The Zen Of Pool: Part III...

Back to the Knockout Cup in the eightball pool singles league I play in last night and a semi-final match with an old friend.

He's a good match player with several England trials under his belt and a raft of local and regional trophies and titles. He also rarely gives frames away so it always going to be a decent test. At the start of the match I took my chances and raced into a 4-1 lead then missed a few 'gettable' chances and ended up losing 5-6.

It was an odd game as I always felt totally in control until the last frame when I had a bit of chasing to do and couldn't quite win it back. It was a bit annoying to lose a match I felt I could have won but I've recently played four matches against two very good players and I've won two and lost two so it's not a bad return.

Also on the plus side I feel I'm slowly getting back into a frame of mind where I know what I'm doing and my thinking is becoming much clearer. Even better I'm timing the ball well again and feel as though I can pot pretty much anything. I'm also starting to 'see' shots again, the sort of shots that can change games or make a non-clearance a 'gettable' clerarance. I am aware my risk-taking has to be tempered though.

It's an odd thing as I don't like losing and I was annoyed to lose last night but I can take it at the moment because I'm starting to feel confident around a table again so it's just a matter of keeping going and keeping the faith.

It's like spin kicks at hapkido. These are a tough kick and the first time I tried them I was rubbish at them but by keeping going I learnt how to do them and now they are my strongest kick as they are just auto-programmed in through constant repetition.

'Excellence is a habit' says Master Chang and at the moment I'm retraining myself in good habits on a pool table. My pool school report so far would be 6.5/10 with the potential for a 7.5/10 in the next few weeks.