A couple days ago I mentioned in a post that my neck and back problems had sidelined me for a few days. During this unplanned intermission, I was forced to lay my cue down and do nothing but reflect on the status of my pool game. After an honest and sober assessment, here’s what I’ve concluded:
- I’ve made good progress over the last 1.5 years (from C+/B- to A-/A)
- I’ve learned just about everything I think I can learn from books, DVDs, etc.
- I’m not satisfied with my overall rate of improvement
- My new goal is to go from A-/A to AAA in 1 year
- I’ve got to turbo charge my training; really shake things up
I think I’ve reached an inflection point of sorts. In the last few weeks I’ve continued to get more confident in my abilities, and I’ve seen several aspects of my game come together, but I have this unshakeable feeling that I’ve just entered a new plateau and things are going to level off. I don’t know why I think this…it’s just a very strong feeling. If I’m going to take my game up a notch or two, I’ve got to make some big changes, so that’s what I’m doing. My first realization was that I have limited time to train. After all, there are only 24 hours in a day! In what was undoubtedly the toughest decision I’ve had to make lately, I’ve decided to give the APA the boot. I simply can’t afford to give up 1 or 2 entire evenings every week. (sniff sniff!)
Last night I drove over to Edgie’s Billiards in Milpitas to talk to a certain unnamed person to get his advice on how I can take my game to the next level. He provided some great insight on how other players like myself have improved. The trip was definitely worth it. I found out that Ramon Mistica is back from the Philippines, so I’m going to hook up with him and let him beat up on me over the next few months. Another reason I went to Edgie’s was to look for Deo Alpajora to see if I could get a game, but he wasn’t around, so I left my name and number with instructions to give me a call when he showed up. I also got some great advice on another really good local player who could give some one on one instruction and mentoring. Now that I’ve got a good handle on the basics and some pretty solid fundamental mechanics, I’m throwing aside all my books and DVDs and have enrolled in the School of Hard Knocks.
Angle of Reflection 