Posting after long.. without much consistency

[Sidd]

Hello guys!

Hope all of you are fine and great and so are the seniors like Terry (coach), Nic and Ferrot. So I am posting after a long long time I have been away playing snooker almost on a daily basis. This new club suits me well and I am getting to know the tables and now playing quite comfortably.

Why is it that there still are days when I dont ahve to think about anything while attempting the shot and everything like pot plus placing happens for me automatically whereas on other days I am struggling for a single colour pot. Well is this concentration focus confidence freshness level etc what exactly? Who is the biggest culprit?

I havent been able to secure a proper break yet (35 max in this club so far) but I am trying my best. Now there is one big problem here. How to address this, no ideas guys. Whenever I go and play I only get a chance to play matches becasue all tables are booked and I cant do my solo ... Dont know how to get to that. Maybe on weekends I go on off times and do that ?

My shoulder pain is not gone as yet. Its killing me. However, there has been a slight improvement that some days I dont feel it and some days it comes back. Why is that I am wondering. Maybe inconsistent technique still??? Any advice is appreciated.

Cheers all and happy snookering.

[Terry Davidson]

Sidd:

For your solo practice perhaps simply go to another club. (I hope you don't leave your cue at your club as this is a VERY bad thing to do).

As for your other question...WELCOME TO THE CLUB!!!! We all go through this and the only way to overcome it (sort of) is to practice a lot (now that you have a good technique) until you get to a point where you are knocking in centuries all the time and then your bad days you will only knock in 60's or 70's. Even the pros have good and bad days it's just that their bad days are still better than most of us on our BEST day!

Terry

[davisskeggsm]

I agree with Terry I think it's all down to the level of practise you are receiving. With practise comes pressicion and confidence

Matt

[tomw]

A question for Terry:
you say that it's bad to leave your cue in the club. Why is that?
I always leave my cue there, so I can come on my bicycle when the weather's good, and not have to look for a parking spot for half an hour and then having to carry my cue for half a kilometre...

Greetings
Tom

[Sidd]

Thanks for the responses guys. Terry well I dont leave my cue there after you asked me not to. You are right in this club they do not even have a locker and so I could not risk loosing my cue or having them let others play with it. Thanks for that. Also I will do something about the solo practice as there seems no other substitute to it for improvement. Its more like net practice in cricket right Yes Terry you are so right and I get it now its very clear to me now that its not that good players are always consistent but it rather means that good players when having bad times can still score 60-70 and I kept thinking they always play well... Problem solved! I do agree that I have a proper technique (at least I think so) and just need to improve more on that. My feet position is better, i tend to stand in the direction of the shot have a loose grip that I try to keep of the same pressure until the strike of the ball and do intend to follow through. All of that is helping me and I can pot considerably well and with much more consistency now. You know what Terry ! something interesting! I came to this club and thought the tables were not good and was afraid I wont enjoy. But with a solid sound technique one can play on almost any table in the world right and I hence enjoy now playing on this one....

Last night I potted a black on which I was straight and the only other red was near the blue so I potted it with a deep screw check side and when the cue ball came back hit the cushion and deviated towards the red I was smiling deep down. All the players in the club said how do you do that cuz nobody can do it on these tables... I told them triumphantly that its not the tables its the technique... After coaching from you I realised that normally when people deep screw they tend to grip hards in the end and hence decelerate whereas if you can do it nice and easy without clinching the cue wallah! you can screw from one end to the other end (with some angle understanding as well of course- common sense) !!!

I am still improving- not such a solid proper player yet but the fact is that I have started to enjoy me game much much more than ever before ...!!!

[Terry Davidson]

Sidd:

Stick with it and be sure to get some solo practice if you can without too much trouble. Solo practice should ideally make up somewhere around 40% to 50% of your total snooker time although some players can adjust that lower or higher as their needs change. Pros will often only practice by themselves until a good player shows up and then have some regular match-type frames with them. However, there are also some very good pros who will put in 4hrs at a time in solo practice and the thing I've noticed is they are very, very FOCUSED during the solo practice

Terry

[Sidd]

Sidd:

Stick with it and be sure to get some solo practice if you can without too much trouble. Solo practice should ideally make up somewhere around 40% to 50% of your total snooker time although some players can adjust that lower or higher as their needs change. Pros will often only practice by themselves until a good player shows up and then have some regular match-type frames with them. However, there are also some very good pros who will put in 4hrs at a time in solo practice and the thing I've noticed is they are very, very FOCUSED during the solo practice

Terry

Dear Coach. Thanks for the response. I will certainly find out a way for solo. During early days of the week the club isn't as busy, I will adjust my timings a little and be able to get a table. I spoke to the club manager and he assured me that he will spare 30 mins to 1 hour (in the begining) for me. I have also noticed that not all the junior players like to play with me now even if I offer handicap to them. I also do not enjoy my game and have noticed that if I play them (even with handi) my game standard decreases and I start playing sloppy... I normally have to wait for the senior players (according to the level of my club- senior players would be 40-60 break standard) only then can I enjoy. Therefore, I will now do solo at least 3-5 days a week for half or one hour per visit. Lets see how it progresses.

I will try and maintain my focus during solo as that is very important, as you pointed out. I understand that while doing solo and focusing on technique one has to be alert and aware of his technique in order to improve so focus remains of integral impotance. I have therefore requested the club manager to book me the single table room/cabin so that there aren't any noises/interruptions etc.

Last but not the least, I have also noticed and please correct me if it is wrong that whenever I am not playing properly even though I would try hard to do so but then on days I just wont be able to pot more than a colour or two in a break. When this situation arises, my mind automatically starts to talk to me and convince me that today something in my technique has gone wrong so i start focusing on pre-shot routine, grip and follow through and sometimes even stance adjustment (given that I suffer from Shoulder pain so I do try to ease it up unintentionally). This surely ruins my game more and more but I cant help it Last night I was playing bad and one of the players commented Sidd you need to get your cue arm flowing tonight your cue arm is not flowing well... I wonder what that remark really really means? What I interpreted is this that perhaps I am not doing a good follow through and hence clinching on the but with the grip and decelerating... I thought 'flowing' would be when follow through is there... Also is there any way I have trained my brain to follow through more than required (silly question, one cant follow through more than required given that follow through automatically finishes when grip hits the chest) but just wondering...

[Terry Davidson]

Sidd:

When someone refers to 'flowing' they normally mean your timing and rhythm. I suspect either you are increasing the speed of your backswing, shortening your rear pause to nothing and/or starting the delivery of the cue at maximum acceleration which means you're probably gripping the cue tighter at the start of the delivery.

If you would like to know how Steve Davis corrected this problem when he was young, he and his father used a piano metronome and slowed it down to where it matched a nice slow rhythm. I have been looking for one of these myself as I would like to get one since my rhythm and timing go wonky all the time, especially under pressure in a match.

You could probably duplicate the same thing these days by recording something with rhythmic beats off the computer and into your iPod but you have to make sure it's a nice slow rhythm.

Now this may seem a bit drastic to some however it certainly helped Steve to groove in the virtually perfect rhythm he had at the top of his game. Also, a metronome would be easily adjustable and you don't have to wear earphones so you don't disturb every one else

Terry

[Sidd]

Dear Coach, I guess you are right again on all accounts. I have noticed myself that I need to focus, once again, or rather go back to my timing and rhythm. Hmmmm so I guess the comment was correct after all (made by the club owner, an old friend, we used to play together then I changed my club and am now back again). I have also noticed that my game rate has considerably increased and that is somehow causing it... Disadvantage of watching Ronnie's videos and the 2012 WSC repeatedly. Maybe I should switch to Murphy, Davis or Lee etc to mentally slow down LOL

But yes I guess even after practicing long my timing and rhythm are suffering. YEs Coach you are right... I do happen to have developed a nice and slow backswing and a good back pause (two finger tap before strike is my trick) however yes this is the most important area that I now need to control i.e. I start the final delivery pretty fast I suppose. After watching Nic and your videos on final backswing with slomo I heard Nic preaching the slow start of final delivery and then sort of build pace slowly once it has started. I guess Murphy and Lee and even Selby are best examples here I can see that during delivery start their cue moves forward very slowly and once can point that out easily from the naked eye and then they develop pace in to it. I tired that but to me it seemed rather dramatic and artificial and something else to coordinate (as you put it) so I could not possibly continue with that. Even if you watch Ronnie in slomo- he does that too. I think on a scale of 1 to 10 in final delivery 1-3 or is damn slow then 3-5 is pace development and then 5-10 or maybe 6-10 is final pace development and follow through... Will work on that.

I have just today, after reading your response coach, come to realise that this might be my biggest enemy now (timing and rhythm) as I keep on saying that on days I'd play excellent but then without progressing on days I would play like a child. Maybe this has to do everything with timing, who knows. I will work that out.

Inasmuch as you advice on listening to some music by decreasing its tempo is concerned, hmmmm worth trying, will see to it as well. Seems the greatest thing for consistent timing I believe...

Something interesting happened last night Coach. I was playing bad and not being able to attain my standard and was trying hard for it in every frame. Then came a frame in which I suddenly got it all right. Went to my shot potted two blacks lost position on the pink went and took a fairly difficult yellow came back and cannoned the pink and red took another two blacks and a red ... now during this time while I was approaching for the black I made for myself EASY EASY one due to excellent positional play... A guy in teh crowd remarked 'Wow Sidd is back in Form' I smiled at the comment without looking at him triumphantly went down and well MISSED that black I think these comments either positive or negative have an affect on FOCUS... What do you say about that? I will try my best not to loose focus but thats not easy with these comments coming in...

[Terry Davidson]

Sidd:

You gotta cut down on the verbiage a bit as it takes me too long to read your posts these days.

First of all, I didn't recommend MUSIC! I recommended a metronome which is used for piano students to get their rhythm correct and was used by Steve Davis and his dad to get his rhythm timed correctly.

It sounds to me as if you are tending to rush some of your shots and not confirming you are on the correct line of aim. This is normally done at the front pause and you may be either leaving that out or not looking from cue to object ball through cueball when you rush the shots. It is VERY important to use the same rhythm and timing on ALL shots

Terry

[Sidd]

Got it.. I will keep them as short and to the point as possible. I do also think that it is now all in the timing and yes since I have developed this tendency of playing quick; I might as well be not giving enough time per stroke. I will take care of that coach... Thanks again! Will keep you posted on developments.

I understand the point about using the same timing of all shots; consistency is the key right. Let me go today and I will reduce my rate of play and focus on backswing pause and follow through and also confirming the line of aim at the last moment to double check...!!!

[Sidd]

Hello again coach... I kept your words in mind and also went through Steve's myspace blog archive posted here on this forum. Got a few things in mind.. also saw your question and Steve's answer to you there... And guess what? I went in yesterday, played sloppy in the begining but kept concentrating on ... slow backswing, back pause and smooth delivery.. I got my form back during fourth frame and played the rest 8 frames very well indeed.... I am so happy.... breaks I made were of 50, 46, 48, and 40 on the 50 break I still had three reds clustered against the pink and while I potted black (stun-screw with right hand side to go in the cluster and remain in the open) but well I missed the bunch by an inch and the cue ball raced to the baulk... Never mind right? I hope I can retain that...!

[Terry Davidson]

Sidd:

Just 2 points in response to your last post.

1. Getting your rhythm after 4 frames won't do you any good at all in a best-of-7 or best-of-5 so keep working on getting that good rhythm earlier, like during the first frame. I know this is difficult myself as mine doesn't come until somewhere in the second frame and usually I'm down 1-0 by that point, sometimes 2-0 which is a big hurdle in a best-of-7.

2. This one is more important...when breaking the pack from the black or blue DO NOT USE ANY SIDE!!! It makes the pot more difficult and doesn't do anything for the cueball (in otherwords, it doesn't help at all). Side only takes effect when the cueball hits a CUSHION. To prove this to yourself you can 'arc' the cueball using deep screw with no side and it makes the potting more accurate. Forget what you see the pundits showing on the cueball as they will shot bottom with side when Ronnie's breaking the pack but Ronnie isn't using any side on the shot unless he wants to spin the cueball through the pack.

When you are playing as well as Ronnie is now then use some side when breaking the pack

Terry

[Sidd]

I agree and understand the importance of your points Coach. I played 8 frames tonight. Could only win 3 as the opponent was an equally good player. Got the rythym, I believe, in the 4th or 5th and by that time it was too late. But when I did I made a break of 48 and that was fun. But then I missed an easy easy red I dont know if this happens to others but at my level whenever I get cross 40 I tend to get excited and I personally think I miss an easy red due to that excitment that I am playing so well and oh look I have crossed 40 and now I will make a big break etc ...

Thank you so very much for the second point. Although I have been using side in situations where I need to sort of drill in to reds and come out, as you said, yet that makes the pot hell of a difficult thing to do. I would only try that now when playing as good as Ronnie

All thanks to you coach; although not so good yet I have become quite a respected player of my club- if not celebrated

[Terry Davidson]

Sidd (and other players out there):

Just remember that Ronnie and a few of the other pros have perfected breaking the pack from the black although Ronnie is usually the only one who uses tons of side to get the cueball spinning when it hits the pack, sort of like a blender going into them. This is a VERY difficult shot which takes years to master so until you are in the 100-break category stick with not using side when breaking the pack from the black (or blue even). Just straight centre-ball stun or slight screw depending on the angle of the pot you have.

Terry