Middle aged snooker in Doncaster

[peejaytwo]

Good evening TSF.

I'm now 56 but have been a snooker fan for many years. My Dad was a decent player in the hustling times after the war, and I remember playing him as a youngster when I could barely see over the cushion on our holidays.
I was lucky enough to go to the Crucible to see the great Alex Higgins so even though I only played sporadically I was still an enthusiast, watching on TV but mainly playing pool in the pub.
Fast forward to about 4/5 years ago and I joined a social club which has three tables, and soon I was playing every Thursday night in a regular doubles game.
Obviously I've improved, and I've watched videos on YouTube but never seemed to be making much progress until I went to see local legend Barry West.
Better setup, seem to be timing the ball much better and all imo of course playing decent but not getting any breaks, was starting to feel like the best single ball potter.
Anyway, fed up with this I had two hours practice on Friday (after yet another disappointing Thursday), another hours practice on Tuesday, and lo and behold knocked in a break of 38 last week.
The break is a bit of a blur as I can't remember too many of the shots but my partner was counting and had the grin of a Cheshire cat as we were going to win the tickets.
So middle aged but wanting to improve, I read all the coaching threads and now want to make a Fifty break before my eyes get any worse.
Now I've posted, I'll have to keep the practice up. And a big thank you to all the contributors on here.

John

[Neil Taperell]

Great intro John , with enthusiasm for the game like you have a 50 is just round the corner .

[benny1]

I'm in exactly the same position John. Good luck for the 50!! If only we had more time hey!!

[tomwalker147]

Good luck John! happy to help if you have any questions at all!

Tom

[alabadi]

I'm over 50 now and i feel i'm improving all the time , i haven't had a 50 break yet been close once, got a 48 break.
i have had plenty of 20+ breaks and a few 30+ so i feel i am capable of making a 50 break however its just not happening.
to be honest playing well for me trumps the highest break and this is what i am focusing on. because once you start playing well the breaks will come naturally.

good luck john keep practicing and enjoy the game for what it is

[peejaytwo]

No fireworks in this weeks Thursday session, played OK but missed some easy balls, one sticking in my mind is a nearly straight pink to the corner bag. As I'm typing this I know the reason is that I'm in front of myself, stun pink, red near black spot etc etc.
Two one hour sessions of practice, not trying to change anything just table time and potting red/blacks. You guys who make 50+ breaks all the time must have spent hundreds of hours round the black spot. I do find that after about an hour I tend to lose focus so will have to vary stuff to stop this.
Anyway, off for some practice now as the weather is stopping me doing the garden.

[blahblah01]

Are you talking about match breaks, or practice?

[peejaytwo]

When practicing I never count, so I'm only concerned with match breaks.

An hour and twenty minutes today and to contradict what I posted earlier, I played best in the last twenty minutes when trying to hold the cue a little lighter and drive though the ball. I seem to miss balls when my arm/grip is tight, it seems much better gripping the cue with the thumb/forefinger and feeling the other fingers close on the cue as I go to strike the cue ball.
I'm aware that I'm opening a can of worms here as I've never got "technical" before, but then again I've never practiced to get better before.
Thanks for reading.

[DeanH]

No fireworks in this weeks Thursday session, played OK but missed some easy balls, one sticking in my mind is a nearly straight pink to the corner bag. As I'm typing this I know the reason is that I'm in front of myself, stun pink, red near black spot etc etc.
Two one hour sessions of practice, not trying to change anything just table time and potting red/blacks. You guys who make 50+ breaks all the time must have spent hundreds of hours round the black spot. I do find that after about an hour I tend to lose focus so will have to vary stuff to stop this.
Anyway, off for some practice now as the weather is stopping me doing the garden.

try focussed 30mins practise - I also find anything more (even if you do change routines) become monotonous and boring and more damaging than beneficial to your game when your playing partner turns up
I do ten minutes of black off spot, 10 of middle blues (a particular area for me), and 10 of run of colours
find what you need to improve on and do 10 of that

remember, enjoy your snooker

[blahblah01]

Can or worms? Jeepers, have a look through some of the threads

re counting practice breaks: I count reds, so I have an idea - and gives an idea of potential\realistic breaks in matches. If someone hasn't made a 60 in practice, I doubt they will in a match....

Edit: http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/boa...t=helping+side is one of a few threads on this subject totalling hundreds of pages..

[peejaytwo]

Rained off again is a good excuse to hit a few balls with the added advantage of not finishing up in the divorce court as the Mrs is out anyway.

I start by putting five reds up, not exactly line up fashion but not not far off. Twenty mins later I put another quid in for the light as I've not got past three reds/colours even though I feel like I'm hitting the ball OK. Didn't take long to lose focus, so I decided to pot blacks off the spot. My God that's hard! At 6 blacks, with a straightish one from a foot behind it felt like game ball playing for £50. Needless to say pressure and the thought of the next shot meant I missed. Anyway I perservered and got to 8 missing one from a couple of inches from off the cushion which is never gonna be easy.
I really enjoyed this exercise and def felt that I was growing in confidence and feel for the soft stuns/screws needed. So frustrating been low on the black though, high much much better.

In addition to my "getting in front of myself" another problem I have is indecision. I'm much more likely to put a good stroke on the shot if I have a clear idea of what I'm hoping to do, if I'm unsure I tend to make a real Horlicks of it.

Loving the game.

[peejaytwo]

Time to update.
Practice has had to go on the back burner as my two jobs are keeping me busy. As a part time gardener rain is sometimes welcome for a couple of hours off!
Anyway, I managed an hours practice this week which obv helped as I knocked a break of 30 in last night.
Seemed to be timing the ball nicely, one really nice soft screw of a red to the corner coming back for the nearby black, a shot I def couldn't do a few months ago.
Onwards and upwards....

[peejaytwo]

More antics from Doncaster,
Still playing quite nicely altho not as consistent as I would like, hitting some really nice shots but mixed in with poor misses as well. suppose that comes with my level of play.
Had a decent practice session today, and managed a PB of ten blacks off the spot and was bloody annoyed at missing number 11.


Anyway, on my regular session last Thursday I went in off 3 or 4 times, twice from high on the blue into the corner bag played with top to come off the cushion for reds between the pink and black. I practiced this today and it seems such a hard shot, too much stun and hit the pink or when missing the pink hitting the bottom cushion and landing on the side cushion. Someone mentioned Barry Stark video 86 and will give this a look soon. Am I missing something easy?

[peejaytwo]

Musings from Donny,

Still loving the game, and certainly for the last couple of weeks managed to practice for 2/3 hours as well as the Thursday match.
My highest break in a match is now 38 done a couple of months ago and I really want to get into consistently making 30s as a stepping stone to that 50 break goal. Twice in the last week I've made 50+ in the line up so need to transfer some of this to match conditions. Shot selection and keeping the white under control are my weak points I think.


Glad tidings and heres to a fifty new year.