Natural ability

[itsnoteasy]

I was in the club today and one of the young lads that has started coming in knocked in a sixty two, never looked in trouble, broke down because the yellow was near the top Cush and he left himself too straight on it so had to try and force the white out, it rattled and stayed out .
I have only seen this lad come in for a couple of months at most, and nobody had mentioned him to me before as a one to watch type lad, but boy he's looking good to be a cracking player, he cues really smooth and he's just got it, what ever it is you need to play this game he has it, i stopped playing as he was near my table and watched when he was around the forty mark so I didn't put him off, he was chuffed to bits with himself, when he was done,rightly so, I will keep an eye out for him and see how fast he progresses ,if he does, and it will be interesting to see if he knocks in a really big one within a year to eighteen months.

[jrc750]

Makes you sick doesn't it !! these pesky kids come along and make it look easy

[dcrackers147]

100's of young lads making multiple breaks alot higher than that every session...I wouldn't say someone 'has got it' based on one break on a practice table. One of my mates has been making 100's every week since the age of about 14 although hes been to cue school never fufilled his potential.

[itsnoteasy]

I'm not saying he will be a pro or anything like that, just he has that natural hand eye coordination or whatever it is you need to play snooker at a decent level , and I'm only talking making centuries not dominating the world lol. As I say I have only seen him play for a couple of months, the only other snooker tables around us are in working men's clubs so he's not been playing in there, but I have no doubt he's played pool with his pals.
JRC he's better now than I ever will be lol, git.

[CoachGavin]

Natural ability

I'm not a big one for natural ability. If you play a lot when you are young and have the right variables around you then you will get good fairly quickly. Same in any sport.

[ace man]

Nah, main ingredients are time and passion.

[cyberheater]

Makes you sick doesn't it !! these pesky kids come along and make it look easy

Yes it does. Obviously we all must have some natural talent for the game but it's amazing how some folks just have the ability to 'get' the game and progress rapidly.

Nah, main ingredients are time and passion.

I understand that but you look at Stephen Hendry.

Hendry started playing snooker in 1981, aged 12, when his father, Gordon, bought him a child-sized snooker table as a Christmas present. Two years later he won the Scottish U-16 Championship

[Byrom]

My take on this is this is of course there is natural ability in everything -

The science on how the brain works and develops is not complete or understood even by our top scientists but we would all agree its easier to learn for people especially when young because the brain is a sponge at this point and more sustainable to new concepts - A young age is when we first learn our co-ordination for movements is it not so this is important to learn timing at this point. Some people have natural co-ordination some do not some people have a natural singing voice some do not some people can just do and some cannot.

I agree you can have a natural ability at certain things in life - I have a way with words - my best friend can draw anything - my Mrs is never wrong

In snooker - There are those players like myself who had to work very hard to make that century break and still need to play all the time to keep up any kind of standard - and then there are those that can just pick up a cue and bam timing co-ordination and everything is bang on and flowing in an instant.

They still have to work at things but some just find aspects of the game easier -
These types however I find - oddly?-often fall out of love with the game the quickest and in the long run they don't always make the better players as finding something easy does not motivate a person to work hard to improve themselves that step further that they need to really succeed and surprisingly they end up stuck at a level - albeit a high one without the right metal attributes to motivate themselves consistently to succeed and dedicate themselves in practice as they should - I see this at high levels in the game - even at pro level all the time too.

I would say some of the key things in snooker that make a person look like they have natural ability are


Natural timing linked to grip/relaxation on the cue and a positive consistent action.
The mental ability to switch off - not to doubt yourself or to give a dam most of the time.
Forward planing/muscle memory - a quick way of visualizing shots and recalling and just understanding the angles pace - layout of the table and what is needed for positions and options quickly - so the ability to map a table and focus to deliver both confidently.

What these natural types of players surprisingly lack however is a love for the game - I find they have a high boredom threshold - they lack the patience and motivation to practice consistently - and perhaps surprisingly - I say this because on the surface they can exude a confidence some people can mistake for arrogance - inside these same players often lack belief in themselves at key times.

Get a natural player with OCD and your onto a winner albeit one a bit miss-understood and buggered in the head.

[vmax4steve]

The natural player is someone who has great hand/eye co-ordination plus he looks at the target on the strike, which is the contact point of the object ball.
Someone who doesn't look at the target on the strike will never be a good player, someone who looks at the target inconsistantly will be a good player now and again.

To be a great player one has to have the natural hand/eye co-ordination together with looking at the target on the strike, plus an affinity with the game itself as a means to self expression (Ronnie) or to use the game as a means of domination (Hendry) or get girls through fame and fortune (Trump).

[itsnoteasy]

The natural player is someone who has great hand/eye co-ordination plus he looks at the target on the strike, which is the contact point of the object ball.
Someone who doesn't look at the target on the strike will never be a good player, someone who looks at the target inconsistantly will be a good player now and again.

To be a great player one has to have the natural hand/eye co-ordination together with looking at the target on the strike, plus an affinity with the game itself as a means to self expression (Ronnie) or to use the game as a means of domination (Hendry) or get girls through fame and fortune (Trump).

I didn't think the thread would focus on this part, but it's a great discussion all the same, Great posts by Byrom and VMax, interesting to see people's views on natural ability. I was more impressed with the lads rapid increase in his game, I will ask and find out how long he has been playing, if it is just a few months, is a sixty break very very good? I don't know how quickly young folk progress in this game, it felt very quick to me.

[Terry Davidson]

I thought it was girls and SHOES with the Juddster?

I think if a normal kid with average coordination takes up snooker fairly seriously when younger he will become what we're calling 'a natural' if he sticks with it and eventually becomes a pro. It's much easier for the young to learn quickly provided they are either given or develop a decent technique.

Look at all the top pros as it seems to me they all started playing when they were between 8 to 12 years old and they all stuck with it (perhaps so they could pull more birds or buy really expensive and flashy shoes). I've read Ronnie had his first century on a full-size table when he was 10 years old and Walter Lindrum was started by his father when he was quite young too. Hendry, Murphy, Higgins and all the rest all started very young. I can remember Higgins coming into Reardon's in Glasgow and he couldn't have been more that 12 or 13 and he was already a pretty good player.

Terry

[tedisbill]

Terry:

When you say Higgins was already pretty good, what kind of breaks was he knocking in on average at that age?

[eaoin11]

I thought it was girls and SHOES with the Juddster?

I think if a normal kid with average coordination takes up snooker fairly seriously when younger he will become what we're calling 'a natural' if he sticks with it and eventually becomes a pro. It's much easier for the young to learn quickly provided they are either given or develop a decent technique.

Look at all the top pros as it seems to me they all started playing when they were between 8 to 12 years old and they all stuck with it (perhaps so they could pull more birds or buy really expensive and flashy shoes). I've read Ronnie had his first century on a full-size table when he was 10 years old and Walter Lindrum was started by his father when he was quite young too. Hendry, Murphy, Higgins and all the rest all started very young. I can remember Higgins coming into Reardon's in Glasgow and he couldn't have been more that 12 or 13 and he was already a pretty good player.

Terry

I think Walter's father and older brother were both national champions as well. Initially Walter was discouraged as his father didn't think the family needed another snooker player but in the end his father gave up trying to keep him off the table. Eddie Charlton later described him as the ultimate professional because he practised 14 hrs a day. The key ingredients I see here to Walter's extraordinary development are; very high quality mentors and practise partners, a well designed training method from the start, a table in the house providing the opportunity to practise as much as possible, no TV, Nintendo etc to compete with snooker for entertainment, and an extraordinary passion for the game. There is no real evidence that he was otherwise particularly unusual but I'm sure he was well educated and this may have influenced his intellectual approach to analysing and improving his game.

Hand-eye coordination is not a 'natural' ability either. Kids may vary a lot in terms of hand-eye coordination by the time they start playing snooker due to the different amounts or quality of exposure to other sports buidling the same skills. This was highlighted by Neil Robertson's mother as one of the keys to his early development in snooker. For all we know the key ingredients to his success were very similar to Walter Lindrum's. Neil's parents had a snooker hall as well.

[billabong]

I think Walter's father and older brother were both national champions as well. Initially Walter was discouraged as his father didn't think the family needed another snooker ( billiards ) player but in the end his father gave up trying to keep him off the table. Eddie Charlton later described him as the ultimate professional because he practised 14 hrs a day. The key ingredients I see here to Walter's extraordinary development are; very high quality mentors and practise partners, a well designed training method from the start, a table in the house providing the opportunity to practise as much as possible, no TV, Nintendo etc to compete with snooker ( billiards ) for entertainment, and an extraordinary passion for the game. There is no real evidence that he was otherwise particularly unusual but I'm sure he was well educated and this may have influenced his intellectual approach to analysing and improving his game.

Hand-eye coordination is not a 'natural' ability either. Kids may vary a lot in terms of hand-eye coordination by the time they start playing snooker due to the different amounts or quality of exposure to other sports buidling the same skills. This was highlighted by Neil Robertson's mother as one of the keys to his early development in snooker. For all we know the key ingredients to his success were very similar to Walter Lindrum's. Neil's parents had a snooker ( billiards , in Walter's case ) hall as well (.

Billiards was Walter's game . obv

[CoachGavin]

Natural ability

I agree with some of the points made. Ronnie Osullivan, jimmy white etc all look natural because they have spent a vast amount of their life practising a particular skill. They didn't just pick up a cue and look natural, potting balls for fun. The skills are learnt and they are easier to learn when young. When a player is also surrounded by good coaching and has professionals and top amateurs to play against then you will end up with a very good player. It's a bit like putting the ingredients into a cake lol