While scrolling through the forums over on AZB, someone posted a couple inspirational images. Considering what happened at league last night, I found these right up my alley.
This one is my favorite though:
Here’s an example of a shot that I both love and am scared of. This came up in my league match last night. I couldn’t see any way of making the 2 and not hitting the 3 without drawing out of the shot. But, given the angle, draw would likely drift down to the end rail, forcing me to shoot the 3 up table, with traffic in the way to the 4. So, instead of fighting the natural result of the shot, I decided to help it out and add some running draw-english. heh It worked out better than I had expected!
I even got a compliment from my opponent on that one.
The point here is that a long time ago I was terrified of that shot, and when I first started trying it, I would miss the shot and position entirely. Later I would make the ball, but the cue ball would be miles away from what I wanted. It’s only been in the last few months that I’ve started to get a handle on this shot. Which leads to the next inspirational image:
This one is a wonderful reminder that no matter how much you want to succeed, you absolutely, and completely, must fail first. I need to remember this.
And lastly, a huge thanks go out to my first APA team captain for reminding me that I didn’t start playing this game to compete, I started because I enjoyed the game. Here’s a little something akin to a reality check: