\u2018The oddest thing about playing sport is when people ask you how the snooker\u2019s going before they ask you how you are. I struggle with that. It\u2019s strange. It\u2019s like, is that before me?\u2019<\/p>\n Liam Highfield has been through a lot in his career so far, but his outlook on the game is refreshing, loving snooker more than ever, while recognising that it is actually not the be-all and end-all.<\/p>\n The 33-year-old has had something of a nightmare season, breaking his wrist in the summer and finding himself at World Championship qualifying needing to win three matches to retain the professional status he has held since 2010.<\/p>\n \u2018It still isn\u2019t perfect now, I broke my wrist in September so it\u2019s been a long time,\u2019 Highfield told Metro<\/strong>. <\/p>\n \u2018I was on an e-scooter, coming back from practice, I was flying down the road and someone jumped out at me, I tried to go round him and went over the handlebars. <\/p>\n \u2018I can obviously play but it\u2019s still stiff and sore. I broke my scaphoid bone, which is apparently one of the bones that takes the longest to heal in the body. So even though it\u2019s set and back together they reckon it could be 10-12 months to be back to normal.<\/p>\n \u2018That\u2019s the main reason [for poor results], I struggled after that injury and fell into a bit of a bad time. It got me down, then results don\u2019t go your way and you do start struggling.\u2019<\/p>\n Highfield has long had to deal with physical and mental issues during his career, with Crohn\u2019s disease seeing him in and out of hospital in his twenties, while he has also learned to deal with OCD which brings about anxiety.<\/p>\n Thankfully, all those concerns are under control at the moment, learning to look at his obsessive nature as a positive.<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019ve struggled mentally over the years a little bit with snooker,\u2019 he said. \u2018I\u2019ve got OCD, so that gives me anxiety sometimes, but I\u2019m on top of that now, I\u2019ve had a bit of therapy.<\/p>\n \u2018Maybe playing a sport like snooker you\u2019ve got to have a bit of that. You\u2019ve got to be quite obsessive to get any good at it because it\u2019s so difficult. <\/p>\n \u2018The guy I was working with said that the same thing that makes me bad makes me good at something. I understood that. It\u2019s just about managing it.\u2019<\/p>\n \n![\"2023](\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-1729294965.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&zoom=1&resize=644%2C429\")
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