Step 6. Spend time in the room before the tournament. You need to be comfortable where you perform. Walk around. Listen to the sounds. Absorb the movement around you. The director will be calling names, making announcements and interrupting play. It is all part of the tournament experience. Be comfortable with this noise. Don’t resist it.
Step 7. Avoid small talk. At every tournament there are a group of players who like to talk the politics of this game. We all have an opinion on how things should be. Don’t get caught up in this concern. You are here to play. You don’t care who is in your bracket, or who the hot player is, or who should be the director and what kind of payout is proper. You are only concerned with the table for your game only. Some tables will not let you slow roll a ball. If that is the case, move to a two or three rail game. You are here to play a match, and your mind needs to be free to follow these ten steps to success.
Step 8. Practice for the tournament you are about to play. Use The Lesson to design your practice sessions. If you are playing a nine ball tournament, do the stroke work, and then the mid- term exam. If it is an eight ball tournament, The Monks famous thirteen, and fourteen ball exercise will help you. When you practice, imagine you are already in the finals.
Step 9. Stun two racks before the tournament. Make up your mind you will follow this step. The stun exercise will groove your stroke and set up all the other shots you will face.
Step 10. The tournament begins the day before your match is called. Once you arrive at the site, you are officially in the tournament. You have entered the arena. Let all thoughts be on this task. Playing one match at a time begins the day before the event.
Remember, you have a choice. You can worry about the results of the match, or you can shoot balls. When you are concerned with how things will go, you interfere with your ability to perform. There is no profit in this type of thinking. You need to be free. Being angry about missed position does not change the shot you have. Let go of your preoccupation with results. A great golfer would say, “we shoot the ball where it lies.
