A new players diary

[Mat91]

Hello,

for everyone who hasn't read my introduction,
my name is Mathias, I'm 22 years old and life in Germany.
I played Snooker when I was 14 but had a long break until now. Last week I took the jump into the cold water and started playing in my old club again.

I want this thread to be my progress diary, in which you and I can see whether there is a visible development in my play or there is not Maybe this is also helpful for other people starting to play the game. One can always learn from others mistakes. So this is not a traditional 'I got a question concerning my stance/grip/whatever' thread. But I'm sure there will be loads of questions along the way

So to begin with, I guess a snapshot of my current playing abilities is a good start.

Well there isn't much to be honest ^^
But here are the things which work quite good.


My stance feels natural and good for me, my coach calls it 'modern stance' and is happy with it.
My grip is fine, I have no problems with it so far and got no critiques on it.
I found my left eye to be the dominant one and when estimating potting angles, 7 out of 10 balls fall into the pocket, with a tendency to 8 of 10.
The process of cueing runs quite smoothly, I do some swings and deliver the cue through the white.


My current weaknesses are:

Hitting the white ball straight in the center, when using
a higher speed. I seem to hit it with a bit of side spin.
Lifting the cue holding arm a bit, so that the cue is often not parallel to the table. This makes my attempts of adding screw to the shot often worthless.
Recognizing the right pace to pot the ball and get positon on the next one.
Ball physics, how to hit the cue ball, to pot and get position.


Well that's where I am now

So the next step for me is to set goals, I want to reach short term (during the next month) and long term ( until christmas 2014).

First my longterm goals:
Shooting breaks of 30 points regularly. Maybe a large goal, but I am confident to make it

Short term May-June:
Lower my cue arm until it is parallel to the table all the time.
Hitting the ball straight on higher paces.

I hope through walking step by step I can improve my game without setting myself to much under pressure.

For the next month I plan to train at least 3 times a weak for 4 hours.

So that's all for today I hope some of you will acompany me on this long journey. If you have any tips on how I should write the diary, so that you can follow me easy and see the progress, suitable training exercises, or whatever please let me know

Thanks for reading and have a nice evening!

Best wishes
Mathias

[cyberheater]

Sounds good. Can you throw up a video of you potting some balls?

[j6uk]

yeah stick a little video of you playing mat and we'll see what we can do for you. enjoy tsf

[biffer]

I will be reading and waiting for the next instalment. good luck

[itsnoteasy]

Best of luck Mat on your journey Into the greatest game ever.
Are you considering coaching, or just going to try it out yourself for a bit? Some coaching now before you develop bad habits could give you a great head start with the game, it could save you months if not years of trial and error.

[Mat91]

Thanks for your feedback guys

@cyberheater andj6uk:
I will take my camera with me next time and ask somebody to film me, than I can upload it and you guys can make youselfs an image of my play

@biffer: Thanks for following and the good wishes

@itsnoteasy: We got coaches in our club, two times a week I'm going to work with them and the rest I am practicing alone and with other members I'm really keen in receiving some quality coaching, as I want to learn it right from the beginning! Thanks for your advice

[itsnoteasy]

That sounds ideal.

[Mat91]

Good morning,

yesterday I started training again, after a nasty cold has been with me through the last few days.

My coach now finaly is happy with my cue arm now beeing parallel to the table. So after 20 minutes of cueing practice (white ball from brown to black spot and back), he gave me an exercise to practice positional play.
Potting the blue out of different angles with back- and top spin and a stop ball(do you called it like this?) the target was to hit the ball on the brown spot with stop balls, a tendency to the yellow ball with some top spin and a tendency to the green ball with back spin. I was not good at potting balls yesterday but got position most of the time

Today I will go on and hopefully think about taking a video.

Have a nice and hopefully more sunny day than we have here

[DeanH]

"and a stop ball(do you called it like this?) "
a stun shot

[Mat91]

Ah okay
thanks for helping me out Dean!

[biffer]

Looking forward to watching the vid mate, hope the practice goes well tonight. Oh and the weather here today was fantastic.

[Mat91]

Hi guys,

I'm sorry that I let you down for so long and didn't report.
The last year was extremely packed and busy, but that's no excuse.

So what did happen from last year untill now?

Well my potting skills became a little better. I find it a bit easier to judge
the right potting angle.
My cue action did improve quite a bit tho. Back- and Topspin work just fine,
also a Stump is working fine

Positional wise I can read a game much easier, than a year ago.
All in all I like the improvements I've done.

But my highest break still is in the low 30s. I don't complain tho.
Some things take longer to work out than others. And maybe I give myself
a little to much pressure.
This time of the year I have the chance to train 5 days a week for 4 hours, so
I hope that will bring me near the desired 50 Breaks

Thanks for listening and have a nice weekend everybody!

Best wishes
Mat

[biffer]

Hey Mat, glad you have improved at the game. Keep your head up and practice hard, the rewards will come. Have you had a chance to receive any coaching. Also if there are any good players up your club. That's another great way to learn, it may seem like you are picking out balls but you will gain experience playing against those kind of players

[Mat91]

Hi biffer

thanks for your answer!
I will certainly do so. I find it very relaxing to play and
find a lot of fun in discovering the tactical part of the game.

The biggest problem during the last year was, that I didn't recognized how
bad my eyes have become. So I got new glasses and a think called "Spoony".
That works quite nicely and now I actually can see what I'm aiming for

No so far I didn't get any other coaching than the one of our own clubs coaches.
But to be frankly I got in touch woth some of the coaches here in Germany and not one
convinced me with the way they work.

I guess this shows, that Snooker isn't quite up to your guys standart.
When I come back to Sheffield next year, I plan to visit the Star Academy for some lessons.
If that's a good thing, I try to get more training in the UK.
I'm there quite often anyway so maybe thats an option for the future.

I do enjoy to play against the other players here a lot.
I honestly don't often win, but I play for the fun of the game,
not for the mere winning. Our headcoach asked me this January if
I might want to play in one of our league teams, as I have become much better.

Well I denied. I don't know but I don't feel I'm quite up to that standart just of now.

Best wishes
Mat

[Mat91]

Good evening guys


Tomorrow will be a loooong training session for me, that streches about
6 1/2 hours.

So I thought I'm writing down what I want to do in practice and what
my achievement wishes are. Maybe you have some tips for me ?


Well the first thing is I want to split the practice time in 3 blocks.

First block 1.30h

1. Straight cueing to warm up
Playing the white off the brown spot towards the black cushion
and let it hit the cue tip again.
10 tries aim 6/10

2. Playing a stun correctly
The blue is on it's spot, the white ball a couple of inches to the left or right.
Blue is to be potted without the cue ball moving amy farther then the contact point
with the blue.
10 tries aim 7/10

2.1 Varying the potting angles
10 tries aim 5/10

3. Playing the screw shot right
The black is on it's spot, the cue ball a couple of inches behind the black
(straight line to the pocket).
Potting the black and screw back the cue ball 4 ball widths long.
10 tries aim 5/10

3.1 Potting the black out of different angles using a screw shot
The white has to reach a sheet of paper placed depending on the angle of the shot.
10 tries aim 3/10


4. Potting the blue with top
Blue is on it's spot white some inches left or right of the blue.
Potting the blue and let the white follow into the pocket.
10 tries aim 7/10

4.1 Potting the blue with top out of different angles.
tries 10 aim 5/10

30m break to relax and analyze the occured problems

Second block 1.30h


1. Playing "21"
Each pocket is covered by 3 balls. Black, pink and blue are on their spots.
Making a break as high is possible.
This is to train the different types off shots and start to think about
the right position.
10 tries aim Break of 35 points

2 Playing red and black continuously
Black is on the spot, 6 reds are placed all over the place between the black
cushion and the pink spot.
Potting a red followed by the black until the table is cleared.
10 tries aim 24 Break


Half an hour break, same procedure as before

Third block 2h

1. The break off
All balls are in place.
The cueball has to hit the pack and travel to the bulk cushion.
10 tries aim 7/10

2. Escaping from a snooker using a cushion shot
The white is covered by a red ball so that it can't hit the yellow ball directly.
Playing the shot using a cushion to hit the pink.
10 tries aim 3/10

3. Playing a frame
Playing as damn good as you possibly can
1 try aim best game I can offer


So that is the plan
I do think structure is the key point for me having fun during
practice. Do you think that all sounds possible and reasonable?
Is there something not as useful, as I might think?
The first and seccond block are routines I do every other week.
So I think that is contributing to my confidence towards the harder practices
at the end of the second and during the third block.

I'd be delighted to hear some opinions and get as many valuable tips as possible.

My ultimate aim for this year is to reach my first 50 break

Cheers
Mat