My first ever practice video clips... FINALLY

[Terry Davidson]

Sidd:

PART III - repeat of wrist action

I managed to download the first video and then watch the first couple of shots frame-by-frame. You will have to do the same as it is very easy to see what is happening with your wrist by watching your wristwatch.

In these shots the cue badge starts out at address at the 12 o'clock position, then at the end of the backswing at about 2 o'clock, then during the delivery it moves over to about 10 o'clock. THIS MOVEMENT WAS HAPPENING BEFORE YOU EVEN HIT THE ADDRESS POSITION. This means you are turning the wrist during the delivery and well before the strike.

Get Kinovea and have a look yourself.

Terry

[Terry Davidson]

Sidd:

PART IV - a little extra

Try this just along the baulkline with no balls. When you get down into the address position I would like you to try pushing your RIGHT ELBOW out into the table a bit and parallel to the line of the shot. You can accomplish this by twisting the hips a bit more to the right.

This will have the effect of stabilizing your right shoulder down and out and in turn this should move your LEFT SHOULDER a little bit higher and more behind the head and it should stop you dropping that elbow too early.

When you do this have a feel for how loose and fluid the left elbow feels and how easy it is to keep the upper arm stable until after the strike. This slight change should give you more accuracy when potting and will also help you to hit the cueball at the height you intended and will make for much better position. So...better accuracy and better position...what's to lose?

OK, that's it for now. It's 10:30am and I have to start my own practice session. I will review the whole of tape #1 using Kinovea later today hopefully unless 'she who must be obeyed' has some jobs for me, which is a very good bet.

Terry

[j6uk]

Nice to see you in action sid!
My first impression of you playing is positive, you have a natural stroke with good tempo around the table so, you got a lot to work with
Iv only watched one clip and read the first page so far on this thread but I agree with the first few post.
What sticks out is that your feet don't seem to be set and you look to be stepping in on the line from the side. I believe that its good to start from the floor and work your way upwards. I can see you stepping back and stepping straight in on the line and drop down. Then your potting would go up by 30%
I'll watch the other two clips, read the rest of the posts and get back..

[Terry Davidson]

Sidd:

I've sent you 3 PMs with more details on corrective action. No problem if you want to copy/paste them here on the string. I din't want to post them as they are sort of long and detailed and it might turn people off (as I'm sure my above very long posts are doing anyway).

Terry

[j6uk]

Okay Sid Iv watched all the vids and read most of the posts. Well, If you asked me for some help, in that club, I was sitting on a stool next to the table. I would not try to show you to much. Firstly I would want to know:
What you want?
Any goals?
What's your other commitments and passions in life?
How much time do you spend practicing, how much time can you physically practice and how much time would you like to train?

I see that you really like this game. You look like you like watching it by some of your Ronnieisms.. Plus your time on tsf
I wouldn't get involved in heavy 'how to play so much'. I'd ask the above plus a few more Q's and take it from there.
Being a good snooker player really takes patients, practice and dedication. No doubt, so..
It would be helpfull to know what you can bring to the table?

[narl]

Is there a plane taking off in that room?

[throtts]

Is there a plane taking off in that room?

You'd better believe it, it's waiting to bring Sidd over here to Q school.

I love this guys passion. We all know what he wants to achieve and that is to be a frequent century player and one that can win a frame in one visit when the chance presents itself.

Sidd, you believe, buddy, you have the game and the passion. Go for it......

[Sidd]

All right mates. I read all the posts above and had to think for about 10 minutes before replying as to how to go about it. So I decided to first of all show my sincere gratitude to you all for the love and respect that you have demonstrated through your invaluable support, guidance, time, efforts, comments, feedback and advice. Really guys, I am overwhelmed by the responses I have just read. Thank you so very much for the encouragement and constructive feedback.

Everybody on this forum is a complete gentleman and I am honoured to have had an acquaintance.

Thank you so very much guys and a special special token of gratitude and whole-hearted warm thanks to Terrance Davidson for all his effort, time and patience. his effort is one thing I might never be able to repay for he really is a gem who has been tolerating me and my silly questions for a long time now. Seeing his analysis and PMs and email makes me utterly humbled. Thanks Coach...

Just two quick notes and then I shall reply to your responses.

1. I only went through a few responses last night before going to bed and talked about them to my family over breakfast today. Terry and Steve (Vmax) my mom sends her wishes and prayers to you two and I mentioned to her that I would convey so She has been after me for years now trying to persuade me to join a gym or whatever but to loose weight. Every day and night she would nag me to the best of her abilities in order to convince me to loose weight. MY wife is ok with it cuz she says if I remain fat other girls wont take interest in me (what does she know eh I have just been lazy in not loosing weight. When I told her I have decided to do so for snooker cuz of the fact that Steve and Terry advised me so she was like all prayers for you guys

2. I only read the first few responses including Steve's and went to the club. I kept thinking on what Steve suggested and did something really small that appeared to me while driving. I had a boxer's stance when I started playing and it remained there for a long time. Then this concept of master-eye came to me and I saw that my left eye is master eye. I did not want to change my set up so what I did was to switch to square-on to favour the left eye. Till the day before yesterday I was using square on. My shoulder tendinitis and shoulder muscle pain started after square on stance. i was thinking that it may be connected to my stance. So I went ot the club and switched to boxers again. Guess what I was relax, my bridge arm straightened and as I leaned back on my straight leg in boxers ... I became a potting machine Played a quick race to 5 with a very good player and defeated him 5-2. No big breaks but if you can take a 40 and then a 35 wallah ! the frame is almost yours yeah

Now I shall respond to your comments one by one.

[Sidd]

Nice pipe

Thanks Pottr.
Nothing soothes me more than a bowl of old dublin or the irish oak in my favourite half-bent

[Sidd]

Sidd my man, you hit the ball quite well for someone who stresses over their technique so much.

There are a few points but nothing practice wouldn't iron out. One big thing for me... Walk into your shots!

You don't get on the line of aim with your stance enough which is likely why you jaw so many balls.

Stand back, spot the line of aim and walk on that line. You can't continue to just drop in from the side and expect to find any consistency.

Stand back
Spot the line
Walk in
Drop the cue on the line (straight)
Drop your head on the cue (straight)
Chest on and deliver

You are right mate.. When you think you have something in your technique you start taking it for granted. Time for a review of the basics for me I know. Another thing is that, as you may have noticed, there isnt enough room... the pillars on one side and wall on the other are pretty close to the table ... but this isnt an excuse; I will keep that in mind.

[Sidd]

The grip where you are taking the little finger off .. are you taking it off during the stroke, at the end of the backswing? I think this is a bad idea because I think it is moving your hand too much and moving the cue offline and this is why you jawed those first long blues (video #1). If you want the little finger off, start with it off and leave it off, but don't alter the grip during the stroke.

OK this has been figured out. I was doing it during the stroke. I have left it completely as i have much confidence in my grip after reading all comments here. Besides, honestly speaking, it just came to because of watching Ron a lot but i did that badly ... I thought the pinky was adding pressure on the grip so i wanted to keep it off... However, I have just stopped doing so since yesterday. And please please please dont mention this to Terry or he'd kill me

[Sidd]

Did you notice on the first short blue back towards us (video #1) your cue ended up pointing at the left edge of the pocket (from your viewpoint).. and you must have struck with left hands side to send the white to the right edge of the pocket as you did.

You got some good screw on the following shots

You are spot on mate. Whenever I used to do the white up and down on spots I noticed I always always used unintentional left hand side... Did not know why until I read Terry's comments above. Now I know and shall be correcting it.

[Sidd]

I no coach so maybe I'm wrong.... but you seem to have your body way too far out to the side....not having your foot on line of aim.

i always make sure my foot is on line ... but I have to take that fat ass off to the right nRage is correct on this... I saw jack Karniehm video and still remember his voice echoing in my mind ... swivel on the hips so yes I do swivel on the hips to my right while getting down.

[Sidd]

I agree with pottr about the line of aim. On that line up you play I think your main problem was the same one that I have, that is not getting on the line of aim before walking in.

It means that while you might cue perfectly straight you miss because you were aiming to miss (I don't mean intentionally, I mean the line of aim you were actually standing on when you got down was missing the pocket). Something I have been doing is playing a line up and taking an extra 1/2 second to really make sure I am on the correct line of aim before I walk in and get down. The results have been excellent for me and I recommend it.

Understood totally.. Will keep that in mind. Its shortage of space behind the table causing it but no excuse I will try my best to do so ot the extent possible ... and as Terry suggested above... slowly.

[Sidd]

Sidd, you have no glaring errors with your grip, no massive instances of sudden movement on the shot and you seem to get through the white fine with enough power.
Tighten your simple screws and you'll find greater consistency... Easier said than done though

Thanks Mate... I already feel good about it I can at least shut my mind against wrong thoughts about missing due to bad technique all the time thanks a lot