In article
Quote:
> [...]
> But I'll go and shoot the shot with another bridge, or without taking
> the time to setup right, because I somehow feel (read: ego) that I
> should be able to make the shot without the extra effort. [...]
The miss is the "effect", but there are multiple "causes". In
addition to the above, which I think of as "false confidence", there
is also impatience and laziness. I think I'm particularly
vulnerable to this. I set up for a shot, and there's something that
doesn't feel right (foot position, body position, bridge position,
head position, elbow alignment, etc.), but I think to myself that
it's alright, I'm "close enough" and the shot will probably go
anyway, so I go ahead and pull the trigger. It is just plain old
laziness. When I'm shooting well, I don't do this, it is mostly
when I'm a little off. In fact, when I'm shooting well, I actually
seem to enjoy the whole process of shooting, including lining up the
shots, so I don't even consider at some subconscious level skipping
over that chance to line up the shot the right way.
There is also a kind of self-consciousness that I think affects
players, particularly league players or first-time tournament
players. This isn't exactly "ego", or "false confidence", it is
slightly different. It is that feeling that other people are
watching you play, so you sort of pretend to go through the steps of
lining up the shot, getting into stance, and executing, but you
really didn't do those steps, you just pretended to. So on your
practice strokes, you don't really know where you are supposed to
hit the object ball, and your stance is all out of whack, and you
might not even know exactly where the cue ball needs to go
afterwards, but your teammates are all watching you so you don't
want to get up and do things right because it might show some kind
of weakness or indecisiveness or uncertainty. In reality, it is the
fact that you know you aren't lined up, yet you are considering
shooting anyway, that is the real weakness in your technique and
that you should be fighting. I am mostly (not always, but mostly)
past this for league and tournament play, but I expect this will
affect me if I ever play a game recorded for TV.
$.02 -Ron Shepard