The ‘900’ tournament run by Jason Francis and Snooker Legends (900 seconds meaning a 15 minute frame format)…
Here is the link to 'Snooker Legends' Facebook page
Whilst my long game was adequate on the evening, I did get away with making some mistakes… So I am sharpening my weaker areas with some hyper focused routines. These requirements evolve every day, in response to reaching satisfactory performance in each area.
In addition, I am also practicing with main tour players to hone my match play fluency.
Each match on my winning evening is summarised below…
💥 Quarter final: Maria Catalano (former women’s world number one) 💥
I had a sense of defeatism in this one as Maria fluked two spectacular reds…
However, a couple of long reds settled me when she let me in with a couple of chances that gave me a good lead.
Half way through the frame, though, the scoreboard stopped working when I was at the table… which put me in a bit of a mental no man’s land. I decided that the only policy was to forget about the score and just pot everything!
This was actually quite liberating as it allowed me to get on with playing the shots a bit more than I normally would when considering what the score is…
Interview:
💥 Semi final: Ryan Mears 💥
I missed a blue in the middle pocket because I was in two minds about where the cue ball should be going… an occasional symptom of reduced shot selection time!
Ryan let me get away with it when he lost position early on in the resulting break – I was SOOO relieved and my heart rate returned to normal.
I was under a lot of pressure with a four cushion snooker as well – but managed to not only hit the red but leave it safe. It is remarkable how much extra pressure you feel when in a snooker, if the penalty for a foul is cue ball in hand anywhere on the table.
💥 Final: Andrew Norman 💥
Andrew is such a solid performer, and I knew I could make very few mistakes. As expected, he started off strongly and fluently and build up an early lead.
Again, the fear of a quick defeat entered me my mind as he was in good position for a break around the pink spot. However, he hit the near jaw of the middle pocket on a missable pink.
Struggling to get ahead, I was mighty relieved when he completely missed a red on a safety attempt. A red slotted down the side cushion allowed me to make a winning run to the line.
The last black off the spot I played had a lot of pressure on it, with the cue ball being near the side cushion. All I committed to was committing 100% to my chosen line of aim, finding dead centre cue ball before I started cueing, and delivering the cue dead straight.
Interview:
Overall it was an incredible experience, and Jason Francis at Snooker Legends has done an incredible job building the 900 into a second season. Long may it continue!
Earning £1750 for the two nights work was nice too…