Carl Stewart Mistakes

Mistakes

Measuring performance is essential for improving and growing in the sport you love. When measuring anything in life, you need a reference point. Many people measure success with winning, but I can’t entirely agree with focusing on that reference point. Measuring performance on the pool table has a lot to do with handling mistakes during a match and even on the practice table. Mistakes are often mental errors, and when players feel that achieving peak performance only means performing perfectly, this mindset can cause a lot of negative emotion, frustration, and inevitable mistakes. It is how the world champions deal with the mistakes that enhance their performance levels. The trick or art avoids thinking about past mistakes and moving on. Avoiding past mistakes applies to the practice table or live play. After a “bad” performance is the key to improving the next table. Sometimes, players feel sorry for themselves after a bad performance. It may be hard to admit, but it happens. For example, a player who blows a big lead in a match and feels like: “I always mess up when leading.” Maybe you can identify with these scenarios at some level know I can get over my years of playing this silly game.

Rebounding from mistakes and mishaps is a considerable part of a player’s mental game and takes practice to bounce back and move on from a mistake. Nothing is perfect, nor will it ever be. So, realize your response to errors, losses, and mishaps shape your mindset and performance. Ensure the negative does not linger to the next competition or even the practice table. Rebounding from mistakes is a learned mental skill. You are not helpless. You can develop skills to overcome errors and keep your head in the game.

How to Rebound from Mistakes:

Rebounding is a matter of responding to mistakes in a new way. Start by asking yourself a different question: “Can I really be perfect and never make a mistake?” “Do others expect me to hit every shot perfect and never miss pocketing or shape on the next ball?” It is just silly and setting yourself up for failure when you say it like that.

The next step in getting over mistakes is to remind yourself that you cannot change the past. The only thing you can do is move forward and focus on the next shot or game.

LETTING MISTAKES GO - A technique used by other athletes in all types of sports worldwide. One of the more prominent mental mistakes athletes make is hanging onto their mistakes during competitions. Your job when you screw up is to immediately leave the mistake behind you in the past and refocus on what you’re doing RIGHT NOW! The time to work on your mistakes is ALWAYS in practice and NEVER while you’re performing.

How do you consistently do this? First, you must understand that it is a huge mental mistake to carry your mistakes around with you while you’re still competing. Second, you need to learn and master a mistake ritual.

Mistakes

By Carl Stewart

What’s a mistake ritual? It’s a little routine that you can quickly go through right after a mistake (when there’s time) to help you mentally let go of your error. Mistake rituals are helpful for sports where there are a lot of natural breaks in the action like billiards, tennis, golf, baseball, softball, football, etc. They are also helpful in a continuous action sport like soccer, for example, if your position allows you time in between play, i.e., the goalie position. Mistake rituals should be simple, concise, and involve several parts that can be done without thinking when sufficiently practiced in practice. Suppose you’re a field player in soccer, for example. How many parts are utterly dependent upon you, your sport, and the position that you play? In that case, your mistake ritual might consist of one word, “cancel” or “erase,” that you quickly flash through your mind the instant that you make a mistake to remind you to refocus on the play at hand immediately. When you have more time, like in baseball, tennis, golf, etc., your mistake ritual should help you do three things:

1. Switch your focus of concentration away from the mistake. 2. Physically and mentally, calm yourself down. 3. Neutralize any negative self-talk.

Here’s an example of a mistake ritual from golf. After hitting a bad shot, the player picks up a few blades of grass and begins to walk to his next shot. While he does this, he deliberately focuses his concentration on the grass in his hand. While he does this, he also begins to slow and deepen his breathing to calm himself down. The purpose of the grass is to help the athlete switch his focus away from the mistake. The purpose of slowing and deepening his breathing is twofold. Like concentrating on the grass, focusing on your breathing will distract you from the error and calm you down. Finally, after taking a few slow deep breaths, when he begins to feel calmer and back in control, the player then takes the grass and throws it away and leaves it behind him (which is precisely what you want to do with your mistakes, throw them away and leave them behind you!) Mistake rituals work best when you can do something physical (throw the grass away) that represents what you’re trying to do mentally, let go of the mistake. For example, a baseball player steps into the batter’s box for his second at-bat, he struck out in his first at-bat, and part of him keeps remembering this. The batter steps into the batter’s box, looks down, makes a mark with his foot (the mark represents his time last at-bat), and then rubs the mark out (consciously thinking, “That’s in the past, it’s gone, I’m erasing it and this is a brand new at-bat, focus on just this pitch, one pitch at a time.” Mistake rituals take much more time to explain than to do. Take some time to develop a little routine that you can always use whenever you mess up to help you get your head back in the game.

I hope looking at other sports and how they address the problem of making and holding on to a mistake will help you in your pool games.

KEYS TO WINNING ON POOL’S KEYS TO WINNING ON POOL’S BIGGEST STAGE BIGGEST STAGE

By Anthony Beeler

The 2020 edition of The Derby City Classic is once again going to be perhaps the most entertaining event of the year. The venue at the Horseshoe Casino in Elizabeth, Indiana is always spectacular. Numerous tables, top of the line vendors and stellar match play sets the scene for one of the pool’s greatest stages. If the tournament continues to live up to all the hype, the individual who makes the best decisions will have a fighting chance to lift the all around championship trophy at the end of the grueling 9-day period. I believe that there are 7 keys to winning at the derby. Think about them and you can use them to play more competitively in any tournament venue.

KEYS TO WINNING ON POOL’S KEYS TO WINNING ON POOL’S BIGGEST STAGE

1. Quick Recovery

High-level competition causes everyone to make mistakes. Even “lock down” safeties will get returned, which will make things seem “unfair.” When playing in such a talented field, this is inevitable. The champion will be the person who can recover quickly from the frustration of bad breaks and maintain confidence and composure. Every player is going to get bad rolls, the key will be to accept this from the first shot and embrace the challenge.

2. Shot-Making

Because the tournament consists of 3 events, each having a shorter race format, the player who can choose and commit to the right shot and execute it, will be in the mix as the weekend approaches. Each game will require a different set of challenges and demand different types of ingenuity. Sound mechanics, position play and defensive execution will allow a player to become a serious threat.

3. A Controlled Break

Knowing how to break the balls effectively will also be key to success. Whether the game is bank pool, one pocket or 9-ball, cue ball control is imperative. Losing control of the cue ball will equate to games lost over the course of the tournament. Practice your break!

4. Patience

As with many past Derby City Classics, finishing high in any event can put a player in the hunt for the all around. With this in mind, you must give every single shot your upmost attention. Taking unnecessary risks will inevitably result in losses. Playing “common sense” pool and being patient enough to keep your opponent locked down will be another key to success. Pace will also factor. With the length of the tournament there will possibly be some very long days. Being able to stay calm and remain patient will be critical.

5. Creativity

As with all tournaments, there are many ways to play a most shots. The winner will be the person that is the most creative, imaginative and the one that continually exhibits strong visualization techniques. In essence, just think about what you are going to do, then do it!

6. Being Able to Slow Everything Down

When we’re under pressure, most of us have the tendency to speed up. If we allow this to happen it is inevitable that we will make mental mistakes. Staying tension free and maintaining a nice smooth tempo will be an important part of playing well.

Top professional players tend to slow everything down to stay in a nice rhythm. When you’re playing in a big tournament, you’ll need to do the same thing. Take extra time in between shots, walk around the table slower, give extra attention to your aim and slow down your backswing. If you’ll maintain a good tempo your game will flourish.

7. Health

Health and fitness is becoming a much bigger part of most pool player’s practice regimens. It is not just

66

Any tournament or competition is going to require a sound mental game and these 7 elements highlight the skills that are necessary to win any championship. So think about these skills and adopt them as part of your pool game. Maybe with some practice this will be the year that you snap off the all-around championship in Elizabeth, Indiana.

7 Keys to Success

Anthony Beeler is the 2018 Pool Instructor of the Year and is a former BCAPL National 9-Ball Champion. He has numerous top 25 national finishes and is one of only 8 ACS Master Instructors in the world. He is the primary author of the National Billiards Instructors Manual and has also authored the book Unstoppable! Positive Thinking for Pool Players. Anthony currently has the highest established Fargo Rating of any Master Instructor. He has won over 300 tournaments and has defeated numerous professional players in tournament competition.

Knight Billiards

The Cue-Tip Shaper

By Garret Troop

So as you play more and more you will find that your tip layered or single piece or synthetic will start to glaze over. This is a natural process of you hitting the cue ball over and over and the chalk getting ground into the tip as each time you hit the cue ball you compress the tip just a little bit more every time. That’s just the nature of the beast.

There are so many tip tools out there to scuff and shape your tip and keep it consistent and hold chalk to the point where you don’t have to over chalk the tip will glazes over. Some have a pic on them and others are shapers. Some shave the tip down as players feel that the best part of the tip is the last few layers. Whether that’s true or not some players are focused on that aspect of their game. The metal scuffing surface is exactly the same as the Kamui hater grip which is great because it doesn’t take layers and layers of your tip off of your tip. You gotta think about it. A layered tip is layers of leather and glue holding them together. When you take layers of the tip off you gotta figure that you are playing with just a layer of glue and I personally don’t like that idea.

This tip tool was a little hodge podge of all the better aspects of tip tools that are out there. At first glance it looks awesome and it does a lot of what it says. It has plastic make up and that’s fine. “Sometimes you just need your tip to hold a little extra chalk.”

The metal scuffer and shaper, as you scuff the specific area that is glazed off you don’t have to continuously take layers of your tip off. The tip tool is great and it offers you a wide variety of tools that allow you to shape, pik, and scuff your tip to any degree. Kamui I was the first company to my knowledge that used this technology in their gator grip. This is the same material.

This product is great but you as a player and as someone that works on your cue needs to train yourself on how to use this properly but this is true with everything that you get. Most people come to think that they are experts without the training. Shaping the tips is the hardest part in all of this. This tool gives you different diameters of tips and simply expects you to grind until you get it right. It just takes a little skill.

Knight Billiard Club’s Cue-Tip Shaper

2021 Media Kit 2021 Media Kit

Featuring a Wide Print and Large Digital Billiards and Pool Audience! Details Below

Why Sneaky Pete Mafia Media?

SPM Media, previously SPM Magazine, has transformed the Billiards Industry as a whole bringing a professional yet flashy image and focusing on celebrating, lifting up, and most importantly, EXPOSING professional players, products, companies, and locations. With a new, and ever updating website, you can expect your advertisement to be exactly where you want it, linking to your site, or product and ensuring the most value. The Digital Magazine is going through some very interesting and unique changes, with plenty of space to advertise your product, service, or location, you can even use a video ad now!*

2021*Restrictions apply, inquire within for details.