Knowing what the problem was, I then started to focus on controlling the white ball, often playing shots with side to gain perfect position, only to find myself missing the pot. The short term result was that I missed a lot of easy balls and left great chances for my opponents. Instead of improving, and making bigger breaks, I was losing matches to players I felt I should have beaten easily. During matches, I didn’t know if I should keep up my focus on white ball control, or revert to concentrating on potting balls. I even reached a stage where I had spent so much time practicing using side that I couldn’t hit the white in the middle anymore. I was receiving personalized instruction from one of the world’s best players and yet I was playing worse than ever; before long I was relegated from the Thailand professional circuit and faced having to qualify for tournaments again.