how long do you practice? what are the average break

[nuXbe]

Hey all!

I would be very interested in:

.) how many years do you play snooker?
.) how many hours do you practice a week?
.) what are your average breaks?

Does anyone know, how long the pro's practice a week/day?


I only practice about 4 hours a week, and 3,5 hours of the 4 I play matches with a friend.
So I want to find out how many hours I have to practice a week to get better.

Alex :snooker:

[CoachGavin]

I would think most pros practice for 5-6 hours a day 5 or 6 days a week. In other words they treat it as a full time job which it should be. Sometimes this is not possible as some pros have part-time jobs etc for extra money.

Practice is only good if you are practising the right thing. If your technique is bad then practising will just further embed the bad technique. I have seen players practice 2 or 3 hours a day 5 days a week and their highest break might only be 40. Some professionals dont practice this much!

You will reach a point when further practice will bring no improvement because your technique is bringing you down. If players just had to practice to improve then players who spent all day, everyday playing would be world champions but that isnt the case.

Personally, you seem to play quite a bit. It does depend how much you love the game and how good you want to be. Before i started coaching and had a family i used to play 4 hours every night in the week (matches) and then practised for 2 or 3 hours on a saturday.

Last year this was reduced to one 6 hour game once a week and 2 hours of practice every week and I had my best year - this was because i improved my technique.

Hope this helps.

[poolqjunkie]

Hey all!

I would be very interested in:

.) how many years do you play snooker?
.) how many hours do you practice a week?
.) what are your average breaks?

I have been playing snooker for about 13 months now, I used to play 9 ball. When I first started back in May 2007, I was practicing about 6 hours a day, 7 days a week--I once practice 11 hours. I mostly practice potting around the black, potting the long blue, and potting around the pink and so on. These drills helped me a lot in knowing the angles.

I have marked down my breaks. I was not doing too well at first. I started video taping myself and it was then that I discovered I could actually run over 30 and 40 points. I remember I was quite surprise to know that. The fact that I could do this in practice gave me great confidence. I used to think I could never run over 30 points.

In Sept 2007, I made a 64 break in a match, but it was more of a friendly game, and the balls were everywhere.

At the time, however, my average break was only in the 20+ and 30 + range.
Then in Oct 2007, I made a 72, and a 44. The rest of the breaks were in the 30+ range.

Somehow, i played really poor after that, because I was still new and was changing my stance, grips and so on all the time. I was uncertain about a lot of things.

I then changed my cue in Dec, and did not make anything over 40.

In Jan 2008, my highest break in the whole month was only 39.

But I kept practicing, about 4 hours a day, 6 to 7 days a week. I was working on my aim, my stroke, and my positioning.

In Feb, I got a 82, and a 77, with a JP cue that I just changed.

Then I started to play poorly again, due to a lack of practice. also, because I was a bit confused about something regarding my techique. So, average break was only 30+ and 40+ in the whole month.

In April, I started to play a bit better but I could not find anyone to play with but one practice partner, who was better than me. I had a few breaks of 40+ and two 50+, and I have only played about 7 games or so in that month. I feel quite good about my game back then. I could not believe that. Then somehow I stopped playing for a while.

May was bad again, because I changed to a new aiming method, and was quite confused. So, I just keep practicing again and again. Watched lots of videos on youtubes.

Then I had a 101.

I would say my average break is only around 30 and 40's though. I am working on being able to finish the game in one visit but it does not really happen very often.

I feel good about my timing now. And my long ball are better. But my cut shots are still not very consistent. My side shots are also weak, and that makes my positioning weak.

I now usually only practice about 3 hours, 7 days a week. I have no one to play with, because my regular playing partner is away.

I like to think about what I want to work on before I go to my club to practice, and I keep a journel. There are so much to learn in snooker, I think one can never practice enough. I wish I have a good coach.

[checkSide]

Wow. Don't you have a job??

[poolqjunkie]

Wow. Don't you have a job??

Well, there are 24 hours in a day. I just need to manage my time well.
I dont hang out in a pool hall doing nothing or chatting. I only go there, practice, or play a match, then I leave.
I dont have the talent others have, so I need to work harder.

[checkSide]

I wish i could manage my time that well! lol

[Burwat Champ]

I mange to practice for about 4 hours per week 2 hours on a Thursday and 2 hrs on Saturday.

I tend to have quite a few breaks between 30 & 60, although the last session I went I had 65,87,81 & 94 so I was made up with that as you can imagine.

I had a weird session about a year ago that I will never forget, I had ten frames I lost 8-2 my highest break was 111 in the 3rd frame I think and my 2 nd highest break was 16!!! What a bizzare game snooker is but I guess thats why we love it so much.

I find if I practice for more than a couple of hours at a time I start to get a bit bored unless im playing a better player than myself.

[ADR147]

Wow. Don't you have a job??

or a wife/girlfriend - mine would not stand for that although i can claim playing snooker for a few hours here and there to be working... nice trick if you can pull it!

[poolqjunkie]

or a wife/girlfriend.

I have been most fortunate to have a very supportive spouse. But like I said, I have tried very hard to manage my time well, it is not easy--but she has made it easier than it should. For that, I am very grateful.

[ADR147]

job + 6 hours a day of snooker, supportive is not the word for your spouse, saintly would be more appropriate.