My Support System: Me, Myself and I
This article is part of Volume 10 of PoolSynergy, a monthly collection of the best writing on pool. After you read it, be sure to check out the rest of the August 2010 edition of PoolSynergy for other great articles over at ForumGhost516’s Blog.
As a recreational player with no pro ambitions, I really don’t have any support, per se. My family supports me, in that they don’t give me any grief about the time I spend playing, but otherwise they’re not involved in my “hobby”.
I’m retired and try to keep my spending on pool limited. I play at a great place that doesn’t charge for table time since I’m in a league there, though to be honest I don’t play there often since I bought a table of my own. I have taken a few inexpensive group lessons, but have avoided the more expensive, and more valuable, individual lessons for budgetary reasons only. I’d love to spend some serious time with a number of the great instructors in my area, and I’m quite sure my game would take a major step upwards if I did, but my money is going elsewhere.
There are numerous resources I’ve used that have been invaluable in providing me the information I’ve needed to get as far as I’ve come so far, and I’m sure they’ll be at least as instrumental in helping me get better from here. I’ve read and re-read a number of excellent books on the game. I find them to provide the most information for the money. I try to stay up to date with new and interesting perspectives on the game by regularly reading posts from the best pool blogs and forums. Since these provide avenues for discussion they are great when I have questions, which is often.
There are numerous resources that have been invaluable in providing me the information I’ve needed
I have watched and continue to watch quite a number of instructional videos as well as numerous great matches and they provide me with a great deal of information. The visual medium is better than books in that it’s almost like practicing, in that your mind can follow along with the action almost as if you were playing yourself. I think I play my best right after watching great pool.
I try to be very open about my game and my desire to improve. That attitude has helped me to get other players to open up with me and provide me with their insights. I have had a few pretty regular playing partners for a couple months at a time and they have all helped me in this way also. Personal feedback can be particularly useful because it zeros in on your actual game, rather than the game you think you have, and it can be a real eye opener if you listen.
Even though the above resources have been and will continue to be indispensable, I feel that my real support system is me. I play pool because I love it, and I work at getting better because the more I know about it, and the better I play, the more I enjoy it. I don’t have a training partner, coach or trainer, so it’s up to me to provide the drive, the discipline to spend the time working on my game.
I work to keep my attitude positive (sometimes a chore), my confidence high (another struggle), and my openness to feedback and new ideas obvious (this one’s easy for me). I’m the only ones who cares about my results, and it’s up to me to achieve my goals. No one will notice, let alone chastise me for not spending time practicing, I simply won’t get any better if I don’t.
I’ve tried a number of things to keep me at the practice table regularly, but the one that’s working best for me is to just spend time at the table every night before I go to bed. I’m a night person, and my table’s in the garage so no one can hear me. I thought that b y having a table at home I’d spend even more time practicing, but the reverse has proved true. I feel guilty when I don’t practice, but I miss the regular playing much more than I thought.
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| Brooke & Jeremiah |
My grand-daughter who lives with us just gave birth on July 20th to my great-grandson Jeremiah, and I’m enjoying spending lots of time with him, so it’ll only get harder to make time for practice. It’s an ongoing test of my commitment to improve to see if I can keep pool high enough on my priorities list to give it enough time to keep moving forward. My deep love of the game and my competitive nature are the drivers, but my lack of progress lately, combined with issues in my non-pool life that are taking my eyes off the game are getting in the way, so I struggle. Stay tuned to see how it works out.
I’d love to hear from those of you who are your own support systems. How do you do it? Have yo developed any tricks to keep you going? Let’s discuss this in the comments.
Links to all past editions of PoolSynergy are on the PoolSynergy – History and Schedule page.
My Previous PoolSynergy Posts
Nov 2009 – Thinking Your Way to More Pool Victories
Dec 2009 – My First Big ‘Aha!’ Moment in Pool
Jan 2010 – Three Outside Influences on my Pool Education
Feb 2010 – Some of My Favorite Pool Players
Mar 2010 – 10 Reasons Why Gambling is Bad for Pool
Apr 2010 – Attitude is Everything
May 2010 – Poolosophy: Pool Student’s Approach to the Game
June 2010 – Fixing Pool – An Outsider’s View
July 2010 – My Relationship with Pool
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11 Responses to “My Support System: Me, Myself and I”
p00lriah
- August 15th, 2010
it’s too bad that the quality of the instruction videos are quite mixed. you really gotta be careful when you try to learn from dvds, so you won’t pick up bad habits by accident. also, youtube has a ton of pool stuff, but many of the videos are nonsense. us enthusiasts need to crank the internal BS detector on high when we watch things on dvd or the internet.
Samm
- August 15th, 2010
Congrats on the new great-grandson!!! Hope to be making another trip out there again in November.
We’ll see what happens.
John Biddle
- August 15th, 2010
Poolriah, so right you are that the quality of the content varies greatly from video to video. Whatb are your favorites. Right now I’m really liking the new 5b DVD Video Encyclopedia of Pool Shots by Dr Dave Alciatore and Tom Ross.
Samm, thanks for stopping by, I look forward to rooting for you in November.
Eric Freeman
- August 15th, 2010
I also am my own support system. I have a methodical regimen that assigns specific drills to specific days. I stick to it fairly well but as I’m sure you know stuff comes up, and you can’t always do it for any number of reasons.
but I have a hard and fast rule, that no matter what if I am at home or with access to a pool table I WILL do a stop shot line everyday. my line is 6 diamonds long and I do 5 shots at each diamond, typically that is my warm up, but I feel as long as I get at least that in daily.. I won’t regress, and I’ll stay in stroke. and it seems to be working.
I can’t remember going more than 2 days in the past 2 years without doing at least that much. it only takes me about 15 minutes, and I feel that when I do get a full practice in I am always moving forward and never playing catch up.
John Biddle
- August 16th, 2010
I really like that you have both a standard routine to follow, and a minimum routine that you force yourself to do no matter what. I think I’ll try to incorporate something like that, myself. It isn’t clear to me, though, exactly what you are doing. Do you mean that you put the object ball on the spot, and put the cue ball at various points down the rail, at the diamonds, and shoot each shot 5 times? And is that 5 successes or 5 attempts?
Lately, I’ve been working most often on trying to kill 2 very bad habits I have, moving late in the shot, and guiding the cue rather than stroking it. I’m seeing progress, but only slowly. I just throw the balls out on the table and run them, but try to use the same stroke, with the same force, on all of them, and stay down until the balls come to rest. Not having to set up balls for every shot makes this go much faster, with a lot more of the time spent shooting, and for these issues I think that’s important. Other practice i mix in is to do target pool, setting up a shot using the donuts, and putting down a target on the table (a big circle on a piece of paper) and trying to make the ball and land on the paper.
Eric Freeman
- August 16th, 2010
I start with the Cb in the same place every time farthest spot from the pocket.. then an OB 1 diamond away shoot that 5 times successfully, then move one diamond farther ect..
Eric Freeman
- August 16th, 2010
shot #11 in 99 critical shots
I take a string and stretch it from the pocket to the head rail.. and put a paper hole reinforcer like they sell at office depot at each diamond along that line..I remove one from the shot in the book and always start with CB at the headstring so I can always make a nice comfortable bridge on the bed of the table
p00lriah
- August 16th, 2010
i watched this instructional dvd by grady matthews that i thought was pretty good. i didn’t pay attention to the fundamentals b/c i was working with my friend on my form, but the shots in the dvd were useful.
as far as the mechanics go, i personally think it’s more beneficial to work with a teacher/coach, since he/she can customize everything for you, and make adjustments on the spot. that’s just my opinion though.
Harshad
- August 18th, 2010
Congratulations on the new arrival in your family.
I have lot of DVDs and very few that I should say are honestly made with intention of imparting knowledge to studens of this great game. Don’t like the ones that tell you hit at spot x or x’o clock but don’t tell you why.
JT
- September 1st, 2010
I am my own support system. My wife is too busy to learn how to shoot nor does she have any interest in it. My son is in the Army and my daughter is just out.
That is how I can keep up a fairly regular regimen of practice. They are full grown, out of the house and I am in a job where it’s basically 9 to 5. When I get home, I have dinner and then go downstairs to my 1916 Brunswick 9′ table and practice drills for over an hour a day. Occasionally I will play people at bars and notice a definate improvement in my game yet when I shoot in tournaments, I lose out quickly. I know it’s in my head so it’s something I need to work on.
I love pool very much. I remember the day I turned 10 was the day my dad said I was old enough to shoot pool and boy did I. I was doing drills when I was 11 but then 5 years later girls became more important and also making money. My pool game took a back seat and I worked and got married. Then came kids and more work until the kids were grown and gone. Then I went back to pool with a vengence. I know I love the game because I love shooting and competing. Even when I lose I go right back in and try harder. It’s not that I have to prove a point. I just love doing what I want to do. Good luck on your game!
John Biddle
- September 2nd, 2010
Drills are great, especially if you do the right ones for you, in the right way. But playing tough competition should be another valuable part of your regimen. It’s fun, and it works totally different brain muscles. In a match you’re much more focused on the strategy of the game, and your opponent is trying to leave you in the worst possible place when he turns the table over to you. You don’t see that in practice. And the pressure of the match is greater, and different from the pressure you can put on yourself during practice. It’s good to hear you come back to the game after such a long absence and still have the same feelings for it. Keep up your work, and add more competition, and your game will continue to improve.
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