Snooker Challenge

[thelongbomber]

Don't believe the naysayers. Humans can climb Everest, you can make a perfect. Sounds like you have the time at least anyways. "Nobody is better than you. Nobody is smarter than you." Well that's what Brian Tracy says to me. The only difference is doing right and wrong things.

Terry's advice is sound. Especially about practicing one, singular isolated concept/technique at a time so that you can sufficiently "deep dive" into it's nuances and understand it fully (trust me, the rabbit hole is very deep)

The most important thing to understand about snooker is that there are absolutely no magic tricks or natural knowledge that are somehow limited to only a few. It's all pure physics and body mechanics with a bit of natural hand-eye for "feeling" the cue ball strike. Treat the game with at least some element of science or physics and treat playing as such.

Look for Willy Thorne's 147 video. It's on Youtube somewhere. Try and download/watch Ronnie videos as well as a lot of them are commentated on and Willy especially has a lot of good advice there.

[ace man]

First he needs to achieve a ton in a simplest lineup, but with someone watching and counting. That will be very very tough. He will twitch and feel the pressure for sure. I think that would be a much more realistic target.

[1blonde]

Could a donkey win the Grand National?

[1blonde]

oops sorry that does sound rather rude. What I mean to say is that you should set a realistic target say 50. Snooker takes a long time to make very small improvements.

[smichie]

Good luck. I have had my own table for two years and get 50 plus breaks regularly but a 147 is a tall order. Nothing like setting your coach a stretch target

[MasterBreak147]

Depends if you crap yourself when you approach the finish line and what type of table you aim this on(bill big bags or match table), Possible yes but agree with some comments above very difficult to achieve especially if its a match table.
Personally i think your targets are way too high in the short period of time (a year) i would first target the ton and then 10 tons then think about the pepsi

Either way i wish you the very best of luck dude, good thread keep us posted!

[dpdubai]

I have a serious question. All through my life I have set myself challenges to give me something to aim for. Whether in another sport or business.

This month I will complete the sale of a business and am very fortunate that I will not need to work for a while. I am looking to set myself a challenge and have thought about a snooker one.

I have not played for 10 years and when younger my highest break was 25. Not astounding. I am 40 now and have came up with an idea. I am from Glasgow and have access to a very good club. The one John Higgins practices at.

My challenge is within that year play and practice every single day and read as many books, find a coach and watch as many DVDs as possible. The aim is within that year achieve a 147.

What do you think my chances are in all seriousness???

Lol sorry to hash up an old thread but I wonder if "The Maverick" beat his lifetime best of 25 and made the 147 haha.

[shaun]

Stick to Nrage and Terrys guideline, if you do so you will get there , and there are plenty of others who can help you here in TSF, we have a bloke from Pakistan called sidd, i call him the Grip Freak (no offense to him), he was so determined about finding a grip which will help him play better and after months of research and sharing threads here in TSF he found his dream grip (i guess), anything you want to know about you will find someone here in TSF who knows something about it, let it be finding a good coach or cue or technique issue.
But before you start any of the steps they said, believe in yourself,
sorry to say but i think if you had that kind of self belief, you would just work hard towards your target, you wouldnt come here to see whether other people believe you can do it or not.

Once upon a time scientists believed that it is not possible for human being to run a mile within or less than 4 minutes, because they believed the our bone structure and limitation of the lungs does not allow us to run a mile within 4 minutes.

Then all of a sudden on 2nd May 1953 an English man named Roger Bannister ran a mile within 4 minutes 3 seconds.

"This race made me realize that the four-minute mile was not out of reach" --- Sir Roger Bannister

till today i think there are more than 50,000 runners who ran a mile within or less than 4 minutes.

Sir Roger Bannister was a winner in life.

See the difference between an ordinary man and a winner is, when and ordinary man sets a target he thinks " will i or will not i achieve it? ", but a winner after setting a target only runs towards it.

for the information of those of negative people who will claim that a 147 within a year its not a realistic goal
"... being realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity... why would you be realistic? "
---Will Smith

[Manu147]

Hi Maverick, one point that seems to be overlooked and is paramount to any success on the baize, is whether you personally love the game, without this desire countless hours practise will not see endless improvement as this reduces the learning curve, just playing to satisfy your ego that you made a 147 or proved to your everybody that you could do is doomed. There are plenty of romantic quotes of aiming for the stars, enjoyment learning and results are all part of the same equation, any weakining of one of these reduces the others. It took me 6 years to make my first 147, and i know plenty who have done it considerably quicker, but i think if you ask any of these players, they will tell u that any initial thoughts or goal of a 147 distracts from the learning ability, which is the path to the 147. Remember feel not think!

[cantpotforshíte]

Hi Maverick, one point that seems to be overlooked and is paramount to any success on the baize, is whether you personally love the game, without this desire countless hours practise will not see endless improvement as this reduces the learning curve, just playing to satisfy your ego that you made a 147 or proved to your everybody that you could do is doomed. There are plenty of romantic quotes of aiming for the stars, enjoyment learning and results are all part of the same equation, any weakining of one of these reduces the others. It took me 6 years to make my first 147, and i know plenty who have done it considerably quicker, but i think if you ask any of these players, they will tell u that any initial thoughts or goal of a 147 distracts from the learning ability, which is the path to the 147. Remember feel not think!

I think that these posts are falling on deaf ears (at least as far as the original poster is concerned) as he only stuck around for a couple of days nearly a year ago.
But Manu147's post sums up what I was feeling about his chances. If you set yourself a goal that you have to achieve, it detracts enormously from the subconscious learning process. By introducing doubt and tension, it makes it impossible to get the correct feedback and to let your inner mind build the skills needed.
I'm just reading 'The inner game of Golf' for the second time and it's only now sinking in to the point that I can implement the basic theories into my game. It's profound.

[Phil Carr]

I would say start by trying to get a 20 break, then 50 (a milestone) then incrementally until the big one - the HUNDRED break! If you manage to get this far (and most of us don't) then yes, try the maximum. A 147 is every snooker player's dream but remains so usually because they TRY and get it. You'll find that consistent practice around the black might suddenly lead to a break of 64 or 72. Then and ONLY then would I say 'go for it'. Even in pro matches, a 147 isn't usually 'on' until the 7th or 8th red is down. You need to work into a rhythm too. Be patient and don't expect too much. You might never get it. So what? As long as you win matches/tournaments. We can't all be Ronnie or Stephen.
ps. For what it's worth (whilst we are talking maximums here) I don't think Ronnie's 5'20" 147 will EVER be beaten, even by him. What do you think?

[Derek P]

Once again I'll say I wonder if Maverick ever got his 147 in a year or contacted Jim?

Given he is no longer on the forums then maybe he got to a 28 break and got the shock realisation that hitting a 147 isn't something most people will find easy to achieve within a year lol.

Bit like saying 'if i went to karate every single minute of every single day for 6 months then i could have a black belt faster than any other human being who took 5 years to learn to get one?"

Eh naw no shortcut for hard graft, time and patience

[Terry Davidson]

I see too many students who expect my coaching will give them a shortcut to playing better and too many students who don't come back for more lessons once they attempt to make consistent 40 or 50 breaks. I tell all my students there are no actual shortcuts but what I teach them will help them improve faster but with the caveat that it takes tons of practice to achieve better results.

[Derek P]

I see too many students who expect my coaching will give them a shortcut to playing better and too many students who don't come back for more lessons once they attempt to make consistent 40 or 50 breaks. I tell all my students there are no actual shortcuts but what I teach them will help them improve faster but with the caveat that it takes tons of practice to achieve better results.

I was coached by Jim about five years ago he took me from making the odd 40 break but probably more like 30s into hitting my first half century within about 6 months of seeing him every other week to look at my technique in detail, shot selection, knowledge of angles basic kinda stuff to bringing me on using advanced shots with side to force angles to keep breaks going when i've landed straight on the blue or other little tricks he had me hitting 80-90s regularly and chasing my first century break within a year of tutition but i hammered it on the practice table minimum 4 hours every day for months on end he's also a tremendous tactical player and he coached me in this part of my game then as I was playing in amatuer tournaments.

When I chucked it for a few years then came back I felt like i should go see him to iron out any faults which may have manifested themselves and again with 2-3 months he has me hitting the 80-90s breaks few little things we are working on so i can break through the ton and be a proper high scoring player he's a fantastic coach and all round great guy and helped me immensely.

I think the 147 in a year is virtually imposssible unless you have Osullivan genes I reckon am a pretty hard practicer and I'm pretty obsessive I could already make a 40 now and again on my own and had played on and off for a number of years I think touching on a ton within a year if you hammered the practice table is pretty decent going and the extent of what an average person expectations could be with a substantial amount of dedication and border line obsession on achieving your goal.

If your practice dedication wanes from that then Jim or nobody won't get you hitting the high numbers you need that time on the table and me doing 4 hours a day every day for best part of a year added 40-50 points on to my highest break and probably increased my average scoring by around 25-35 points. If you done 2 hours a day for example or only on and off then I think it would be fair to say those numbers may drop even half everyone learns at a different pace but can use my time as a guide to what a good coach and a **** ton of practicing what he tells you can actually do and 4 hours a day for most people i reckon while holding down a job is the highest your gonna hit unless you have your own table maybe couple hours more a day.

[DG GIBERT]

Hi Derek

Was it the side and tricks that got you to make 80/90s or that would have been the case regardless?