The importance of challenge

Last night was league night. I understand that I'm not a great player yet; heck, I may not even be a good player yet, but something weird happened last night. I didn't feel challenged at all in my match. There was no doubt in my mind at all that I was going to win that match. I had no fear of my opponent and I just kind of made the motions in finishing the games.

I didn’t play all that well, and my stoke and pregame kept slipping. There wasn’t a doubt I was going to win that game at any point and I just coasted through it. Normally, my captain had been putting me against the tougher shooters but I think they were worried about my skill rank going up. This match didn't have any challenge in it at all and it felt too easy. It wasn’t as fun without the struggle. I've played lower ranked people that give it their all and because of the handicap system, I have been challenged and struggle in those matches. For some reason, last night that was not the case. I came out to such a strong start in the first game that it felt like my opponent gave up early. He mentioned that he was on a slump, and after the first rack all but conceded the match in his head.

It felt as if, as long as I didn't make several large mistakes, that the match was basically mine to take, and honestly it wasn't as fun. I really enjoy the fire. I enjoy the competition and I enjoy the challenge that pool brings me. Without the challenge, the win is somewhat hallowed. What's weird, is recently I lost a match, and I think I even enjoyed my losing match more.

Lessons learned: Now I understand a little what some great players feel when they face me sometimes. No matter how far I get behind in a game, or no matter how much I am losing by, I don't want to lose that fire in my belly. I don't want to lose that competitive drive. I also need to learn mentally how to keep my fire and competition when my opponent has no fire to give. I often play to the skill or competitiveness of my opponent and I let their emotions affect mine too much. I need to get the same fire when playing a blowout as I have in a game that goes down to hill-hill.

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