn't turn out the way we wanted.
Ugh.
I'm taking a break from the APA leagues to focus on playing BCA leagues and tournaments - "real" pool.
---
So I've played 3 matches since going 2 and done in the Predator Tour and making that correction to my pre-shot routine (which is to actually have a routine and to follow it).
In the APA league finals I played 2nd in the line up with our team down 1-0. I played another skill level 6 so it was an even race to 46 balls. I started off really slow. I missed some dead easy shots, hanging them up in the pocket, and was down 12 balls at one point.
I chalked it up to nerves and I figured I had to relax, stick to the routine, and then those balls I've been hanging up would eventually drop.
I mounted a nice little comeback and ended up winning by 4 balls. Whew!
Wednesday BCA leagues at Skyline I got 2 on the wire in a race to 7 from...Dave? (I think his name is Dave so let's call him Dave. I'm so bad with names.)
Now I went into the match pretty confidently due to the fact that I've played Dave before, during Skyline's Tuesday night Open tournament, and beat him even up. Granted, the Tuesday Open is a short race, race to 5/race to 4, but it's still a good confidence booster to have going into a match.
I stuck to my routine, stuck to my strategy, tried not to let lucky rolls or anything bother me and ended up pulling out the win 7-5. I had a couple of nice outs during the match which I felt good about - ran out a tricky rack from the 3 balls for example.
Now comes last night match, BCA leagues at Amsterdam.
Ugh.
I got one on the wire in a race to 7 from Damien. (I remembered!) He's a decent player and it was a good match up. I had a lot of chances to win only I let myself get sharked by the table.
The tables at Amsterdam are very inconsistent to say the least. On the same table you'd have bouncy rails and dead rails. You'd even have some dead spots on a bouncy rail. Plus the balls are filthy, the tables are dirty, the cloth is worn...being one of the busy pool rooms in the area I guess they don't have time for simple maintenance stuff as the tables are almost always in use.
I'm following my routine, I'm sticking to my strategy, and then I hit a shot and what I was expecting to happen doesn't happen. The cue ball comes off the rail flat and I don't even get close to where I want to be leaving me a very tough shot on the next ball.
Fast forward a little bit in the match and I get another similar shot only at a different spot on the table. I hit it a little firmer, since the last time it came up short, and now, being a different rail, it comes off the rail like a rocket going twice as far as I expected leaving me another tough shot on the next ball.
So now how do I adjust now? I'm at a lost. I start over thinking every shot and I lost confidence in being able to make the ball and get into position for the next ball. I started to poke stroke, to not fully follow through on my stroke and, basically, get off routine in the middle of the match and have a mental collapse at the same time.
And basically that was that. The minute I'm off my routine I'm dead.
Ended up losing 7-4.
On the bright side the loss exposed how fragile my mental game has gotten and it gives me something else to work on. We'll see if I can turn it around this week.
Go Saints!
The APA team I'm on, Excalibur, just came up short of repeating as league champions. What did we get for being 2nd?
Zip.
Zilch.
Nada.
We had a good chance to win. It was tied 2-2 and our team had the lead in points but in the 5th and deciding match our captain came up a bit short.
That's what kills me the most - we were so close! And, strategically, we had it set up the way we wanted with the match up we wanted only it didn't turn out the way we wanted.
Ugh.
I'm taking a break from the APA leagues to focus on playing BCA leagues and tournaments - "real" pool.
---
So I've played 3 matches since going 2 and done in the Predator Tour and making that correction to my pre-shot routine (which is to actually have a routine and to follow it).
In the APA league finals I played 2nd in the line up with our team down 1-0. I played another skill level 6 so it was an even race to 46 balls. I started off really slow. I missed some dead easy shots, hanging them up in the pocket, and was down 12 balls at one point.
I chalked it up to nerves and I figured I had to relax, stick to the routine, and then those balls I've been hanging up would eventually drop.
I mounted a nice little comeback and ended up winning by 4 balls. Whew!
Wednesday BCA leagues at Skyline I got 2 on the wire in a race to 7 from...Dave? (I think his name is Dave so let's call him Dave. I'm so bad with names.)
Now I went into the match pretty confidently due to the fact that I've played Dave before, during Skyline's Tuesday night Open tournament, and beat him even up. Granted, the Tuesday Open is a short race, race to 5/race to 4, but it's still a good confidence booster to have going into a match.
I stuck to my routine, stuck to my strategy, tried not to let lucky rolls or anything bother me and ended up pulling out the win 7-5. I had a couple of nice outs during the match which I felt good about - ran out a tricky rack from the 3 balls for example.
Now comes last night match, BCA leagues at Amsterdam.
Ugh.
I got one on the wire in a race to 7 from Damien. (I remembered!) He's a decent player and it was a good match up. I had a lot of chances to win only I let myself get sharked by the table.
The tables at Amsterdam are very inconsistent to say the least. On the same table you'd have bouncy rails and dead rails. You'd even have some dead spots on a bouncy rail. Plus the balls are filthy, the tables are dirty, the cloth is worn...being one of the busy pool rooms in the area I guess they don't have time for simple maintenance stuff as the tables are almost always in use.
I'm following my routine, I'm sticking to my strategy, and then I hit a shot and what I was expecting to happen doesn't happen. The cue ball comes off the rail flat and I don't even get close to where I want to be leaving me a very tough shot on the next ball.
Fast forward a little bit in the match and I get another similar shot only at a different spot on the table. I hit it a little firmer, since the last time it came up short, and now, being a different rail, it comes off the rail like a rocket going twice as far as I expected leaving me another tough shot on the next ball.
So now how do I adjust now? I'm at a lost. I start over thinking every shot and I lost confidence in being able to make the ball and get into position for the next ball. I started to poke stroke, to not fully follow through on my stroke and, basically, get off routine in the middle of the match and have a mental collapse at the same time.
And basically that was that. The minute I'm off my routine I'm dead.
Ended up losing 7-4.
On the bright side the loss exposed how fragile my mental game has gotten and it gives me something else to work on. We'll see if I can turn it around this week.
Go Saints!
