The Les Edwards Snooker Challenge Thread

[cyberheater]

Back in the 80's I read somewhere that to go from being a good amateur to a professional required practising 8 hours a day for 5 years to get to the required standard and those guys were lucky to get a frame winning break in one visit.

It's a tough game alright. The hardest I've ever played. I think to go from a 20 break player to a 40 break player is a significant challenge and a very large step up. It will probably take a good couple of years of hard practise to get to that level Les.

[alabadi]

It's a tough game alright. The hardest I've ever played. I think to go from a 20 break player to a 40 break player is a significant challenge and a very large step up. It will probably take a good couple of years of hard practise to get to that level Les.

that's true, i have had a 48 break once, lots of 30s and tons of 20s, anyone who sees me play says i should be making 50s regular, however we all know its not that simple. i can make 50s and even a few 60s in solo practice playing frames against my self, however in a game its much harder.

i think until i can regularly make 50s -60s-70s in solo practice then i won't be able to make 40s in a game that often, yes i will have a good day and make the odd one, but to be consistent and confident that when i land among the balls i will make 40 -50 that's a long way away now.

i have been in Les's shoes too, the first time i picked up a cue i had a 22 break within a week and thought to myself "this is easy", boy was i wrong. it took me almost a year to better that. this is when i started to take it up seriously and wanted to do it right. i had a few coaching sessions and this in itself affecting my game, different stance different grip ..etc, etc.

then i improved a bit more had the odd 30 break, more coaching , two steps back and so on, you get the picture. every time we make adjustments to our technique we usually go backwards for a while until we get better, so we have to be patient until the change becomes and feels natural and part of our setup. thats not to say every change will work, i can tell a you a few that haven't, however, you have to give them time at least to see if they will.

it's no good lets say for arguments sake loosening the grip and then after a couple of practice sessions find out you can't pot a ball and think this isn't good and then quit and go back to your old style. in effect i think this is what is happening to Les. he's making lots of changes in a small amount of time and finding out its completely ruining his game, and he gets frustrated and feels he's going backwards when he wants to go forward so abandons the idea and tries the next best kept secret that someone posts on here.

maybe its his impatient nature that is really his downfall, he is just not giving any change a chance to bed in properly. he has been seeing coach Terry who has posted on here many things he has told him to go and practice, and then 3-4 weeks later seen some of his videos posted on here where he is not doing any of the things he has suggested. and that's how its been going for the last year or so.

change takes time , we are on a journey not a trip.

here are a few quotes for you about change

"A year from now you will wish you had started today".
— Karen Lamb

"Let go on things you can't change and focus on the things you can"

"People change for two reasons, they have learned a lot. Or they have been hurt many times."

and i like this one

"The only thing standing between you and your goal is the bull**** story you keep telling yourself as to why you can't achieve it".

[lbs]

a little lost over here.
so what challenge for which week? how about amending the top post or something?

[lesedwards]

WEEK FIVE: 15 reds clearance.

Right, the goal this week is to clear the 15 reds from the positions shown in the picture. You must carry on until all the balls are gone, and count how many times you miss. So, place the white anywhere, then try and clear. Every time you miss you must carry on from where the balls are until all the Reds are gone.

Obviously the ideal would be that you clear all 15 without missing at all. When you first start, you might clear, but miss 10 times. Obviously then, your targer would be to try and clear, but only miss 9 times.

Good luck everybody!


[ATTACH]17598[/ATTACH]

Here is week five challenge

[lesedwards]

Hi guys it has been a quiet day on this thread. Spent the afternoon playing 7 games with my son, finally I started to see shots in advance and really worked on a pre shot routine before I just got down and fired at whatever looked good. My high break was 22 but had piles of 18 to 22. Had four games where I had over 70 points accumulated by end of game. I will go at the challenge and continue to play frames against myself tomorrow.

[vmax4steve]

I would like to think he is miles better then me but he is not. The first time I met him was last year about this time when he called me and invited me to his place and he won the first two and I won the next 6. I was making great shots and shape was just simple. I think I ran a few in the 40's and a bunch of 30's. I was in a zone and where did it go i have no idea.

I'll bet he hasn't been wasting his time with simple straight ball potting exercises. I'll bet he's been playing and learning the game at the same time.
Look Les, we all have different stances, grips and cue actions, but we all played snooker, actual frames and matches to really learn the game. Some are factually better than others but not because of a certain grip or stance, so forget all that and just play.

90 pages of this and you aren't any further forward and you won't be until you forget everything you've been told about your cue action and just get on with playing and learning as you do so.

Look at the target, that's all you need to know in the beginning, and you are still right at the beginning.

[lesedwards]

Well down to one miss on week five challenge, also been playing match snooker against myself and have been hitting the 20's in every game and had a 32 this afternoon. I think with all the challenges Ted has set out that I have been doing they are paying off. What I have been doing is keeping two scores on my iPad My Snooker Stats and if I miss then I replace the shot and the other Les gets to play from there but this only applies on shots that I know I should of made, not some long bomber shot like Judd would attempt. If I get on here all down on myself tell me to smarten up. Look at Judd, Selby, Ronnie now they have something to be down about.

[lesedwards]

Well Ted I tried the challenge a few times today but my best is still one miss. Looking forward to my next challenge. I played a best of three against my other son yesterday which I use to play with regularly giving him 25. I won the first game by 30 so really by 55 then we played the second game and I gave him 40 and again beat him by a huge margin. His comment to me was, Dad you are playing really well. I had runs both games in the mud 20's plus one run of 37. Between your challenges and my match games against myself my game is really starting to happen. Looking forward to my next challenge. Oh and today playing my match I made the last red with a black made perfect position on the yellow and ran out to the pink which was stuck on the cushion. You guys where right you just start to see the shots and all these challenges are a blue print to playing better.

[tedisbill]

Really good stuff Les! Well done!

Nice break of 37 as well which is very good. Glad to see you're getting some enjoyment from the game now. You're still going to have bad days because we all do, but as long as you are enjoying it most of the time, that's all that matters.

[fractivsammy]

I've been a bit quiet lately. Here's a video of me doing the latest challenge though! This was my best result on video (I managed another 1 miss off video), although technically I did not complete the exercise!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACvm5FpzwCY

(also, upgraded my iPhone for better camera and new spiffy camera angle!)

[fractivsammy]

Should also mention... I definitely feel my positional play was NOT good in this one, ran out of position fairly quickly as you can see. I actually find this exercise really tough to visualize how I should be positioning the cue ball for some reason. I'm starting to figure out that playing for 2 or 3 reds instead of 1 where possible seems to be a good way to go about it, though.

Would really appreciate any tips about how to properly think through this exercise.

[lesedwards]

I've been a bit quiet lately. Here's a video of me doing the latest challenge though! This was my best result on video (I managed another 1 miss off video), although technically I did not complete the exercise!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACvm5FpzwCY

(also, upgraded my iPhone for better camera and new spiffy camera angle!)

Yes nice camera angle, very clear. Good stuff tough one on your last red to the side. But I noticed a great over the house red into the side near the beginning. I have been working hard in my spare time...LOL playing all angles to the middle pockets which is also starting to payoff. Nice to see you are still following along with challenges.

[tedisbill]

Hi fractiv. Good going, almost did it.

The thing to do is work out which are the main problem balls. The ones closest to the corners are easy, and the red in the middle of those is also easy. The red that you actually took last in your video is a main problem ball and the same with the one over the other side of the table. You need to be on those perfectly to make them easy. But that's why you play for them earlier, knowing that if you don't get on them, you'll have others. You actually landed on the one you missed perfectly to the corner when you had 3 reds remaining. It was a rest shot, but dead straight and once you pot that the clearance is much easier.

Work out the problem balls!

[lesedwards]

Should also mention... I definitely feel my positional play was NOT good in this one, ran out of position fairly quickly as you can see. I actually find this exercise really tough to visualize how I should be positioning the cue ball for some reason. I'm starting to figure out that playing for 2 or 3 reds instead of 1 where possible seems to be a good way to go about it, though.

Would really appreciate any tips about how to properly think through this exercise.

Well I am no pro but I have found the best way is to play the first into the pink corner on an angle then come off the cushion but stay low on the red in front of the black spot which I the play the next red into the black pocket with bottoms off the cushion up to the next section. Then I go from there. It is deffinatly a tough one.

[alabadi]

You actually landed on the one you missed perfectly to the corner when you had 3 reds remaining. It was a rest shot, but dead straight and once you pot that the clearance is much easier.

Work out the problem balls!

exactly what i thought , that was the opportunity to play that red. but nevertheless good potting, but position-ally could be better.

i have found this challenging too, i have manged a few 1 miss only , but it seems there is always one shot that causes some sort of trouble, which puts u in two minds what to do and you end up out of position.