Anthony Beeler
PLAY UNSTOPPABLE POOL! ANTHONY BEELER
Do you put in countless hours practicing? When you are finished, do you feel like you are on top of your game, only to feel anxious and unconfident during tournament play? Do you feel as though you have the skills to play at a higher level but there’s something deep down that holds you back? If so, I’ve got a solution.
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erformance anxiety is a sign that your body is at work, doing its best to keep you away from potential threats – even if the only “threat” is nothing worse than missing a ball. When your body senses that danger lies ahead, you develop uncomfortable feelings and anxiety, in the hope you will change course and do something different. But, as you know, to win, you will have to manage those feelings and push forward. Your subconscious mind’s primary role is to keep you alive and safe.
Not only does it control most of our bodily functions, it’s also responsible for keeping us away from potential threats, by making you tense and triggering anxiety. Unfortunately for us, it doesn’t have to be a threat of actual physical danger, but any situation that might make us feel uncomfortable. Whenever your subconscious mind senses that you are out of your “comfort zone”, it’s going to try to bring you back to it to keep you away from harm. It uses memories from the past, along with what you are experiencing in that moment, or with what you are consciously thinking about, to determine whether you are in a safe situation or not. For example, let’s say you get nervous during long shots. This is probably because you have stored memories of the mental distress caused by missing long shots, and now, those same emotions are triggered along with tension and an increased heart rate. You fear it happening again, which increases the chances that history will indeed repeat itself. Whatever you fear, it’s possible to reduce the amount of anxiety associated with it by using a technique called “rehearsal”. Rehearsal works because your subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference between what’s real or imagined. Your memo-
8 | Billiards Buzz • July 2021
ries are real experiences, but you can create new associations or change existing ones by using the power of rehearsal and “reprogramming” your subconscious mind. When you have a positive association or memory with a situation, your subconscious mind will give you a “green light” to play unstoppable pool. If you can feed the subconscious mind the images of you excelling and/or overcoming fear, it can help you reduce fear and have more confidence, when you are in that situation for real. To play unstoppable pool, I recommend doing the following exercises daily for 15 minutes, either before sleep and/or after waking up. The more you do it, the more you strengthen your thought processes, and this will change your match behaviors in a very positive way.
1. Relaxation By slowing down your thought processes you will have a better connection with your subconscious mind, because there is less noise and interference from self-talk.
2. Figure out what you want to change For example, this could be feeling more confident, instead of overly nervous on the 9-ball or being more con-
