Im seriously losing my sanity with this game !!!! HELP !!!!

[Belloz22]

Short attention span is my issue for sure!!

[tedisbill]

So Terry gave you all the fundamentals for you to go away and practice, and because you're not making 50 breaks within a week, you've lost all hope?

I'm sure you could improve dramatically with enough practice, but maybe you should be updating us with your progress every 4-5 months, instead of every 6 hours?

[lesedwards]

Short attention span is my issue for sure!!

Yes that could be it. Who knows. I think it is more the fact that I want to run big breaks and I want to do it now. When I talk big breaks I am talking 30 to 50. After a year and a half I am no further a head. I just know a lot more about the game and how stupid I must look when I have friends over to play and they beat me and they play once or twice a year and I am suppose to be this big player going to the big qualifiers in the city. I live, eat and breathe snooker. I even have a new puppy called Snooker....LOL

[alabadi]

Yes that could be it. Who knows. I think it is more the fact that I want to run big breaks and I want to do it now. When I talk big breaks I am talking 30 to 50. After a year and a half I am no further a head. I just know a lot more about the game and how stupid I must look when I have friends over to play and they beat me and they play once or twice a year and I am suppose to be this big player going to the big qualifiers in the city. I live, eat and breathe snooker. I even have a new puppy called Snooker....LOL

I think you need to relax and don't let it get to you, i was in the same boat and use to get so annoyed when a friend who hasn't practiced a day in his life plays occasionally beats me.
once i realized that he wasn't beating me , it was me beating up myself for messing up opportunities. once i just stopped worrying if i won or not i played much better and eventually started winning regular, he does still beat me from time to time however it doesn't bother me anymore, as long as i can enjoy the game that's fine.

[Belloz22]

Quick query really - I actually filmed myself again today to see if I was lapsing back into technical problems, and one of the things I noticed was that I was striking with right hand side on the white, but more importantly, I was pulling the cue into my chest - towards the right after I struck the ball as well as the grip hand dipping causing the tip to rise.

Anyway, when I was looking back at the video I could see that my elbow was behind my head, but my shoulder is sticking out to the side!!! SO I adjusted a pulled my shoulder right in behind my head, which was quite uncomfy, and thus I found my elbow ended up being to the right behind my head - I cannot get elbow/shoulder/head all in line for some reason......

So is it more importantly to have the elbow behind the head or the shoulder, and what would cause me to pull the cue in towards my chest at the end of the strike (and its not the grip because I was still doing it when I was cueing with the cue just at the tips of the finger to avoid clenching ? )

[lesedwards]

So Terry gave you all the fundamentals for you to go away and practice, and because you're not making 50 breaks within a week, you've lost all hope?

I'm sure you could improve dramatically with enough practice, but maybe you should be updating us with your progress every 4-5 months, instead of every 6 hours?

No problem I will up date in 6 months.

[tedisbill]

No problem I will up date in 6 months.

I'm not trying to be nasty Les, I'm just pointing out that the improvements you're expecting are too dramatic.

[lesedwards]

I'm not trying to be nasty Les, I'm just pointing out that the improvements you're expecting are too dramatic.

I understand. I was running 20's and 30's a year ago and that is when I bought the Snooker GYM to get better but that did not happen then I found Terry and had some coaching but he is two hours away so I had very little coaching and between coaching which I would say has been maybe once a month I am mixed up between what is right and what is wrong. So I think my best bet at this point is to take all the knowledge and use what will work with my arm and teach myself. I just played one game against my son which I beat easy with breaks if 28, 22 & 18 working with a long follow through and the bridge hand closer to the cue ball.

[Csmith]

But has the consistency of those 20 and 30's improved? Keep in mind, if you were making multiple 50's and 40's in every match you'd be competitive with some of the top players in Canada. I do think we tend to overestimate how often top pros make big breaks, which inflates our own expectations to unreasonable levels. When I saw the love-snooker.com stats, it was really an eye opener. I used to feel like all pros made 50 breaks every frame, which is not at all uncommon...for top players. However further down the rankings this is not the case at all.

Here are the match breaks for all the pro matches from the most recent PTC. Of course there are some stellar performances, but it's certainly not all one chance snooker.

http://livescores.love-snooker.com/Matches.aspx?t=13391

In the mean time, it's important to find a way to enjoy the struggle and learning process. Especially considering, no matter how good you are you will always want to get that little bit further. So if that dissatisfaction manifests itself in perpetual frustration then things will never get better. Don't get me wrong, it's excellent to have goals and to be continually working towards improvement, satisfaction is the death of ambition, but at the end of the day it's gotta be fun.

And finally, I wouldn't worry too much about break size. Continue to work on aspects of your technique, cue ball control and break building and it will come slowly but surely. But if you're struggling to put breaks together in a match, the worst thing you can do is get down on yourself. All that matters at the end of the frame is the aggregate. I've lost plenty of frames while having the high break. Hell, I lost frames without missing a ball (my safety play let me down). Even if you are capable of 50-100 breaks a very good match player can keep you from getting started, so there is so much more to the game than breaks. Just do what you have to do to win (within the rules obviously lol).

[lesedwards]

Thanks for the encouragment. I took a look at the stats and that is amazing, of course there is some big runs but also a lot of little ones. I played a second game against my son tonight this time i really concentrated on my grip hand and getting it more parallel to my arm and I really potted well. 75% pot sucess 65% positional Sucess and 88% saftey sucess. My positional has been around 27% and my pot sucess around 48% so I was very happy with my results.

[j6uk]

Your limited progress from all the good posts that have come your way, snooker gyms and a master coach, surely its time to throw the text book out of the window, just like you did against the odds in turning into a professional golfer.
Your special needs Les, you go your own way..

But we know you'll be back, seeking your tsf fix

[throtts]

Les, you should just have a stance, bridge arm, etc etc that feels comfortable for you when your on every shot. See what you personally adapt to. As long as there is no movement on the shot and your sighting and timing is good then there will be no reason why you could not realise your aim, which is to be a 50 breaker player ( if I have read that correctly ).

Stick with it, but do not over complicate things..

[alabadi]

i think that when playing frames les you shouldn't be thinking too much about your stance bridge and grip, these should be natural, the more thinking you do during a game the less you are concentrating on the pot and position.

i feel that technique should be left to solo practice, these sessions should be used to get as comfortable as possible with your technique so when you play a frame it becomes natural. i would try not to over think things when you miss a shot that you think you should have got too, just ignore it instead of dwelling on it.

everyone misses easy shots even the pros do.

[j6uk]

Come to the UK les for coaching and spend some quality time at an academy

[lesedwards]

Come to the UK les for coaching and spend some quality time at an academy

Yea I would be over there in a heart beat if I had time. I build custom homes and I am very busy not to mention my family would not think of me heading to the UK by myself.