What I mean by that is that stance, stroke and aim are critical skills that precede everything. Grip and bridge also come very early but they’re usually very quick to learn. Getting the stance right lays the foundation for everything; get it wrong and you battle it until you fix it. Stroke, including the details of smoothness, follow through, acceleration through the ball and finishing completely every time are also easily taught but much harder to get consistent on. And of course, we mustn’t forget to stay still.

Fundamentals need to be worked hard in the beginning with a few good exercises and optionally with the coaching of a good instructor. You have to keep at these though, so as one starts to work on cue ball speed control and cue ball direction skills, he keeps working on stance, stroke and aim.

I didn’t separate out one vs two rail kicks, but you’re right that it could easily become another separate skill, harder to grasp initially, but very valuable, since knowing two rail paths really helps you get around the table. Having more than one advanced skill for some ability levels seems like a good approach. I might even cut the levels to only full table ghost matches, and put two on each one.

It takes long enough to move from one level to the next that there’s time to acquire a modicum of ability at two advanced skills. Then, as we progress, we have to keep all skills up to par with our overall ability, so they’ll slowly get better over time.

I do wonder if two-rail kicks belong somewhere on the list. I found it to be fairly natural to learn them as I started to play two rail shape on shots. I certainly use two rail kicks more than I use tickies, for example.

I think that perhaps as you get higher on the list, that there may be more than one advanced skill that is appropriate for each level.