The game that quiets down my mind
#1 of The First 5 of the One Pocket Series
I frequently wonder what pool means to me and what I want it to mean. Pool was my sport at first. Now, it’s a hobby. I want it to quiet down my mind. That’s why One Pocket is my favorite game. It’s the only game capable of blocking all other thoughts not related to the task at hand.
The reflection in the mirror would describe me as a thinker and dreamer with great ambitions and a creative spirit that has yet to find its way to the outside world.
For a silent, and attentive observer of the over-thinking type of mind as myself, pool centers are places with an overwhelming amount of external stimuli. Pool requires a lot of concentration. I often lack concentration, because most days I’m a lost sheep within my own web of thoughts.
Are those external stimuli actually external? Or, do I create them because I’m not able to shut down the attentive observer in me? No, I don’t think I create them, but I do passively contribute to the fact that I lose my focus at the pool table because of those stimuli. Is that bad? That just depends on what pool means to me that day.
One Pocket is the game of games for someone like me. I want to think about the game while I’m standing at the pool table, so I don’t have to think about all those other things I always think about. Most shots in one pocket are two-way shots and there’s often more than one possibility to reply to your opponent’s shot. I want to go over all these possibilities. That’s what gets me in the zone. It quiets down my mind. One Pocket is the only game capable of demanding my full focus. It pushes my thinking and creativity to the limit, thereby blocking all non-pool related thoughts.
One Pocket Series
One Pocket Series is a project in which I advocate One Pocket and try to inspire others, in the Netherlands and eventually in the rest of Europe as well, to start playing One Pocket, to share knowledge and ideas about the game ,and to set up more One Pocket tournaments across the continent. The One Pocket Series, a Dutch One Pocket tour, came forth from this project.
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