A new players diary

[Mat91]

Picture is coming tomorrow mate
I took one today and will take some more of other exercises tomorrow.


Well today I did practice to find the right potting angle.
It's bloody hard work for me. Maybe my brain really sucks when it comes down to
judging those. So I played just angled balls into the middle pocket for
2.30h. At first I felt very insecure,but then it felt better and better.
Towards the end, I did pot 3 balls out of 5. This will be my exercise for the next next
couple of weeks

Cheers
Mat

[Ramon]

Hi Ramon

thank you a lot.
Well the 21 works like this:

You put all balls on the table. Now you place three balls as close to each
pocket, that they are still pottable.

So by "covering the pocket" I did mean you place the balls just before
the pocket.

There are three stages of difficulties.

1 The balls are in a good potting position in front of the pocket

2 The balls are really close to the pocket, so that you have to pot
the middle of the three balls first. Than it's possible to do the other
two.

3. Two balls are on the cushions next to the pocket one ball
is situated in front of the pocket so that with a good shot one can
get the two reds away from the cushion to pot them.

Well I hope that does make the exercise clearer
I'll take a cellphone oicture of it later and post it here.


Cheers Mat

It does , and that would be nice !!
Thanks for the clarification!!
enjoy ur game !!

[Mat91]

Well what shall I say towards the end of the second block I felt that my
concentration went on vacation. So I decided to stop where I was and not to continue
with my last to practices. So that was 4 hours of good and intense practice today.

The results are:

Exercise 1 Straight cueing: Cueball down the spots and up
again on the same line
I managed 7/10

Thats quite nice, it shows me that straightening up my cue arm "V"
during the last weeks helped me a lot.

Exercise 2 Potting a straight blue in the middle pocket using a stun
I managed 6/10
Well I did pot all 10 shots but in four of them, the cue ball
moved slightly towards the blue spot, so that I didn't see them as
good enough to count.

Here I want to improve to at least 8/10 constantly.


Exercise 2.1 Pot the blue off an angle using stun
Here I only managed to pot 2/10. The stun worked fine on each of them,
but Im still totally insecure, when it comes to potting angles.
I really want to improve here to at least 5/10 during the next two weeks.


Exercise 3 Potting the black straight inside the corner pocket, using screw
Here I managed 5/10
That actually is quite a nice rate for me. I worked on the screw a lot coming from 1/10
But here the aim also is to get 8/10

My bridge hand now is much much sturdier than it was this January.

Exercise 3.1 Potting the black into the corner pocket off an angle using screw
Here I managed 4/10. Well it seems that I have less problems with
the potting angles at the corner pockets.
So I have to really master the angles. Aim is 6/10.

Exercise 4 Pot blue and the cueball in the middle pocket using top
Here I managed 10/10.I never seem to have problems playing top.
Both balls always go in perfectly straight. I even can change the tempo of the white to my liking.
Aim stay at this level

Exercise 4.1 Pot the blue in the middle pocket off an angle using top
Here I managed 3/10. Again I have massive problems
finding the right potting angle.Top works fine and the white runs
nearly always to the desired position.

Exercise 5 "21"
I managed six balls in a row which comes down
to 30 points. So I didn't reach my desired break of
35. So that has to improve during the next weeks.

Conclusion:

Getting my cue arm straight and my bridge hand sturdier
has helped a great deal in hitting the cue ball straight on.
I really need to work more on angles as this is
what breaks my breaks.

Cheers
Mat

[Mat91]

Hi Ramon

thank you a lot.
Well the 21 works like this:

You put all balls on the table. Now you place three balls as close to each
pocket, that they are still pottable.

So by "covering the pocket" I did mean you place the balls just before
the pocket.

There are three stages of difficulties.

1 The balls are in a good potting position in front of the pocket

2 The balls are really close to the pocket, so that you have to pot
the middle of the three balls first. Than it's possible to do the other
two.

3. Two balls are on the cushions next to the pocket one ball
is situated in front of the pocket so that with a good shot one can
get the two reds away from the cushion to pot them.

Well I hope that does make the exercise clearer
I'll take a cellphone oicture of it later and post it here.


Cheers Mat

[Ramon]

Sorry for DBL post !!!!

[Ramon]

Mat91 ,,

Well ,, I'm not a coach, but I did read your post and did enjoy it !! My compliments for your dedication. ,,, you mind me asking a question ??? what do you mean by playing 21 ?? Could you explain that Please ??
I mean , when you say each pocket is covered by 3 balls . How ?? In which position ?? You just put 3 balls in line up position near to the pocket ? Cus if you do that, you can'nt cover the pocket unless the balls re tgh on the cushn .
Or you put them in zigzag position ?

[Ramon]

Mat91 ,,

Well ,, I'm not a coach, but I did read your post and did enjoy it !! My compliments for your dedication. ,,, you mind me asking a question ??? what do you mean by playing 21 ?? Could you explain that Please ??
I mean , when you say each pocket is covered by 3 balls . How ?? In which position ?? You just put 3 balls in line up position near to the pocket ? Cus if you do that,, you can'nt cover the pocket unless the balls re tgh on the cushn .
Or you put them in zigzag position ?

[Mat91]

Good evening guys


Tomorrow will be a loooong training session for me, that streches about
6 1/2 hours.

So I thought I'm writing down what I want to do in practice and what
my achievement wishes are. Maybe you have some tips for me ?


Well the first thing is I want to split the practice time in 3 blocks.

First block 1.30h

1. Straight cueing to warm up
Playing the white off the brown spot towards the black cushion
and let it hit the cue tip again.
10 tries aim 6/10

2. Playing a stun correctly
The blue is on it's spot, the white ball a couple of inches to the left or right.
Blue is to be potted without the cue ball moving amy farther then the contact point
with the blue.
10 tries aim 7/10

2.1 Varying the potting angles
10 tries aim 5/10

3. Playing the screw shot right
The black is on it's spot, the cue ball a couple of inches behind the black
(straight line to the pocket).
Potting the black and screw back the cue ball 4 ball widths long.
10 tries aim 5/10

3.1 Potting the black out of different angles using a screw shot
The white has to reach a sheet of paper placed depending on the angle of the shot.
10 tries aim 3/10


4. Potting the blue with top
Blue is on it's spot white some inches left or right of the blue.
Potting the blue and let the white follow into the pocket.
10 tries aim 7/10

4.1 Potting the blue with top out of different angles.
tries 10 aim 5/10

30m break to relax and analyze the occured problems

Second block 1.30h


1. Playing "21"
Each pocket is covered by 3 balls. Black, pink and blue are on their spots.
Making a break as high is possible.
This is to train the different types off shots and start to think about
the right position.
10 tries aim Break of 35 points

2 Playing red and black continuously
Black is on the spot, 6 reds are placed all over the place between the black
cushion and the pink spot.
Potting a red followed by the black until the table is cleared.
10 tries aim 24 Break


Half an hour break, same procedure as before

Third block 2h

1. The break off
All balls are in place.
The cueball has to hit the pack and travel to the bulk cushion.
10 tries aim 7/10

2. Escaping from a snooker using a cushion shot
The white is covered by a red ball so that it can't hit the yellow ball directly.
Playing the shot using a cushion to hit the pink.
10 tries aim 3/10

3. Playing a frame
Playing as damn good as you possibly can
1 try aim best game I can offer


So that is the plan
I do think structure is the key point for me having fun during
practice. Do you think that all sounds possible and reasonable?
Is there something not as useful, as I might think?
The first and seccond block are routines I do every other week.
So I think that is contributing to my confidence towards the harder practices
at the end of the second and during the third block.

I'd be delighted to hear some opinions and get as many valuable tips as possible.

My ultimate aim for this year is to reach my first 50 break

Cheers
Mat

[Mat91]

Hi biffer

thanks for your answer!
I will certainly do so. I find it very relaxing to play and
find a lot of fun in discovering the tactical part of the game.

The biggest problem during the last year was, that I didn't recognized how
bad my eyes have become. So I got new glasses and a think called "Spoony".
That works quite nicely and now I actually can see what I'm aiming for

No so far I didn't get any other coaching than the one of our own clubs coaches.
But to be frankly I got in touch woth some of the coaches here in Germany and not one
convinced me with the way they work.

I guess this shows, that Snooker isn't quite up to your guys standart.
When I come back to Sheffield next year, I plan to visit the Star Academy for some lessons.
If that's a good thing, I try to get more training in the UK.
I'm there quite often anyway so maybe thats an option for the future.

I do enjoy to play against the other players here a lot.
I honestly don't often win, but I play for the fun of the game,
not for the mere winning. Our headcoach asked me this January if
I might want to play in one of our league teams, as I have become much better.

Well I denied. I don't know but I don't feel I'm quite up to that standart just of now.

Best wishes
Mat

[biffer]

Hey Mat, glad you have improved at the game. Keep your head up and practice hard, the rewards will come. Have you had a chance to receive any coaching. Also if there are any good players up your club. That's another great way to learn, it may seem like you are picking out balls but you will gain experience playing against those kind of players

[Mat91]

Hi guys,

I'm sorry that I let you down for so long and didn't report.
The last year was extremely packed and busy, but that's no excuse.

So what did happen from last year untill now?

Well my potting skills became a little better. I find it a bit easier to judge
the right potting angle.
My cue action did improve quite a bit tho. Back- and Topspin work just fine,
also a Stump is working fine

Positional wise I can read a game much easier, than a year ago.
All in all I like the improvements I've done.

But my highest break still is in the low 30s. I don't complain tho.
Some things take longer to work out than others. And maybe I give myself
a little to much pressure.
This time of the year I have the chance to train 5 days a week for 4 hours, so
I hope that will bring me near the desired 50 Breaks

Thanks for listening and have a nice weekend everybody!

Best wishes
Mat

[biffer]

Looking forward to watching the vid mate, hope the practice goes well tonight. Oh and the weather here today was fantastic.

[Mat91]

Ah okay
thanks for helping me out Dean!

[DeanH]

"and a stop ball(do you called it like this?) "
a stun shot

[Mat91]

Good morning,

yesterday I started training again, after a nasty cold has been with me through the last few days.

My coach now finaly is happy with my cue arm now beeing parallel to the table. So after 20 minutes of cueing practice (white ball from brown to black spot and back), he gave me an exercise to practice positional play.
Potting the blue out of different angles with back- and top spin and a stop ball(do you called it like this?) the target was to hit the ball on the brown spot with stop balls, a tendency to the yellow ball with some top spin and a tendency to the green ball with back spin. I was not good at potting balls yesterday but got position most of the time

Today I will go on and hopefully think about taking a video.

Have a nice and hopefully more sunny day than we have here