"SnookerEd25"]H_F, I would advise some good solid solo practice, rather than frustrating yourself against opposition you have preconceptions about. Find a dark, quiet corner of the club and just work on your game. Line the red balls up the way the pros do between the black, pink, blue & brown spots and set yourself some potting and positional exercises. If you feel the defensive side of your game is the strongest, try laying yourself into some pretty nasty snookers and then getting out of them. Knowledge of the angles will also help on the positional side of your game when in a good break-building position.
Most important of all; try to relax, enjoy it, and play your way out of your slump. Then, when you feel confident again, you can jump back in with real opposition.
Good luck!
(apologies, we seem to have got away from the original topic here. Maybe we need to start a new thread for Hendry_fan's travails...)
Many thanx SnookerEd25,Badsnookerplayer and Dan-cat for your thoughts,advice,humbleness,much appreciated.
Believe it or not,but i fuuuulllllly admit that i don,t like to practice on my own,in all the years that i,ve played,i,ve always been like that,don,t get me wrong,i have played/practiced on my own,but maximum an hour,anything more than an hour,i loose concentration,start to lose patience and automaticly start to play drivvel,so there,s no buckin point in carryin on playin/practicing alone.
My problem is when i play/practice on my own,i get bored very quickly,especially these days.
The club i,ve been in for many years now is a very enjoyable club,most of the members are nice folks,all in all there,s about 50 members and there,s almost always at least someone who,s around and willin to play some frames.
Sometimes i arrange in advance and reserve a table to have a match with more or less the same bunch of the crop,but there are times that i,ll go alone spontainiously,but as i stated,there,s almost always someone there who,ll be willing to play a few frames with me.
It,s kinds funny in a way,but i even get bored very quickly eg doing line ups or any other types of practise routines.
The very few times i do actually do any types of practicing,i,ll set the balls up,like when you set them up to play a proper frame,i,ll then smash the reds open and play it like i,d play a proper frame,the only diffrence being,that i,ll go for absolutely everything,i,ll play absolutely no safety shots.
Some might now be thinking,hang on,how the buck does hendry_fan do any other types of practice,well,the answer is,..............................
,.........................I play frames against members of my club/opponents,playing proper frames is the way i practice.
I really just canny be bovered practisin any other way.
I do now n again practice blues,pinks,blacks off the spots,or i,ll try n clear all the colours,but i,ll do these practice routines verrrry rarely.
I gave it another go,i went to the club again last night,i played only 3 frames this time,as my opponent did,nt have time to play longer,guess what happened?,...........................................................
,................................................................yet again,i played garbage.(BIG buckin siggggggggghhhhhhhhhh).
The first frame i won,mainly due to help from my opponent,he gave me 24 pts i think it was in fouls.
The 2nd frame was decided on a respotted black,my oponnent led the whole of the time until i clawed myself right back into it by pullin out some crackin pots on the colours.
I had to take the first shot on this respotted black,i chose to try n leave the white down near the black spot/cushion and to leave the black safe near the baulk cushion,i succedeed in managing to keep it safeish.
My opponent then also tried a safety,but he ended up leavin me a tempter,it was a very missable one,a long fine cut,i thought to myself,come on,you can do this hendry_fan,you can pot it,i got down on the shot and i put all my experience,grit,determination,skill,love,passion into pottin it.
I kept my head still,delivered the cue and what happens,....................................
,............................i end up pottin it,you buckin beauty!,get in there i thought.
My opponent was,nt amused,he grabbed his fags and headed for the exit.
I thought bout roaaaarin a BIG "COMMMMMMMMMMME ONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!",or doin a fistpump,i ended up doing both + i did a backflip.
Nah,i,m only jokin,i,m not the type who shouts out "COMMME ONNNS!!!",does fistpumps,somersaults,back/front flips,or does similar antics,i,m actually very like Hendry,i keep my emotions to myself.
After that respotted black,we played just 1 more frame,in which he dominated and won,but it was hendry_fan who won the match,2-1
COMMMMMMMMMMMMME ONNNNNNNNNNNNNN hendry_fan!!,GET IN THERE MY LADDIE!!!!.
Maybe after all these years,i just might give SnookerEd25,s advice a go,although,it,s extremely hard to find a dark,quiet corner in my club,along with doing some of Dan
s breathin/meditation excercises + think of Badsnookerplayers kind words.
I,ll let you all know,the next time when i play GOOD again,could take a bl**dy while though.
Catch u all in a bit soon.