Help!!!!! Any technical masters out there?

[cazmac1]

Can you put some video up?

[TheBallBreaker]

Think I am getting a wee game later tonight. Will take a couple of videos. Will have to be on the phone though so might not be great quality.

[cazmac1]

hope you have a good one

[TheBallBreaker]

Had a good few frames tonight. High break of 51 & had a nice clearance of 37 to win a frame. As said before I used to play everyday from about 16-19, I'm now 27 and have only played on 5 separate occasions so I think the breaks i am hitting are encouraging.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgkVhQYMXVk

This is a link to the video of my cue action. As you will see my right shoulder is shockingly out of line. Definitely want to fix this. Any help to align my right shoulder would be amazing.

cheers

[TheBallBreaker]

Upon seeing my technique on camera, I think that I am not bending from my hips, and bending mostly from my waist.

[cazmac1]

I don't think it is you legs that are causing your stance alinement problem although I'm a fan of the square stance father then the old style boxer stance that you have. I think your alinement would improve by simply just straightening your bridge arm. if your stairghten your bridge arm this should bring your front shoulder near your face and pull the cue arm shoulder behind your head. try that and post another video. Looks like you have a nice cue action.

[The Doctor]

Hi Paul. Next time I see you I will try to help you. It's all about either how low you get down or how much you can get your chest to face the wall( as Gavin rightly said).
Think about how you turn your shoulders in a golf swing, the more you turn your right shoulder the more in line it will be with your head and your cue alignment.
Stephen Hendry has a very hollow back(meaning his lower back arches in a bit more than normal) this helps him get very low to the shot. Most other players just turn a bit more.
Hope this helps buddy.

[TheBallBreaker]

Hi Paul. Next time I see you I will try to help you. It's all about either how low you get down or how much you can get your chest to face the wall( as Gavin rightly said).
Think about how you turn your shoulders in a golf swing, the more you turn your right shoulder the more in line it will be with your head and your cue alignment.
Stephen Hendry has a very hollow back(meaning his lower back arches in a bit more than normal) this helps him get very low to the shot. Most other players just turn a bit more.
Hope this helps buddy.

Cheers Doc!

Time will tell if it helps. Won't be playing till next week. I'll get a couple of vids trying a few different things.

[TheBallBreaker]

Do any of you consciously pivot hips, or brace leg, push a**e out, etc.

I'm breaking my own balls trying to figure out how to get my shoulder behind my head on line with the shot haha.

[Acrowot]

Don't do it if it is breaking your balls, that will never do. You may need them sometime.

[joesyd]

I recently suffered from a similar problem and having read advice from Terry Davidson and others I have learnt there are a couple of things you can do to help get that shoulder behind your head (assuming you are right handed).

1) Get your left shoulder up to your left cheek, this helps to 'rotate' the right shoulder behind your head and get it line with the shot. Make sure the shoulder goes to the cheek - the cheek does not go to the shoulder.

2) Get your left foot in front of the right foot, this will also get you rotating your hips and shoulder more

3) Bend the left knee a little more

I'm not an expert or qualified coach by any means but this is just stuff I've picked up from the forum. Best thing is to get a mirror, set it up on the baulk line and give these tips a try and see if they help you to get that shoulder behind the head. Just make sure you concentrate on one thing at a time to really burn it into your technique.

Joe

[TheBallBreaker]

Cheers Joe.

[stjimmy18-1991]

Couldnt agree more with the above poster. You need to twist into the shot which will bring the shoulder behind the head, and bring your bent leg a fraction forward to rotate your body more.

[cazmac1]

For what it's worth, I'm not a fan of rotating the front shoulder artificially in to the cheek as in my experience this causes problems with pulling the cue of line. Have you tried straitening your arm as I mention earlier? Be careful of introducing any kind of twisting motion when getting down on the shot. KEEP IT SIMPLE.

[TheBallBreaker]

Had my first tournament yesterday and felt I was cueing well. Don't know how shoulder was but felt fine. I adjusted my stance to be about 6 inches closer to the cue ball which forced me to have to twist my body more into the shot to get my bridge hand in the proper place. Will take another video at some point to see if this has had any effect on the shoulder alignment. Cheers lads.

PS: I won 3 from 4 to qualify out of the group and then lost in the quarters.