Grip Arm Tremors / Shivers

[Sidd]

Hello everyone,

There is this snooker mate of mine, more like a brother, a very dear friend who ha been having this problem of late that his grip arm shivers during address and feathers and because of that he cannot play to his full potential. He says its nerves related and creeped in his game some years ago. He has tried whatever he could but it just does not go away. He therefore has a hard time potting anything decent and sometimes misses sitters due to that problem.

I have seen him play of course and while feathering his grip arm is shivering tremendously. It really pains me to see a good talented man like him suffer like that so I was wondering if someone else has had this problem and can guide me to have his problem sorted out? Perhaps the coaches around here could guide as to what to do in order to minis or eventually completely get rid of this problem?

He has this problem only while playing snooker. He doesn't experience this in doing anything else in life. It only happens in snooker and he says that if he is fatigued or stressed this problem goes severe and his whole arm keeps shaking at address and during feathers. If, for instance, he knows he had time to play like 10 frames uninterrupted this problem goes down a lot as he relaxes. He adds the the problem comes after making a big shot or achieving a good break or with multiple people around him. When he plays alone or if there aren't many people sitting around him, the problem is pretty controlled. (I believe its pressure-stress-nerve related but then I may be wrong).

Snooker is so dear to him, like many of us here, I would be really happy to help him through your guidance. So kindly let me know how to help him out.

Looking forward !
Sidd

[DeanH]

Sidd - you've been watching me!?
Everything you say is exactly what I go through, so I am hoping someone comes on with a cure

With most things psychological (as I do think this is) the more you think about it the worse it gets, ignore it and it goes away; so I try to not focus on it and over the years (yes years) it has gotten better and less frequent and less severe when it does happen.

A trick that TD and I discussed a few years ago about keeping the cue online when getting to the address position seems to have helped; I have my butt-hand thumb touching my hip and as I go down this naturally slides up the body and onto to the required position for feathering and shot
Not saying this is a cure for the tremor but it gave me consistent positioning manoeuvre that I can forget and focus elsewhere.

Hope to see further posts

[Sidd]

Sidd - you've been watching me!?
Everything you say is exactly what I go through, so I am hoping someone comes on with a cure

With most things psychological (as I do think this is) the more you think about it the worse it gets, ignore it and it goes away; so I try to not focus on it and over the years (yes years) it has gotten better and less frequent and less severe when it does happen.

A trick that TD and I discussed a few years ago about keeping the cue online when getting to the address position seems to have helped; I have my butt-hand thumb touching my hip and as I go down this naturally slides up the body and onto to the required position for feathering and shot
Not saying this is a cure for the tremor but it gave me consistent positioning manoeuvre that I can forget and focus elsewhere.

Hope to see further posts

No sir I haven't seen you play. Can you please share a link to that?

Thanks for your kind experience-sharing and tips. Hope this helps my friend.

Looking forward, as you mentioned, to other comments as they come in.

[DeanH]

That was a joke :biggrin:
and no videos of me playing - I don't want to break the camera!
cheers

[Neil Taperell]

I've seen videos of you Dean ………..but come to think of it , you weren't playing snooker in them

[DeanH]

sssshhh!

[Neil Taperell]

Sorry mate , that last post was supposed to be a PM

[Sidd]

Can anyone help with my question please ? Has anyone here, except for Dean, have had such a problem and they got it corrected somehow? Kindly do help out !

thanks

[vmax]

Discreetly watch his game Sidd, watch his eye movements, his cue action, stance etc and see if there are any differences between his approach to the pressure shots and the reasonably easy ones. If there are then tell him so and explain to him that subconsciously the brain knows when the shot is lined up wrong and the body reacts accordingly.
Also are his home life, work, finances all tickety boo, for if something is amiss that he's hiding, it could be surfacing only in his snooker.

[Sidd]

Discreetly watch his game Sidd, watch his eye movements, his cue action, stance etc and see if there are any differences between his approach to the pressure shots and the reasonably easy ones. If there are then tell him so and explain to him that subconsciously the brain knows when the shot is lined up wrong and the body reacts accordingly.
Also are his home life, work, finances all tickety boo, for if something is amiss that he's hiding, it could be surfacing only in his snooker.

Thanks Steve, I shall do so and report if I find any noticeable differences.

[Shockerz]

Hmm. Been here for the last 3 years and it's devastating to your game.

The best I've found so far is that I feather really close to the cue ball so the cue's not really coming back more than 2 or 3 inches and then I'll have one longer back swing at the end of about 8 inches, pause and then stroke it like a 12 ft putt at golf as if the ball is just reaching the hole.

The pause helps steady before pushing through the cue ball and the small feather stop me getting the cue back to where the tremors occur.

I've also tried no feathers which is dramatically better but terrible for cue ball control.

Although the short feathers have certainly helped against the tremors i've lost any break building I had but things are certainly better against what they were a while ago.

Pressure certainly affects it.

[Sidd]

Thank you so much friends. My friend has tried the suggestions and has had amazing results. He will keep trying to get rid of or control his problem.
He send millions of thanks your way guys. He is humbled by the love you showed.

Thanks again !!!

[Shockerz]

Thank you so much friends. My friend has tried the suggestions and has had amazing results. He will keep trying to get rid of or control his problem.
He send millions of thanks your way guys. He is humbled by the love you showed.

Thanks again !!!

I hope he doesn't get too tied up with the various methods to get rid of it.

I go through phases but mine is pretty much in the head as you would expect.

Struggled like mad yesterday to pot a red then knocked a 70 in; it's like a switch being flicked and it's easy and then nothing, all good fun!

[Cue crafty]

I hope he doesn't get too tied up with the various methods to get rid of it.

I go through phases but mine is pretty much in the head as you would expect.

Struggled like mad yesterday to pot a red then knocked a 70 in; it's like a switch being flicked and it's easy and then nothing, all good fun!

Do you think timing and the pause can cause issues? I had been struggling with my timing a couple of weeks back and was banging balls all over the place, that damages confidence. I done some solo practice using a more deliberate pause to try and get back on track which has worked but I did note at the time (in my head) that it could be easy to start becoming unsure when to "let the cue go" and so on.

I still like my analogy of the archer with a bow (works in my head) Drawing the string (cue) back and letting it go once im at the end of my action. Obviously you dont let the cue go like a bow string but for me it promotes getting through the ball with timing.

Good to hear you can still put a sizeable break together it keeps the fun levels up when it happens from time to time!

[Shockerz]

Do you think timing and the pause can cause issues? I had been struggling with my timing a couple of weeks back and was banging balls all over the place, that damages confidence. I done some solo practice using a more deliberate pause to try and get back on track which has worked but I did note at the time (in my head) that it could be easy to start becoming unsure when to "let the cue go" and so on.

I still like my analogy of the archer with a bow (works in my head) Drawing the string (cue) back and letting it go once im at the end of my action. Obviously you dont let the cue go like a bow string but for me it promotes getting through the ball with timing.

Good to hear you can still put a sizeable break together it keeps the fun levels up when it happens from time to time!

Honestly, I don;t know what it is that causes this. If I had to put my finger on it part would would be where your head is at in life, pressure and whether you pause; possibly a focus on a pause can get out of hand.