Played the quarter final last night and somehow scraped home. The way this competition works (Oxford and District Billiards league Sherlock cup) is similar to the league where each team plays off in up to six frames. The way that the result of a tie is determined is by the higher aggregate score at the end. Anyway, it turns out that I went into the last frame needing to win by 10 clear points to take the match. Of course, it went to the black ball to decide it all and I managed to pot a good long black ball to wrap it up. I was pretty chuffed with that to be fair, most of the frame I'd struggled - especially with safety play. So now it's the semi-finals, and surely this will be seriously tough now. I can't really see us going any further, but to reach a competition semi final so soon after returning to the league is a great result whichever way it goes. I just have to remember to dress smartly and enjoy the experience. Got some days off coming up so I'll make sure to put in plenty of practise to help me as much as possible.
Efforts to Improve
There's an excellent snooker resource on the net called the snooker forum where players can talk about the game - including the technical side. I'm actually learning a lot from reading the various threads and listening to good players give generous advice to new and aspiring players. I'm beginning to believe that the greatest thing that I can do for my game is to learn to cue as straightly and consistently as possible. For now I'm not going to worry so much about my visualisation issues (I can come back to this when the data my brain receives is not muddied by my poor technique). The way I see it, if I spend the next year or so trying to build myself a rock solid cuing action then I can move onto the other stuff thereafter.
As I already mentioned, my technique must be pretty poor (or I'd be better, surely?). I've identified a few things where I think that I can do it better.
1/ Grip - I've always held the cue butt pretty tightly, and I think that this has led to inconsistencies in follow through due to tension and unnecessary wrist movement. I have now changed my grip to a looser style, as described on the forum. I used the new grip in the match last night and suffered no negative issues (although it felt a little alien). In fact I believe my long potting improved a little, but of course this could just be an illusion of standard deviation.
2/ Moving into position - While I've stood behind the shot and walked in for a number of years, the places I've put my feet and the process of bringing the cue down has not been a mechanical thing; I've kind of just moved into the shot and let those things sort themselves out. This cannot be good, my body/arm/shoulder/head probably only changes small fractions in alignment but the effect must surely compound. From now on the process is going to involve placing my right foot down the line of the shot and then the left foot directly to the side (about 2 feet) before bringing everything else down into line. I'm also going to try and get my arm vertical (it tends to 'tuck - in' towards the body just a little.
3/ Developing a longer follow through - One thing that I read multiple times is that the great players have a good long follow through (5 inches or more). This improves accuracy and cue power. I'm pretty sure my follow through is only 3-4 inches at the moment (probably why I struggle to get a large amount of top/back spin on the cue ball). The consequence of this is probably that I tend to hit the ball harder in an effort to compensate which obviously brings problems.
Hopefully I can incorporate these ideas into my game and they will become second nature; I'm convinced that I'll improve much more quickly if they do. I'm not sure I'll find it that easy at first, but once it's all settled in my cuing action should be a lot more consistently straight. I'll keep this blog updated with my progress. One thing I may do if I'm still struggling in this regard a year down the line is sign up for some coaching. Whether with Grant Conquest from the club or from Nic Barrow (a respected coach based in Milton Keynes).
Right, enough mindless tekker's talk. Will blog again after the semi-final.
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Monday, 16 January 2012
Cup Matches
Hi, so we finished the first half of the season top of our division which is really pleasing. Monty is returning to some sort of form while Stephen just seems to improve every week and is now probably the best player in the team. The unfortunate thing is that I feel that I've taken a giant step backwards.
What hasn't helped is that I'm attempting to adjust the way that I line up shots. My problem is this: I have always sighted the angle using the method known as the 'ghost ball'. This has brought me moderate success but there are always angles on the table where I actually struggle to visualise this 'ghost ball' and so I feel that sometimes (especially on cut backs) I'm shooting blind. Furthermore, I can't see how this method can possibly be accurate enough. Sure, I think it's probably enough for pool but I'd like a more accurate method of lining up the shots.
For these reasons I have been focussing on two things (which are related) which is the point of contact that the cue ball needs to hit the object ball, and the line of aim that gets the cue ball to hit the object ball at the point of contact. There's a web application that allows this to be demonstrated and practised (www.onekaraoke.com) and so I'm spending a little time with this in my spare time as well. The theory behind doing this is that if I can pick out the point of contact reliably every time (an easier process than visualising a ghost ball in my opinion) then it will eventually become easy to just pick out the line of aim {because each respective point of contact is 'tied' to it's own line of aim}. This strikes me as a much more accurate way of aiming at the object ball.
So far though, I'm playing a lot worse than I was using my previous sighting method. Of course, while I learn the angles (again) one would expect this to happen and if I eventually become a better potter than I was then this frustration will be worth it. It will be a situation where I've taken a step backwards to take two steps forwards. I'm just beginning to get a little worried that I've made my game irreparably worse by undergoing this sighting change. Time will tell of course.
One more thing about my development as a player, I'm really trying to get my technique better. The more I talk to good players, the more they mention the small things that I didn't really think that much about like the bridge, grip etc.
We played a cup game just before Xmas where we were (un)fortunately drawn against a very good team from our own club. Despite getting 24 points each head start, I went down fairly easily and so did Monty. The difference between divisions was quite stark; while there were no huge breaks all of the shots were much more sensible and safety conscious. I don't think I got an easy shot all game - unlike our division where players just take everything on. I didn't mention Steph-o, because he played an absolute blinder and beat a very good player called Paul Chester. That's a win to brag about (assuming he doesn't go on to become a top division player himself of course, and who knows on his current trajectory?).
Tonight we play Thame C in another cup game. This cup is different in that the teams are capped at division 3 and so we probably stand a better chance in this one. Thame are in our division so we should feel fairly confident.
I'll blog again in the spring I expect. I'm going to have a real go at this adjustment in sighting and if it eventually begins to pay off (and there are angles that I've begun to recognise now) then hopefully I can begin to become the sort of player that I've always wanted to be.
Simon
What hasn't helped is that I'm attempting to adjust the way that I line up shots. My problem is this: I have always sighted the angle using the method known as the 'ghost ball'. This has brought me moderate success but there are always angles on the table where I actually struggle to visualise this 'ghost ball' and so I feel that sometimes (especially on cut backs) I'm shooting blind. Furthermore, I can't see how this method can possibly be accurate enough. Sure, I think it's probably enough for pool but I'd like a more accurate method of lining up the shots.
For these reasons I have been focussing on two things (which are related) which is the point of contact that the cue ball needs to hit the object ball, and the line of aim that gets the cue ball to hit the object ball at the point of contact. There's a web application that allows this to be demonstrated and practised (www.onekaraoke.com) and so I'm spending a little time with this in my spare time as well. The theory behind doing this is that if I can pick out the point of contact reliably every time (an easier process than visualising a ghost ball in my opinion) then it will eventually become easy to just pick out the line of aim {because each respective point of contact is 'tied' to it's own line of aim}. This strikes me as a much more accurate way of aiming at the object ball.
So far though, I'm playing a lot worse than I was using my previous sighting method. Of course, while I learn the angles (again) one would expect this to happen and if I eventually become a better potter than I was then this frustration will be worth it. It will be a situation where I've taken a step backwards to take two steps forwards. I'm just beginning to get a little worried that I've made my game irreparably worse by undergoing this sighting change. Time will tell of course.
One more thing about my development as a player, I'm really trying to get my technique better. The more I talk to good players, the more they mention the small things that I didn't really think that much about like the bridge, grip etc.
We played a cup game just before Xmas where we were (un)fortunately drawn against a very good team from our own club. Despite getting 24 points each head start, I went down fairly easily and so did Monty. The difference between divisions was quite stark; while there were no huge breaks all of the shots were much more sensible and safety conscious. I don't think I got an easy shot all game - unlike our division where players just take everything on. I didn't mention Steph-o, because he played an absolute blinder and beat a very good player called Paul Chester. That's a win to brag about (assuming he doesn't go on to become a top division player himself of course, and who knows on his current trajectory?).
Tonight we play Thame C in another cup game. This cup is different in that the teams are capped at division 3 and so we probably stand a better chance in this one. Thame are in our division so we should feel fairly confident.
I'll blog again in the spring I expect. I'm going to have a real go at this adjustment in sighting and if it eventually begins to pay off (and there are angles that I've begun to recognise now) then hopefully I can begin to become the sort of player that I've always wanted to be.
Simon
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