Physique and stance

[vmax4steve]

I have noticed that the very best players have narrow shoulders. This makes them have a squarer stance but still enables them to have their cue arm directly behind the shot at 90 degrees, rather than have their elbow sticking out.
I am six two with long arms and broad shoulders and my stance is side on, ie, my front foot is well in front of my back foot rather than beside it.
I find that this stance works very well for me and is also comfortable, putting no strain on my legs or back.
The question for all you coaches on this forum is, does a players physique designate the stance they should adopt in order to have a near perfect straight alignment of cue arm behind the shot like Steve Davis ?
Or do you advocate the same stance for all, regardless of their physique ?

[Terry Davidson]

I always have maintained that a player's physique calls for modifications in the 'perfect' or 'ideal' stance and technique.

I myself have a problem with my shoulders and I have my left foot about 4-6" in front of my right foot and my right elbow is slightly outside the line of the cue (which I'm attempting to get aligned but without causing any discomfort).

In today's world a lot of players are a lot overweight and this forces changes in the technique as they cannot get the cue aligned 'properly' and have to make adjustments.

The real problem is a lot of players will hear or see something on video or in a book and most of them do not put up a disclaimer 'WILL NOT WORK FOR ALL PLAYERS AS MODIFIED TECHNIQUES MAY BE REQUIRED FOR DIFFERENT PHYSIQUES'. These players will frustrate themselves trying to bend like a pretzel to get into the ideal 'Joe Davis' technique where the cue is brushing the tie (or against the neck), left arm locked out there straight and stiff and the right foot at 90 degrees to the shot with the left foot way out in front and pointed parallel to the cue.

This all worked for Joe since he was a short guy and blind in his right eye so he had to get the cue over towards the left eye and thus rubbing his tie. (Actually, since I've had to change to left eye sighting maybe I should re-align to more under my left eye but I haven't tried that one yet as I'm still working on getting that 'ideal' rear pause.

Terry

[Acrowot]

When I used to play, always ruined my ties with the cue making marks in them. I am 5' 8' and also played with left foot well in front of right foot. And, very broad of shoulders. In those days, lots of us still kept our jackets on and it used to ruin the lapels of the jacket with the cue running along them. Eventually everybody started to play without jackets .. lol
:snooker: