A bit of help please

[callum from hallam]

Hi i'm 12 i want to be a pro my high break is 38. I just need some help with being more consistent with my long potting and break building. Also one day I practice I play brill then the next shocking could I have a bit of help with that as well and finally I do 2 or 3 feathers and as I do my final feather I seem 2 lift my head very slighty so if you could help me with any of these or give me advice it would be very appreciated

[jim evans]

were do you practice and play callam

[callum from hallam]

I play at hustlers, pevril road, eckington, in sheffield.

[jim evans]

Thats were martin Finnegan. Plays in it your in a good snooker environment there you should.be able to get help there

[callum from hallam]

yeah i know I sometimes get coaching from him

[callum from hallam]

I would appreciate some help please with what i've mentioned

[NorthWestJunior]

Try to focus on your point of aim on the object ball whilst striking the cue ball. That may help with keeping your head still but you're better getting advice from someone in person as they will probably be able to tell what you're doing wrong.

As for going pro you need to be getting plenty of practice in and preferably some form of coaching to help bring the best out of your game. When you feel you're ready I would try to enter some tournaments. Over on englishsnooker.com there are under 14, under 16 and under 21 tournaments I think. The tournaments for the North West region are at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds which I don't think is too far from you.

[NorthWestJunior]

Try to focus on your point of aim on the object ball whilst striking the cue ball. That may help with keeping your head still but you're better getting advice from someone in person as they will probably be able to tell what you're doing wrong.

As for going pro you need to be getting plenty of practice in and preferably some form of coaching to help bring the best out of your game. When you feel you're ready I would try to enter some tournaments. Over on englishsnooker.com there are under 14, under 16 and under 21 tournaments I think. The tournaments for the North West region are at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds which I don't think is too far from you.

[Terry Davidson]

callam:

You should have just one 'swing thought' and that is 'keep my chin on the cue' and that means from the time your bridge hand hits the table until you finish the delivery.

Usually head movement on the backswing is caused by getting the shoulder muscle involved too much in the backswing and delivery which in turn is caused by not relaxing the grip enough. In the backswing the back 3 fingers should be relaxed so they can be pushed out of the way by the butt of the cue. At the end of the backswing they should be just barely touching the butt.

In addition, in practice concentrate on using JUST the elbow as the shoulder muscle should only come into the backswing and delivery when the elbow drops and in the delivery this should be AFTER the cueball has been struck. To get this right, try and get your elbow up as high as you can comfortably and try and keep it there until the very end of the backswing and the very end of the delivery. Keep the grip relaxed and do not tighten the grip in order to deliver the cue, just let the cue rest on the pads of the 4 fingers at address and just use the forefinger and thumb to hold the cue and also to accelerate it.

Too many players will grip the butt tighter in order to accelerate the cue and this will move the butt off-line.

It's REALLY important too to keep the head/shoulder still so I would say you should first concentrate on getting that right

Terry

[DandyA]

Hi i'm 12 i want to be a pro my high break is 38. I just need some help with being more consistent with my long potting and break building. Also one day I practice I play brill then the next shocking could I have a bit of help with that as well and finally I do 2 or 3 feathers and as I do my final feather I seem 2 lift my head very slighty so if you could help me with any of these or give me advice it would be very appreciated

well done on the 38 high break ... that's a decent number, how many pots was it? quite a few I imagine ... it only takes 36 to hit a 147 so I guess you are 1/3 of the way there ...

you'll get lots of good advice but here, for what it's worth, are my top three ... (a) keep your head incredibly still on each and every shot ... (b) if you do want to be a pro, you must enter every tournament you can ... oh, and (c) as Steve Davis says in his 1980's Champion's Way videos, always hit the cueball confidently (even if you don't feel confident) ...

good luck and believe you can ...

[callum from hallam]

Hi all do you want to have a look at me playing if so how do I put a vid on TSF.

[pclam1981]

You can upload a video to youtube and paste a link here.

[callum from hallam]

Dandy I has avin a bad frame then i thought about what u should always hit the cue ball confidently even if your not confident after that it worked i started my long potting again it came back so thank u dandy

[DandyA]

Dandy I has avin a bad frame then i thought about what u should always hit the cue ball confidently even if your not confident after that it worked i started my long potting again it came back so thank u dandy

cool, I'm glad it helped, although it's Steve Davis's advice I was quoting so you should thank him but it is amazing what confidence can do ... be confident young man!

[callum from hallam]

but im not sure I heard it in that but I havent watched them all yet but thanks again dandy