Making Sure

By Nick Prinsloo

We all get a little frustrated with our games from time to time, some of us more often than others, some of us getting more than just a little frustrated. I have personally seen what used to be a good cue end up in splinters on the floor after a bad bout of anger got the better of the owner of that new pile of splinters. The frustration comes with the territory. If pool did not frustrate us, we would not be playing it; there would be no challenge.

The frustration may come about due to an array of causes. You may suddenly, out of the blue, start playing badly, perhaps immediately after having played a couple weeks of your best pool. Or you may be playing your best pool ever, but not winning important games or matches. You may not be doing as well in tournaments as you think you should. Or your progress may have reached a plateau, and no matter what you do, you just can't seem to get better than you already are. This happens to every player during some or other stage of their game.

So, how do you get past it? How do you play yourself out of the rut? How do you get across the plateau, and over the next hill? Like all of life's answers, it is quite simple. The difficulty lies in the execution of the solution. We are all human, and one of our favorite--and most fatal--weaknesses is consciously not doing what we know we should for our own good, or vice versa. But I digress.

To play perfect pool (and it is possible, I tell ya) one should make one hundred percent sure of each execution, to the best of one's ability. The same applies to overcoming the errors and weaknesses in your game. If you have been playing well, and you suddenly find yourself making silly mistakes, the only way to fix that is to make sure of every shot. This often means going back to the basics.

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Copyright © Nick Prinsloo