A day with Chris Small

[mythman69]

yep and i am 100 miles north and several hundred meters up!

Geez, do you see Santa often?

[Neil Taperell]

He is Santa

[ADR147]

He is Santa

ho ho ho !!!!!!

[itsnoteasy]

14 degrees, shorts on vest off, suntan lotion on, that's our summer.

[chrissmall147]

hi jim,

how's the practice going mate, good i hope

cheers chris

[itsnoteasy]

Really concentrating on my aiming Chris, and locking onto that point on the object ball to hit(thought i did before, but i wasnt)leading into the line with my nose and really concentrating.As you know I cue quite straight but couldn't pick the line of aim to save myself. I have been much much better, the only time I miss or am not rattling the bag, is if I throw in my quick one.(forgetting the back pause technique) have just been practicing this along with cueing, as I felt these were the main problems, but when it all comes together and I do everything you showed me, I know I have potted the ball, before I have hit it , as it just all feels right, if that makes sense.
I would say my aiming has improved over fifty percent, easily, not hard I know from the low base it started from, but a Great Leap Forward for me, as its only been a few days.
Also when I played more than an hour or two my arm would be a bit sore, now three hours no prob, sorting that out has helped a lot ,just that arm being too straight and the weight being slightly on the outside, now rock solid, it even feels different when I strike the ball(the feeling through the cue)
Remembered something else that really helps, and that's the ,one, two, three, it keeps me stationary and helps my sighting and delivery be smoother.

[Terry Davidson]

chrissmall:

I have a question for you which has been the bane of my existence for my own technique. I have never had a rear pause and although I know there are some good players who don't have one (Mark Allen, Peter Ebdon for example) but I have always felt a rear pause would help me to drive through the cueball with more consistency.

So during my training with Nic and also Terry/Wayne Griffiths and asking Jim Donnelley and a lot of other coaches I have yet to come across a training technique which would help me naturally adopt a rear pause. Nic's advice was to count 1-2-3 at the end of my backswing, Jim said to get rid of the front pause (which I think is just as important as the rear pause) and the other coaches mostly advised counting like Nic recommended.

The best advice I got was from Steve Davis who told me to watch the ferrule come back and then at the end of the backswing move my eyes to the object ball, which would take a second or two and thus become a natural rear pause. As I've been playing real crap for the past year or so I am now trying out Steve's advice although I just started yesterday so I can't evaluate it as yet.

Would you have any advice to a player who has played over 40 years (on and off) without a rear pause on how to develop one at this late stage?

Terry

[chrissmall147]

hi Terry,

I think the rear pause is a must and very important. Every professional does it with the exception of Ebdon and Allen as you said. Through my experience of my career the rear pause helped me massively in five ways, 1. My timing of the shot. 2. Controlled delivery. 3. Straight delivery. 4. My follow through. 5. This was the most important one. It got me drilling right through the cue ball. Without all of this I would never have got to where I did in the game. Terry keep your front pause as this is very important as well as the rear pause. My advice is that counting 1 2 3 is too long and is verging on the McManus rear pause which IMO is far too long and would have caused havoc with my timing of the shot. If I was struggling a bit with form my routine was counting 1 2 in my head at a medium pace then a controlled delivery and found that I got my timing right back again. If I was playing well then all this was happening without me having to think about it, but went back to this practise if I was struggling a bit. So my advice Terry is set up long pots ie half ball and three quarter ball pots and they will get you drilling through the cue ball and play all shots with follow through. Complete your backswing, then count 1 2 at medium pace and then a controlled delivery and I think this will help you massively. My routine was to transfer my eyes to contact point on OB half way through my backswing, but I think you will benefit more from waiting until you have completed the backswing then count 1 2 medium pace and then control delivery. This is just so as you are not locked on the OB for too long, plus I think your timing will be better waiting until you have completed the backswing, you could try both ways Terry and go with the way you feel most comfortable.

Quick recap Terry

1 Complete your backswing
2 Then count 1 2 at medium pace
3 Then controlled delivery

You choose whether you prefer to transfer your eyes to contact point on the OB half way through backswing or when backswing is complete, and this is the method I think will help you most.

All the best mate, and good luck

Cheers

Chris Small

[chrissmall147]

Thats great jim good to hear mate just keep working hard on the things ur doing and u cant go wrong. Keep it up and keep me posted please cheers

Chris

[Terry Davidson]

Thanks Chris for the help on the rear pause. I shall try this method during practice today.

I have found though that watching the ferrule come back and then switching the eyes does give me a natural rear pause however it causes me to want to 'rush' the shot and I subsequently screw up the shot, usually positional side.

If I follow Nic's advice (without actually counting in my head) and keep the eyes on the cueball until either at the rear pause or just before or after the rear pause I tend not to rush the shot. I believe since I'm a bit older it probably takes me a little more time to focus my eyes on the object ball so I may settle for switching to the OB just before the rear pause and try your 1-2 count to see if that helps.

Where the big problem is this change in eye rhythm of course changes my natural timing and I have to overcome that problem. Once I master this new timing and eye rhythm my next project is to increase the length of my backswing as it was always too short.

I agree with you that the rear pause does help the player to drive and accelerate through the cueball much more consistently.

Terry

[throtts]

Thanks Chris for the help on the rear pause. I shall try this method during practice today.

I have found though that watching the ferrule come back and then switching the eyes does give me a natural rear pause however it causes me to want to 'rush' the shot and I subsequently screw up the shot, usually positional side.

If I follow Nic's advice (without actually counting in my head) and keep the eyes on the cueball until either at the rear pause or just before or after the rear pause I tend not to rush the shot. I believe since I'm a bit older it probably takes me a little more time to focus my eyes on the object ball so I may settle for switching to the OB just before the rear pause and try your 1-2 count to see if that helps.

Where the big problem is this change in eye rhythm of course changes my natural timing and I have to overcome that problem. Once I master this new timing and eye rhythm my next project is to increase the length of my backswing as it was always too short.

I agree with you that the rear pause does help the player to drive and accelerate through the cueball much more consistently.

Terry

I pretty much fixate on the OB when down on the shot. On going down I first check where my tip is on the CB and then look at the OB for the rest of the time till the end of the shot. If your second thinking anything though, this is when it all goes BADLY wrong and even more so if you have a rear pause.

[j6uk]

If you are watching your cue come back in a straight line, when switching the eyes back to the ob, the back pause
would be naturally in tandem as the focusing on ob. The rest is timing.. And I found, if you put your hands up and admit you don't know wtf your doing, this game really becomes so much more rewarding in its simplicity

[itsnoteasy]

I pretty much fixate on the OB when down on the shot. On going down I first check where my tip is on the CB and then look at the OB for the rest of the time till the end of the shot. If your second thinking anything though, this is when it all goes BADLY wrong and even more so if you have a rear pause.

Throtts can I ask how old you are, as I used to play exactly like this, in fact if I tried switching between cue ball and object ball I either got all confused or felt a bit sea sick, but recently I forced myself to change as I felt I was wandering with my eyes because I was looking at the object ball too long, and as I'm at the age where eyesight naturally deteriorates I had to change.( I know it's only been a year but it seems to get worse by the day) .

[throtts]

Throtts can I ask how old you are, as I used to play exactly like this, in fact if I tried switching between cue ball and object ball I either got all confused or felt a bit sea sick, but recently I forced myself to change as I felt I was wandering with my eyes because I was looking at the object ball too long, and as I'm at the age where eyesight naturally deteriorates I had to change.( I know it's only been a year but it seems to get worse by the day) .

Of course, I am 47 yrs old.

When I go down to the cue ball I have quite an exaggerated front pause and while doing this I am checking that I am confident that I am on the correct line, then i do just a couple of small feathers, then my rear pause and strike. Yes throughout that I have looked at the contact point of the object ball. I just then need to concentrate on the weight of the shot that is needed.

[ADR147]

going to bring a few friends from the local pool league through to see you after the summer mate. will call you to sort out a suitable date and i will shout everyone dinner!