Terry's Coaching Facility

[sharkster63]

Terry, Nice setup, PM me a quote for 4 hrs sometime in the next 7 days, will take a drive down. I use smart cloth, I like it, lasted me the last 5 years and still looks new, I brush every day, it helps allot for speed accuaracy.
Cheers,

[mythman69]

Looks great Terry !!

If I am ever going to your neck of the woods I will keep your table in mind . . .

[the montrealer]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]11613[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]11614[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]11615[/ATTACH]

Please ignore the dust and cue shipping material underneath the table (I'll get that cleaned up sometime - I'm basically lazy).

I have two video cameras, one high speed, high def (120 frames per second) and one high def at 30 frames per second. Around the corner I have my training computer and a 32" hi-def TV along with 3 different types of software analysis tools, a mirror I can place on the table, training cueball, the 'True Pot' device. I also have a small selection of new and used cues which I can loan to my students for their lessons.

I keep a dehumidifier running and the temperature of the room is a constant 70F to 73F degrees with humidity always below 50% (in the winter it will drop down to below 40% sometimes).

Right now I have a #10 cloth on the table but it's around 8 months old and I have a new Hainsworth 'Precision' cloth I will be getting installed soon, along with a set of 1G balls. I'm missing an extended spider and a swan neck which would be nice to have but I can get along without them. I don't have long tackle but use a slip-on extension on a normal X-head rest for those long reaches. I also have my iPod and speaker system and about 1400 songs on there, mostly rhythm & blues to keep me company when practicing (I do this because most of the venues we play in are usually noisy and some of them have piped in music for the younger pool-playing crowd, which is a sore point with me).

Terry

HI Terry nice room wish i had a snooker room like yours

Cheers Leonard from Montreal Quebec Canada

[Terry Davidson]

I forgot to add, I also have a 360 cue for training purposes (and I use it a lot myself) and I also now have a 'SightRight' device thanks to one of the members on here.

So I'm fully loaded for bear as they say (now if I could take my own advice and develop a nice rear pause I would die happy)

Terry.

[cazmac1]

Hi Terry, what are your rates, I'm thinking of getting some more coaching I've had a look at Nic Barrow and terry Griffits and think that they are asking too much Nic barrow is £75 per hour and Terry wants £240 for a two hour lesson. Your thoughts on these prices?

[Terry Davidson]

cazmac:

My rates (in GBP) are 30 normally, and 25 for seniors, under-21s and women (trying to encourage juniors and the ladies with not much luck here in Canada). I guess it depends on the reputation and knowledge as to what a coach can charge and also the breadth of the market involved. I think Terry's rates are more set to pros and VERY serious amateurs who have ambitions to turn pro but 120hr is a pretty expensive proposition and the student would have to make the decision on whether Terry is able to impart enough knowledge to make it value for money, in my opinion that fee is a little too high but perhaps Terry is trying to limit the number of coaching students he gets since he's pretty tied up with the 20 or so pros playing out of the SWSA where he is the team coach.

I've taken coaching from Nic myself and he did help me initially and has provided on-going support through the past 4 years and I believe my technique has improved thanks to his help but also a large part of it has been me getting the master coach training from him and then coaching myself, especially using video analysis where I can easily see my problems, especially with my high-speed camera which shows EVERY flaw (too damned many of them in fact so I have to pick out the worst one at a time and wok on that).

I'm not sure what Del Hill, Jim Donnelly or Chris Henry charge but I believe it's less than Nic and they are all very good coaches as I believe Gavin is on here. In the end we're all looking for value for money and there are quite a few good coaches out there who are knowledgeable and don't charge an arm and leg, but your problem is finding the right coach who you can work well with. A coach has to be able to impart his knowledge effectively but also just as important he has to have the knowledge to identify the root cause of a player's problems and there are some coaches around who apply what I call the 'shotgun' approach and try and change everything a student does over to what the coach considers the 'ideal' technique which means he doesn't really get at the root cause as he changes almost everything.

To my mind this is a bad approach since every student is different and every student has things in his technique which work for him and have become ingrained and natural but might not be identical to the general ideal technique. A good example of this would be Mark Allen who has no rear pause, an extremely loose grip, his baby finger wrapped up into his palm and his head really turned a lot but he can still pot a lot of balls, can't he? Using video and having the knowledge to capture the root cause of the problems (there's usually only one or two causes) is the secret to my mind.

Terry

[cazmac1]

Great reply Terry, when are you coming to England next as I would like to book a one on one session with you I think 3 to 5 hours should do. I know you were snowed under last time and the dates went very quickly so I like to book my spot nice and early.
Thanks cazmac

[Terry Davidson]

cazmac:

I haven't firmed anything up as yet but I'm looking at sometime during May/2013 for 3 weeks at the Star Academy in Sheffield. This would depend on if Star allows me to take students on while I'm there and also as long as I'm not taking a table away from someone practicing for Q school.

I haven't sent my request in to Keith as yet but will be doing that nearer the beginning of the year.

Terry

[pottr]

I'd love a lesson if you're in the Midlands for a night Terry, I'd compensate you by ordering the missus to make you some supper and putting you up in the hotel for a night

[Terry Davidson]

Hah!! 'ordering the missus!'

To save on expenses I don't rent a car so with all my luggage and cue case it would be inconvenient to take the train and taxi to get to your location. As I will be in Sheffield for 3 weeks and I believe the facility is open on weekends if you can get there then there would be no problem so it won't interfere with your work.

Like I said above, I haven't finalized anything as yet nor spoken to Keith at the Star Academy to see if they have any problem with me coaching, as they have in-house coaches already there with Chris Henry visiting and teaching on a regular basis too. Once I get everything set I will post a notice on here and also send a PM to anyone who asked about a coaching session.

The other problem is, I might not have my video analysis available and for the better players that is really a must since it's difficult to see any minor glitches in real time.

Terry

[pottr]

Nevermind, I assume my technique is at a level beyond flawless anyway

[Terry Davidson]

pottr:

Well, I guess bags of confidence is a good thing then!

For accomplished players like yourself I was thinking that if there was a computer available at the Star Academy then I would bring along my high-speed camera which takes 120 frames-per-second. At that recording speed and playing it back frame-by-frame every little glitch in the cue action shows up clearly and then those accomplished players can decide whether to ignore any flaws or else go to work on them (sometimes a flaw is so minor that the medicine is worse than the flaw itself, at least in some cases).

For a regular century player there is a risk in taking technique coaching as it might mean taking a couple of steps back and also his concentration is focused on the wrong thing until he cements in any changes. I notice Chris Henry coaches more towards the mind rather than technique.

Terry

[DG GIBERT]

£25 for seniors ! i think you owe me £10

[Terry Davidson]

DG:

When I was over at the SWSA I was only charging 20 for anyone, so we could say you owe me 5! (or are you in Canada?)

The seniors rate is a new thing as I'm trying to encourage some business in the Legions here in Canada. It's a 20% discount to $40

Terry

[DG GIBERT]

Blast should have kept my mouth shut £10 cheque in the post