Quick Few Questions:

[Belloz22]

Hi all, i have a couple of questions, and i want all you opinions on each question - so if you could answer each Q as you see fit, i would greatly appreciate it:

Q1: My coach has said, the cue arm should be pushed positively into the chest on every shot, no matter have soft or hard the shot should be, the only thing that should alter is how close your tip is to the white ball...... so on really soft shots, do you still push the cue arm into the chest positively, or so you play the shot differently to stop yourself over hitting it??

Q2: When your playing a pot.... what are you thinking of as your cueing??

Q3: Final question, how do you keep you concentration levels up??

Hope you can all provide your opinions, want to gather a general consensus

Thanks

[CoachGavin]

Q1 - You can play each shot positively and use the length of backswing to vary the power. For example on a light shot only bring the tip back a few inches whereas on a power shot the tip can come back to the thumb on your bridge hand. This will adjust the pace of the shot.

Q2 - Different people have different thoughts. On the final backswing I just concentrate on bringing the cue back straight and slow. Then I look at the object ball and try and push the cue through straight by finishing with the grip at my chest.

Q3 - Concentration levels is partly practice. You can practice concentrating even if it is not snooker related ie logic games etc. When you are actually playing keep your eyes on your game and do not start watching other games or events elsewhere. It also helps if you get other life issues out of your head before playing as you need to have a fresh mind.

hope this all helps in some way.

[CoachGavin]

Q1 - You can play each shot positively and use the length of backswing to vary the power. For example on a light shot only bring the tip back a few inches whereas on a power shot the tip can come back to the thumb on your bridge hand. This will adjust the pace of the shot.

Q2 - Different people have different thoughts. On the final backswing I just concentrate on bringing the cue back straight and slow. Then I look at the object ball and try and push the cue through straight by finishing with the grip at my chest.

Q3 - Concentration levels is partly practice. You can practice concentrating even if it is not snooker related ie logic games etc. When you are actually playing keep your eyes on your game and do not start watching other games or events elsewhere. It also helps if you get other life issues out of your head before playing as you need to have a fresh mind.

hope this all helps in some way.

[Belloz22]

Thanks for the reply, in relation to Q 1, say the object ball is on the pocker, and i need to play a very soft shot to pot it and run down the table a little bit, i find even if i bring the tip back an inch, and play it positively, i will still over hit the shot..... now is this due to me playing the wrong type of spin for the shot, or am i being to positive with the push onto my chest ?

[CoachGavin]

If you are only bringing the tip back a little bit then it should not have enough time to build up too much speed. The grip finishes in the chest but you dont have to do this too quickly.

[nrage]

As CoachGavin says.. "you dont have to do this too quickly" .. the key is in the speed at which you accelerate on the delivery. A slow smooth acceleration is generally preferred as it is supposed to give you more control over the cue. Too slow can feel a bit robotic and without any sort of flow, but a really short range shot like this should not have time to accelerate much.

If you're talking about a really soft shot, like a roll up behind a colour then watch how the pros do it on telly. They bring the cue back 1 inch or less and I suspect they don't always follow through to the chest, especially when the cue ball is travelling less than the follow through.

[Belloz22]

I find my problem is my confidence..... namely im so frightened half the time of hitting my shots to hard because this idea of 'play the shot positively to my chest'.... ive always assumed its a positive thrust, rather than a gentle stroke...... this on top of the worries of missing the shot just lead me to playing rubbish

[nrage]

I find my problem is my confidence..... namely im so frightened half the time of hitting my shots to hard because this idea of 'play the shot positively to my chest'.... ive always assumed its a positive thrust, rather than a gentle stroke...... this on top of the worries of missing the shot just lead me to playing rubbish

It starts gradually and finishes as a positive thrust. Have a look at...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOWO6...eature=related

where Nic shows his own cue action, and how his cue/grip accelerates on a shot. He shows where his cue (actually it's a 360 purecue) is every 2 frames and you can really see how it accelerates.

The whole series of videos (his session with Terry Davidson) is quite good, gives you a good idea what you can do with a video camera and some software. He uses dartfish which is expensive and has a number of great features, but you can do something similar with kinovea for free.