Chilling before the Big Games - Bridlington 2019

Image courtesy of GPA


I've been sorting out my packing, passport, cue and kit this week, getting ready for the trip to the EBA European Pool Championship in Bridlington next weekend. Looking forward to it, I certainly am, but it would be all too easy to let the event get on top of you or affect nerves. So, along with making sure my team tops and trousers fit comfortably and that my new shoes aren't going to rub my feet to shreds (I am a great believer in being totally physically comfortable when playing a match), and getting in some extra practise in between work engagements, I've been doing lots of relaxing.

Ok so some of my favourite ways to relax is watching the game. This weekend, it is the  World Snooker Championship at The Crucible in Sheffield, and there's been some cracking matches. I watched James Cahill showing Ronnie O'Sullivan the door, something that still has the pundits twitching. It was a brilliant match to watch and if there was something to learn from that match it was a) no-one is unbeatable and b) keep your head and you are onto a winner. Ronnie was rattled, Jamie kept his cool. Great stuff.

Ronnie O'Sullivan v Jamie Cahill

Selby against Wilson was another incredible game. If you missed it, watch it here:

Mark Selby v Gary Wilson - World Snooker Championship 2019

Then there was Cahill's next game against Steven McGuire. This was another incredibly close game, but this time it was McGuire who just about held on and got through to the next round. As I'm typing this post, there's another really close match going on, Wilson against Hawkins and at the moment it's 11 - 10 to Hawkins and yet Wilson is coming back at him. The closeness and tension of these matches is insane and makes for great viewing. When players are all so skilled and evenly matched, it is perhaps more a battle of nerves than of talent.

Which is why chilling before a big match is so important. Of course, practice is essential, and lots of it. But you can practice for ever - if you're so nervous that your muscles are all seized up and you can't think, you're going to go nowhere. So for me, watching a great competition like this (while sipping a large G&T which makes me extra-happy) is part of preparing!

Image courtesy of GPA


As is watching some of the world's best playing some of their best pool. Gibraltar is starting a 9-ball league very shortly and I shall be taking part. A good way to keep your skills sharp while enjoying a different sort of cue sport. So in light of this, I have found some great snippets of the world's top games on YouTube.

Pour yourselves a large G&T, or whatever your favourite drink, lean back, relax, and watch this. You can practice some more for Bridlington tomorrow!

Top 10 best shots Mosconi Cup 9 ball pool 2018

And now for some back episodes of The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones - another of my favourite ways to chill! Oh, and, since it's a bank holiday in Gibraltar, perhaps just one more G&T!

Image by ega0201 on Pixabay

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