weight on your standing foot

[cazmac1]

I notice that the last couple of times that I've played that the pad on my standing right foot ( right handed player)has ached. My question is where should the weight be...
On the heel
On the Pad
Or evenly on the whole of the foot.
I have been playing with new shoes and was woundering how the choice of shoe effects wheather your weight is near your toes or towards the back of the foot. I wound imagine that a shoe with little or no heal would be better than a large heal.
Comments and thoughts please.

[Terry Davidson]

cazmac:

I see everyone has ignored your question so far. (Except me of course).

I would recommend the weight be evenly across the whole foot although I will admit because some techniques have the player leaning into the shot and therefore there would be more weight on the ball of the foot toward the toes.

However this technique detracts a bit from the primary goal of the stance which is stability combined with comfort. My own recommendation would be to try and get the weight evenly distributed across the foot, both heel and ball/toes.

Another recommendation - don't play in new shoes. Break them in first before you play with them since comfort is the first rule

Terry

[nevets]

I made the mistake recently of playing in very slippy shoes. No stability on shots at all, and on one hard-to-reach shot I ended up with a face-full of baize!

[jrc750]

..... and on one hard-to-reach shot I ended up with a face-full of baize!

almost spat my coke out

[cazmac1]

almost spat my coke out

First off thanks terry I knew you would'nt let me down, You have confirmed what I was thinking.
Second, Nevets I have a pair of shoes like that and know where your coming from.

[nevets]

Strangely, I actually prefer playing in smart shoes with a bit of a heel. I think this is more of a personal thing than a technical one though.

[cazmac1]

I find that when I wear my good shoes My feet ach on a long seesion and plus they do tend to slip when reaching for shots, This can be very painfull, I sure every players has crushed there nuts and some time or other.
How do the Pros stop there shoes from slipping, do they put something on the soles of the shoes.

[Terry Davidson]

If a pro had a new pair of leather shoes I imagine he would rough up the sole a bit as smooth leather on carpet can lead to crushed cojones or a dented chin!

I bought a pair of Clark's dress shoes just for tournaments with a hard rubber sole (weren't cheap) and I find these excellent as normally the Clarks shoes have really good arch support (which I need) and also very grippy soles.

However, I did wear a new pair of leather dress shoes for the Canadian Championships a few years back and I will NEVER do that again. Lesson learned!

Terry

[cazmac1]

Might have to take a trip to clarks, never thought I admit to that although I hear there shoes are quite trendy these days.

[hotpot]

I bought a nice pair of brown clarks shoes when my feet were killing me walking through Gloucester .

They were on sale and caught my eye , very nice , very comfy and excellent grip on them , ideal for snooker with a pair of jeans .

[cazmac1]

I like the nice pair of jeans touch

[jrc750]

I like the nice pair of jeans touch

Yeah fashion tips from hotpot could make it a regular feature

[cazmac1]

Maybe ferret could add his own section

[Erwan_BZH]

I agree that a comfy pair of shoes is vital to play properly! I use to struggle once during a tournament due to wearing very hard shoes. It killed my feet horribly and drained all the energy. Lesson learned...

And yes, slippery shoes can just crush your cojones in a nanosecond....lol I can testify...


to get back to Cazmac's question, I tend to agree with Terry. Weight should be evenly distributed on the whole foot. Depends on techniques but I tend to think that if you balance the weight on the pad or the heel, it means your whole body has left the vertical axis it should be on, then you're kind of off balance. And down the road, after 5h of play, you could really pay the price, muscularly speaking.