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Not been on for a while coz I threw my laptop up the office wall a week or two ago... Let's see how long the new one lasts...
Received over half a dozen PM's asking my opinion on the place, so I figured I would start a thread as I am certainly an advocate of transparency.
So, booked Luke in for the week beginning 17th August (Mon-Fri) with accommodation for the princely sum of £600.
http://www.starsnookeracademy.com/pa...r-schools.html
On the Sunday before, Luke (and myself admittedly) was chomping at the bit to get up to the Academy to get ourselves settled in. Easy enough to find at the back of some sort of council estate, ample parking and in we go with cues in tow...
Introduce ourselves and are taken straight into the main room... Impressive place... 8 Star tables with as much room as you could ever need to concentrate and enjoy a game of snooker...
You have already heard my account of that day so I won't repeat myself... Anyway, 18:00 rolls around and we're off to the accommodation.
This is where I start to feel a little uneasy about the week... The housing was a touch dilapidated to be honest... a cold fronted building with around 8 rooms on each floor, shared toilet and showers and communal living area/kitchen... Nothing wrong with this in truth but I was disappointed, I am a touch snobbish though... Luke was thrilled at being left alone.
I then had 15 minutes of almost getting angry with the guy who appeared to be in charge if the dorm... It wasn't his fault, bless him. But when you pay for something, the least you expect is to be able to understand what it is you are actually getting. This chap, Sergei... did not have the greatest control of English (his English was better than my Latvian though) and it sounded for all the life of me that on Wednesday and Thursday, Luke would be staying in the dorms without any adults there overnight... which is of course a ludicrous thought...
Eventually after raising my voice and almost deciding to give up and check Luke and I into a hotel, staying the week myself, I am able to get the mobile number of Keith, the guy in charge... Within 15 seconds of speaking to him, my fears are gone and I am happy to leave my son there... Still, I don't think it's much to ask for this to have had someone there who could understand what I was asking them..? After all, this is my baby boy we're talking about, my greatest treasure.
Anyway, I fly home... That A road between Sheffield and Chesterfield is class, I was racing some motorbike in my car at unholy speeds and it was great fun... check it out
Tuesday comes around and I call the Academy to see how Luke's getting on... They tell me that he's been unable to concentrate fully and seems a bit tired. Apparently he went to the shop and they allowed him to buy far too much fizzy drink and Luke was clever enough to lie to them and say this was allowed... I hit the roof and Luke apologised. Again, I was a touch disappointed with the care he was in... Luke's 10, he shouldn't be able to pull the wool over adult eyes.
Friday around noon, I drive up to pick Luke up. I'm excited to see how much he has learned and I can't wait to get there.
Arrive around 2... Luke in the main room for Luke, no sign of him... Noone in the office, so I have a wander to the left and the other tables. I find Luke in a room with 2 tables and 3 other boys. I sit down to watch.
I look at Luke and he comes over and gives me a cuddle... I can tell that he's picked up weight in the week... so I'm on edge from that... I stifle my usual fiery self and sit down... Luke and this boy, who I recognise from the first day are playing a game of their own invention... Blacks off the spot from ball in the D, first to 18... I am disgusted by what I see...
They are literally trying to smash the black around the table in an attempt to fluke it... after about 8 or 9 rounds of this, I stop them and instruct them on what options you have from the respot... Then I ask myself, Haven't any of the Grade A coaches taught you this shot if it's a game you've been playing all week?
Then I watch this kid Luke's playing... He's not even gripping the cue correctly, his thumb is out and pointing to the side and he's lurching from a side on stance every time he hits the ball... Two obvious flaws which I could have righted in him within 20 minutes of talking to him...
I watch Luke a touch more critically... He's gone backwards... He's cueing like he's trying to saw his thumb off and he's not even getting on the line of aim... I ask him why he's doing that. He tells me because he has to get his leg there and straight which is utter ****ing nonsense... He's not tall enough to employ that stance without the elbow throwing the cue off line...
My heart sinks a touch... Seems the coach who has been teaching him knows nothing about how to compensate for slight changes in the technique and as a result had ruined Luke's timing... I asked him what his highest break for the week was... 19... ****ing 19! Luke would top that every 4 or 5 frames playing against a player like me... So to think that he hadn't bested that against kids his own age in a week tells me that they have had a lot of unsupervised play...
Just as this happens... One of the boys on the next table, a lad of about 14.... His tip falls off... The boys laugh "that's the fourth time this week, hahaha"
Anger rises in me... you mean to tell me, that no one in the place knows how to put a tip on for a young lad? How the **** are you supposed to teach them anything worthwhile if they haven't even got their equipment in order? It gets worse... The lad sprints off down toward the office... Right past some lad who's down to play a shot on the single table set up... How was that not the FIRST thing explained to a group of kids? But then again... I had not seen any other adult in the 'kiddies room' since I arrived...
I give the lad a bit of a talking to, asking again if that had been explained to him... "nah... errr... no"...
Just after that, the air con unit over the table started to leak onto the cloth and it had to be covered... I told Luke to gather his belongings... I apologised to Alabadi who I was supposed to have a game with and left at around 3.
On the way home I quizzed Luke again... "what did you learn?" He told me he had learned about the stance... (he already knew that) a different type of loop bridge (American pool style, unrelated to snooker) and... errr... that's about it!
He told me that one day he didn't even play for a few hours coz he was 'having fun with his mates' Blood boild as I type and it was a fortnight ago
"Did you learn any routines?" The lineout... like you can do... He then said "I told the coach that you make in with all blacks" I asked him if the coach did it with blacks too? And Luke told me that the furthest he got on the lineout was 4 reds left... For the life of me... GRADE A, snooker coach, certified, couldn't even make a ****ing ton on the lineout...
This was supposed to be a snooker ACADEMY... but it was clear to me, there was no structure... nothing for them to do but his balls around... Any lessons they were taught, would not have stuck... that's for sure... I am seriously disappointed... For the money I paid, I could have took Luke to Majorca for the week and it would have had a less detrimental effect on his game...
This Academy is more like a youth club with tables they can play on, as and when they see fit...
The Star Academy is a fantastic facility to play snooker... and I couldn't imagine a better environment to teach a group of young children... However, for that week... it seems I was short changed as my lad (and clearly all the other lads there) were coached by someone who:
- could not speak English properly
- couldn't make 100 on the lineout
- couldn't recognise simple flaws in a cue action like grip and stance
- couldn't ensure that one lad had a playable tip
- couldn't supervise enough to ensure that practice had any structure...
In short... if you can't teach kids, who are like sponges and don't ever question anything you tell them... you are not a snooker coach.
Would I send Luke again? Oddly enough, yes... because the facility is fantastic and there were some great young players there (residents, not on the course). But, I would likely stay the week with him and offer to supervise the sessions for free...
This feels like an opportunity missed for those kids to improve... I guarantee... Nothing they learnt in that week, will have stuck.
When we returned home, he was missing balls that he would never not jaw... I'm talking a foot either side of the pocket... hurridly snatching at the cue on delivery... He's alright again now... thanks for reading.
Received over half a dozen PM's asking my opinion on the place, so I figured I would start a thread as I am certainly an advocate of transparency.
So, booked Luke in for the week beginning 17th August (Mon-Fri) with accommodation for the princely sum of £600.
http://www.starsnookeracademy.com/pa...r-schools.html
On the Sunday before, Luke (and myself admittedly) was chomping at the bit to get up to the Academy to get ourselves settled in. Easy enough to find at the back of some sort of council estate, ample parking and in we go with cues in tow...
Introduce ourselves and are taken straight into the main room... Impressive place... 8 Star tables with as much room as you could ever need to concentrate and enjoy a game of snooker...
You have already heard my account of that day so I won't repeat myself... Anyway, 18:00 rolls around and we're off to the accommodation.
This is where I start to feel a little uneasy about the week... The housing was a touch dilapidated to be honest... a cold fronted building with around 8 rooms on each floor, shared toilet and showers and communal living area/kitchen... Nothing wrong with this in truth but I was disappointed, I am a touch snobbish though... Luke was thrilled at being left alone.
I then had 15 minutes of almost getting angry with the guy who appeared to be in charge if the dorm... It wasn't his fault, bless him. But when you pay for something, the least you expect is to be able to understand what it is you are actually getting. This chap, Sergei... did not have the greatest control of English (his English was better than my Latvian though) and it sounded for all the life of me that on Wednesday and Thursday, Luke would be staying in the dorms without any adults there overnight... which is of course a ludicrous thought...
Eventually after raising my voice and almost deciding to give up and check Luke and I into a hotel, staying the week myself, I am able to get the mobile number of Keith, the guy in charge... Within 15 seconds of speaking to him, my fears are gone and I am happy to leave my son there... Still, I don't think it's much to ask for this to have had someone there who could understand what I was asking them..? After all, this is my baby boy we're talking about, my greatest treasure.
Anyway, I fly home... That A road between Sheffield and Chesterfield is class, I was racing some motorbike in my car at unholy speeds and it was great fun... check it out
Tuesday comes around and I call the Academy to see how Luke's getting on... They tell me that he's been unable to concentrate fully and seems a bit tired. Apparently he went to the shop and they allowed him to buy far too much fizzy drink and Luke was clever enough to lie to them and say this was allowed... I hit the roof and Luke apologised. Again, I was a touch disappointed with the care he was in... Luke's 10, he shouldn't be able to pull the wool over adult eyes.
Friday around noon, I drive up to pick Luke up. I'm excited to see how much he has learned and I can't wait to get there.
Arrive around 2... Luke in the main room for Luke, no sign of him... Noone in the office, so I have a wander to the left and the other tables. I find Luke in a room with 2 tables and 3 other boys. I sit down to watch.
I look at Luke and he comes over and gives me a cuddle... I can tell that he's picked up weight in the week... so I'm on edge from that... I stifle my usual fiery self and sit down... Luke and this boy, who I recognise from the first day are playing a game of their own invention... Blacks off the spot from ball in the D, first to 18... I am disgusted by what I see...
They are literally trying to smash the black around the table in an attempt to fluke it... after about 8 or 9 rounds of this, I stop them and instruct them on what options you have from the respot... Then I ask myself, Haven't any of the Grade A coaches taught you this shot if it's a game you've been playing all week?
Then I watch this kid Luke's playing... He's not even gripping the cue correctly, his thumb is out and pointing to the side and he's lurching from a side on stance every time he hits the ball... Two obvious flaws which I could have righted in him within 20 minutes of talking to him...
I watch Luke a touch more critically... He's gone backwards... He's cueing like he's trying to saw his thumb off and he's not even getting on the line of aim... I ask him why he's doing that. He tells me because he has to get his leg there and straight which is utter ****ing nonsense... He's not tall enough to employ that stance without the elbow throwing the cue off line...
My heart sinks a touch... Seems the coach who has been teaching him knows nothing about how to compensate for slight changes in the technique and as a result had ruined Luke's timing... I asked him what his highest break for the week was... 19... ****ing 19! Luke would top that every 4 or 5 frames playing against a player like me... So to think that he hadn't bested that against kids his own age in a week tells me that they have had a lot of unsupervised play...
Just as this happens... One of the boys on the next table, a lad of about 14.... His tip falls off... The boys laugh "that's the fourth time this week, hahaha"
Anger rises in me... you mean to tell me, that no one in the place knows how to put a tip on for a young lad? How the **** are you supposed to teach them anything worthwhile if they haven't even got their equipment in order? It gets worse... The lad sprints off down toward the office... Right past some lad who's down to play a shot on the single table set up... How was that not the FIRST thing explained to a group of kids? But then again... I had not seen any other adult in the 'kiddies room' since I arrived...
I give the lad a bit of a talking to, asking again if that had been explained to him... "nah... errr... no"...
Just after that, the air con unit over the table started to leak onto the cloth and it had to be covered... I told Luke to gather his belongings... I apologised to Alabadi who I was supposed to have a game with and left at around 3.
On the way home I quizzed Luke again... "what did you learn?" He told me he had learned about the stance... (he already knew that) a different type of loop bridge (American pool style, unrelated to snooker) and... errr... that's about it!
He told me that one day he didn't even play for a few hours coz he was 'having fun with his mates' Blood boild as I type and it was a fortnight ago
"Did you learn any routines?" The lineout... like you can do... He then said "I told the coach that you make in with all blacks" I asked him if the coach did it with blacks too? And Luke told me that the furthest he got on the lineout was 4 reds left... For the life of me... GRADE A, snooker coach, certified, couldn't even make a ****ing ton on the lineout...
This was supposed to be a snooker ACADEMY... but it was clear to me, there was no structure... nothing for them to do but his balls around... Any lessons they were taught, would not have stuck... that's for sure... I am seriously disappointed... For the money I paid, I could have took Luke to Majorca for the week and it would have had a less detrimental effect on his game...
This Academy is more like a youth club with tables they can play on, as and when they see fit...
The Star Academy is a fantastic facility to play snooker... and I couldn't imagine a better environment to teach a group of young children... However, for that week... it seems I was short changed as my lad (and clearly all the other lads there) were coached by someone who:
- could not speak English properly
- couldn't make 100 on the lineout
- couldn't recognise simple flaws in a cue action like grip and stance
- couldn't ensure that one lad had a playable tip
- couldn't supervise enough to ensure that practice had any structure...
In short... if you can't teach kids, who are like sponges and don't ever question anything you tell them... you are not a snooker coach.
Would I send Luke again? Oddly enough, yes... because the facility is fantastic and there were some great young players there (residents, not on the course). But, I would likely stay the week with him and offer to supervise the sessions for free...
This feels like an opportunity missed for those kids to improve... I guarantee... Nothing they learnt in that week, will have stuck.
When we returned home, he was missing balls that he would never not jaw... I'm talking a foot either side of the pocket... hurridly snatching at the cue on delivery... He's alright again now... thanks for reading.
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