A day with Chris Small

[Terry Davidson]

Borodaz:

The rates are available at 'chrissmallsnookercoaching.co.uk' plus I think there is contact info there

Terry

[chrissmall147]

Hi borodaz

Sorry ive been coaching all day and just seen your post just now. My link on here has disappeared but you can go to my website www.chrissmallsnookercoaching.co.uk and you will see my rates. Alternatively you can call me on 07707650567 and we can speak about your requirements.

All the best

Chris small

[itsnoteasy]

I have just come through a very scary two days , I got in on Wed, and I couldn't pot a thing, played the white from baulk ,ob around pink spot , potted three out of twenty, I knew there was something wrong(obviously) but I couldn't fix it, when I was cueing through, it felt like I was pulling my hand into myself and not finishing on the correct point on my chest(more inside ) I had to leave as it got so into my head ,I had tension in my arm and grip for the first time in a long time.
Got some time to go back today, and it was just as bad to start with, but I figured it out, my back hand was too far In front of my foot , and my bridge arm had straightened out again, so all in all I was to far forward, kind of like I was stretching on every shot, I changed it by keeping my hand near my hip , then when I did my cue sweep and got down my bend in my bridge arm came back ,my hand was over my foot, and I was much more over the shot, I later noticed I was dropping down too quickly, so slowed this down, once I had potted a few the grip and arm relaxed and it started to flow again, but that was very scary, I didn't know having the backhand too far in front of your foot made that big a difference.
Oh I also really concentrated on bringing my cue back straight and slow, and releasing it smoothly

[chrissmall147]

Hi itsnoteasy

All you have to do is remember your set up position I gave you with a slight bend in the bridge arm and stroke through every shot and your form will return. Also remember your lining up routine.

Cheers Chris small

[itsnoteasy]

Chris it's the first time ever I couldn't hit where I was aiming(more often than not), I was aiming correctly , but the cue wasn't going through right at all, because my arm had straightened out it had dragged me forward, which in turn made me wobbly , and it felt as is I was through the stroke and then still having some of the stroke to go, if that makes sense.

[Byrom]

Thanks for your advice Chris - nice of you to take the time

[chrissmall147]

Hi byrom

No problem mate, happy to help and hope u get on ok. You should feel comfortable this way though and maybe manage a few hours practice.

All the best

Chris small

[chrissmall147]

Hi everyone

Just to let you all know that my document will be out very soon for everyone to see. Kevin smithers is halfway through finishing it now. Taken a bit longer than I thought but never mind. It will be on my website when its finished. Www.chrissmallsnookercoaching.co.uk

Cheers everyone

[alabadi]

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

Hi Chris

I am interested in this concept, when you are saying keep the body central to the line of aim. I find the difficult part is selecting the line of aim, I just try to keep looking at the contact point on BOB and hope that my body will be in the correct position as I get down.

I mean for any shot less than 1/2 ball the line of aim is outside the OB, so how can one be sure where the line of aim is? and when you say keep the line going through the nose and the center of the body how can one be so sure they are very centeral the line is probably a mm width (hypothetically speaking) compared to the body or nose which is much wider.

I am convinced this is why I am not progressing, I feel that when I am on the correct line I pot more often than not, because I don't change how I play the shot, I always try and keep everything the same, so the only variable especially when I am up close to the OB is the alignment.

I am still trying to get this right and have tried numerous techniques however I haven't found any consistency although I am cueing and playing much better.

Alabbadi

[chrissmall147]

Hi alabadi

You cant be sure you are definitely on the line of aim but you can improve your judgement by practicing it more and more. Even top pro's still miss occasionally so they can still select the wrong line of aim. If you can imagine standing behind a shot get the eyes fixed on exact contact point of ob and now imagine a sheet of glass running through a straight line from the contact point of ob right through to centre of the body and this is you bang on line. It takes a lot of practice but this is how I learned to select my line of aim. Now if u have selected correct line of aim you now have to keep that line of aim whilst walking into the shot and dropping down into the shot. If this is done correctly then realistically you should be able to address cb have your backswing without any cue action and deliver the cue as you should be in line to pot the ball. This is a aiming test I do with some of my clients from time to time.

Cheers Chris small

[alabadi]

Hi alabadi

You cant be sure you are definitely on the line of aim but you can improve your judgement by practicing it more and more. Even top pro's still miss occasionally so they can still select the wrong line of aim. If you can imagine standing behind a shot get the eyes fixed on exact contact point of ob and now imagine a sheet of glass running through a straight line from the contact point of ob right through to centre of the body and this is you bang on line. It takes a lot of practice but this is how I learned to select my line of aim. Now if u have selected correct line of aim you now have to keep that line of aim whilst walking into the shot and dropping down into the shot. If this is done correctly then realistically you should be able to address cb have your backswing without any cue action and deliver the cue as you should be in line to pot the ball. This is a aiming test I do with some of my clients from time to time.
Cheers Chris small

Thanks Chris , but forgive my ignorance , if i have a line from the contact point on the OB to the center of my body/nose and i am standing directly behind the white wouldn't i hit thick.

i have always thought the only time to line up center white to contact point is on dead straight shots

[Terry Davidson]

alabadi:

Although I know you are asking Chris this particular question has been asked many times on here. When you consider you are attempting to get two spheres to make contact at a precise point you have to realize you are getting the LEADING EDGE of the cueball to contact BOB and not the centre of the cueball. I know it's obvious when you think about it however it seems a lot of people have a very difficult time grasping two separate concepts regarding aiming. They are:

1. Except for a straight-in pot there will always be an 'offset' between BOB and the line of aim of the cue. Because this is two spheres the specific number of offsets as measured by distance or angle is INFINITE (if you get down to the smallest increments).

2. There is absolutely NO WAY a player can consciously calculate precisely just how much offset there is for any particular shot and every player has to realize the brain will unconsciously (and very accurately) calculate the amount of offset which will allow him to pot most balls, but occasionally a shot will come up which the player may not be familiar with or has not practiced a lot and he may calculate a slightly wrong potting offset. Experience will eventually correct that.

In snooker we are not dealing with absolute precision although a lot of us would like to be able to accomplish that it's just impossible when dealing with both a human being with all their faults and also the friction of the cloths, roll of the table, slightly different diameters of the balls, different weights of the balls, etc. etc. There would be just too many variables to calculate precisely and you would need some kind of robot with a large processor to take account of all of those variables plus calculate the precise offset and then deliver the cue absolutely straight.

On the other hand, somehow it is possible to play snooker to a very high standard as proven by all the great players out there and somehow they are able to calculate to the precision needed to pot balls. The answer is the super computer inside your head, which can handle all those variables and as a bonus it normally does it unconsciously.

My advice to you would be to take Chris' advice and line up the centre of your body (and your nose if you can) and accept the fact that it may not be accurate down to below 1mm but it will be accurate enough to get your cue on the correct line of aim as your brain will work that out automatically for you, so in other words 'don't sweat the little things' and let things flow.

Of course training your brain to accomplish all of this will take tons of dedicated practice, but what the hell, it's enjoyable most times anyway?

(By the way, there are only 2 definite aiming points where you have an actual target and that is straight-in pots but also half-ball pots where you aim at the edge of the object ball - but then the question is how do you determine a pot is EXACTLY half-ball, perhaps it's actually 17/32" rather than 16/32")?

Terry

[alabadi]

alabadi:

Although I know you are asking Chris this particular question has been asked many times on here. When you consider you are attempting to get two spheres to make contact at a precise point you have to realize you are getting the LEADING EDGE of the cueball to contact BOB and not the centre of the cueball. I know it's obvious when you think about it however it seems a lot of people have a very difficult time grasping two separate concepts regarding aiming. They are:

1. Except for a straight-in pot there will always be an 'offset' between BOB and the line of aim of the cue. Because this is two spheres the specific number of offsets as measured by distance or angle is INFINITE (if you get down to the smallest increments).

2. There is absolutely NO WAY a player can consciously calculate precisely just how much offset there is for any particular shot and every player has to realize the brain will unconsciously (and very accurately) calculate the amount of offset which will allow him to pot most balls, but occasionally a shot will come up which the player may not be familiar with or has not practiced a lot and he may calculate a slightly wrong potting offset. Experience will eventually correct that.

In snooker we are not dealing with absolute precision although a lot of us would like to be able to accomplish that it's just impossible when dealing with both a human being with all their faults and also the friction of the cloths, roll of the table, slightly different diameters of the balls, different weights of the balls, etc. etc. There would be just too many variables to calculate precisely and you would need some kind of robot with a large processor to take account of all of those variables plus calculate the precise offset and then deliver the cue absolutely straight.

On the other hand, somehow it is possible to play snooker to a very high standard as proven by all the great players out there and somehow they are able to calculate to the precision needed to pot balls. The answer is the super computer inside your head, which can handle all those variables and as a bonus it normally does it unconsciously.

My advice to you would be to take Chris' advice and line up the centre of your body (and your nose if you can) and accept the fact that it may not be accurate down to below 1mm but it will be accurate enough to get your cue on the correct line of aim as your brain will work that out automatically for you, so in other words 'don't sweat the little things' and let things flow.

Of course training your brain to accomplish all of this will take tons of dedicated practice, but what the hell, it's enjoyable most times anyway?

(By the way, there are only 2 definite aiming points where you have an actual target and that is straight-in pots but also half-ball pots where you aim at the edge of the object ball - but then the question is how do you determine a pot is EXACTLY half-ball, perhaps it's actually 17/32" rather than 16/32")?

Terry

Terry I fully understand everything you said, what I needed Chris to explain is this lining up the center of the body technique.

what I gathered from his explanation was standing behind the cueball and looking at the contact point on BOB, and lining this up with the centre of the body through the nose if I was to drop straight down on that line and keeping the cue lined up to this imaginary line, surely I would be pointing the cue at the contact point, and as you said this can only happen on dead straight shots.

this is why I asked for the clarification, because either I am reading it wrong or Chris explained it wrong. I do think there is something in this lining everything to the centre of the body as I have been having success using some form of it but differently to how Chris explained it.

so I wanted to understand how a pro as he is used it.

Alabbadi

[chrissmall147]

Hi alibaddi

I will get back to u shortly im having a bit of a nightmare in the household at the mo 3 people down with sickness bug

Cheers Chris small

[alabadi]

Hi alibaddi

I will get back to u shortly im having a bit of a nightmare in the household at the mo 3 people down with sickness bug

Cheers Chris small

no problem Chris , appreciated

Alabbadi