A day with Chris Small

[ste bed]

I don't get to play other folk much, but today one of the lads came in who's quite good so we had a few frames.First frame 19,27,29, so a decent start, second frame, 34,39 the 39 should have been much more but still good for me, third frame I couldn't pot a thing I was cueing across the ball for some reason , got thumped, so next frame just concentrated on technique, lost the frame but got my game back a bit,fifth frame another 39 then I was on 34 and the lad said I'm off to the toilet just carry on and the frames over when you miss I potted a red and a pink, then missed a dolly of a red on 41 he wasn't back so I stuck it in the bag and cleared to the blue and he came back and asked what I was on 55 I said but I have missed once lol,took the blue pink and black for a 73 that's how close it was to a decent break. Next frame I was on 40 exactly had a brown which I could have stunned in and left a 3/4 table shot but screwed it back to come off side Cush and get closer to the reds and screwed into the middle bag grrrrrrr, I lost that frame the lad played really well and deserved it, last frame all to play for, and again I was on34 had three reds left I'm on the pink into the middle not quite right, an easy pot but just not right for easy position, so after a long discussion (shouldn't have done it) I played my pink ,potted it but ended up betwixted and between and missed the next red with the rest, I was very very close to a decent break today, and it was good to see my practice has payed off a bit, one day I will get a fifty, fingers crossed.
Does anyone have a tip for opening the pack I must have tried umpteen times today and had very limited success

So in just a few frames youhad a 19, 27,29,34,39,39,41and two 40 breaks and you have never had a 50 break god I love this forum. As
For a tip for opening the pack off the blue it pretty straight forward but off the black coming off the bottom cusion its hard to get a good split
Unless you have steel block cusions. Its hard to replicate some of the shots that they do on tv you just can't get the bounce off the cusions
The same.

[itsnoteasy]

Nope never had a fifty in a game , I have had quite a few tons on the line up, and loads of seventies, eighties and a few nineties(a bit estimated as I just pot and don't count)with just the reds scattered on the table in solo practice, I hardly ever play anyone I would guess 99.9 percent of my snooker is solo practice, I think I played someone six to eight weeks ago , and before that last year I think lol.(not including yesterday).I played very well yesterday, well I would say very consistent , not better than I have done in the past but made much more of most chances.
Just looked back last person I played at snooker was on 18th of August, so eight weeks ago, before that would not have been last year but the end of the snooker league in March (only a guess it was my first season as I only started playing last July).

[rovnos]

Thanks for the explanation Terry. My current set-up is pretty much the same already. I stand straight in front of the line of aim than plant my foot on that line then place my bent leg foot parallel to the line. I also tried the putting the cue on the line of aim and then going down to the cue myself and also had good results.

[fred.england]

I've just spent the last hour or so reading through this entire thread...some absolutely brilliant questions and answers. Thanks guys.

[chrissmall147]

Hi itsnoteasy

You will be banging in bigger breaks soon mate when you learn to control the cue ball a bit better. As ive said before your technique is good and you can pot balls no problem so the next challenge for you is getting the cb under control. My prediction is in 2 or 3 months you will be hitting 50s and 60s no problem with a good bit of table time though.

Cheers Chris small

[chrissmall147]

Hi rovnos

Stand behind the shot on the line of aim with feet close together and the body in a nice central position. Then when you walk in to the shot without thinking your heal will probably be on the line of aim anyway so give it a try and see how you get on. Imo it is more important to have the body central to the shot and the nose on line than worrying about the right foot being in an exact position. As ive said before on previous threads I won the LG CUP with my right foot a mile outside the line of aim because of my back so I was lining everything up with the body and concentrating on keeping that line and forgetting all about the feet. This is how I teach now and noticed that coach Alan Trigg does the same. So what im basically saying is concentrate on the body and nose position more and if your right foot is an inch or 2 outside the line of aim then dont worry about it. I hope this helps you out a bit mate.

All the best Chris small

[itsnoteasy]

Thanks Chris, I struggle to get in as much as I would like this time of year, it hasn't seemed to affect me yet but in another couple of months it might catch me out, went in today and it wasn't bad, but could have been more consistent , I started mucking around instead of hard practice, so I put the fifteen reds up done it once, and decided to see how fast I could do it(I don't know why , I know it's ridiculous ,I think it started off by seeing if I was getting down online like the Alan Trigg video, down check aim ,pot)after many failed attempts I managed it in three mins, which I was well chuffed with, I don't know what this proves if anything but I enjoyed trying it lol.
I don't know much really, but this centre line aiming hasn't half helped my game, I really really try hard with this, I don't ignore the feet but as long as I'm solid and nothing is in the way I'm happy with my stance.

[itsnoteasy]

I've just spent the last hour or so reading through this entire thread...some absolutely brilliant questions and answers. Thanks guys.

Fred , we are very lucky to have someone like Chris and others who are willing to give their time and knowledge up for free on here, I for one appreciate it a lot.

[rovnos]

Thanks for taking the time to reply Chris. This really clears up what you said in an earlier post. It's also slightly different to how Terry explain so im sure he'll find your post interesting too !. The enthusiasm for this approach shown by itsnoteasy and the improvement he seems to be quickly gaining from it means i will definitely be giving it a go. I don't get to play as often as i would like so i won't expect miracles and will give it time too. Looking forward to trying it tomorrow !

Thanks for your time and help.

[Terry Davidson]

rovnos:

To make it clear to my students I tell them to stand behind the shot and imagine a cue sticking straight out their belly button and then get their nose/eyes on the line of aim and keep the eyes on the object ball and drop the head straight down. This is very similar to what Chris is saying and I do this myself as part of my pre-shot routine and I don't consciously try and place the straight leg foot directly under the grip hand on the line of aim however it always ends up right there.

This is what I did today with Les Edwards and he noticed an immediate improvement in potting...now if I can just get him to get that grip sorted out I think Les will see a lot of improvement.

Terry

[itsnoteasy]

the few things i could say to you Rovnos are, really really concentrate on the routine, every part of it is as important as any other part, when my form goes,(hell not just form every miss) it can normally be traced back to me not doing just one of the things i have to, be it saying to myself this is a halfball pot before getting inline with the ob, right through to the count at the end(although i dont have to count now) even if my feet are apart before the walk in, it can affect the shot as it affects my weight shift on the walk in, and throws me offline .The best thing i could tell you is go and see Chris, if you cant, watch the Alan Trigg video on here(somewhere) it gives the basics of the aiming and dropping down onto the line that Chris teaches. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8voW0HM6qs i hope this is the link to it on youtube.

[rovnos]

Thanks for the advice itsnoteasy. I will give it my best but as I've said, I don't get to play to often. I will however post an udate in a few weeks to share my thoughts.
Cheers.

[itsnoteasy]

It's very very hard, in the video AT calls the young lad he's with a very good standard, but you watch his head on both shots it moves from side to side a lot , on the way into the shot, then watch AT his head is dropped straight down. I do believe this wavering off the line causes a lot of misses, along with movement during the shot. Nic Barrow posted a video of him with a head cam on while playing, he had no lateral head movement at all it's quite remarkable, this is worth a look just to see what we are trying to achieve .

[steveflanuk]

Hi rovnos

Stand behind the shot on the line of aim with feet close together and the body in a nice central position. Then when you walk in to the shot without thinking your heal will probably be on the line of aim anyway so give it a try and see how you get on. Imo it is more important to have the body central to the shot and the nose on line than worrying about the right foot being in an exact position. As ive said before on previous threads I won the LG CUP with my right foot a mile outside the line of aim because of my back so I was lining everything up with the body and concentrating on keeping that line and forgetting all about the feet. This is how I teach now and noticed that coach Alan Trigg does the same. So what im basically saying is concentrate on the body and nose position more and if your right foot is an inch or 2 outside the line of aim then dont worry about it. I hope this helps you out a bit mate.

All the best Chris small

I can agree on this one. Like others I've been trying out the things mentioned in this thread and following the pre-shot methods advised by Chris (and the others) and one thing I have noticed is that my right leg is basically on line with the shot and my left foot is automatically placing itself on a parallel line with the shot as well - all without having to think about it - so I wouldn't worry too much about the feet placement. Thanks to everyone for the tips - they are very much appreciated.

[Borodaz]

Sorry to ask this here but Chris if you see this can u pm me your prices etc as I am interested in some coaching, I'm currently in the north east England and would be interested to stop overnight somewere local for two days coaching