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Spring Session

Last Monday night the spring session began with much anticipation from both teams. It is a common thing to want to win the first competition of the season. As a team I believe we won, but for me I lost my match. My opponent was pretty good and played some excellent defense which I failed to perceive because I was concentrating on my own approach to playing. One can not play a one sided game. Being aware of what your opponent is doing is all part of the game. My inexperience in defense was, I believe,
one of the reasons I lost. There was others, like me sinking the 8 ball in the wrong pocket and a few other mistakes. Even small mistakes in 8 ball can be a disaster that cannot be, in most cases, rectified unless your opponent is asleep or is inexperienced at the skill level you are playing at.

Oh well, back to the practice table. I think defense will be put at the top of the learning cycle. It should have been there already, but there are only so many hours in the day. It is a lesson learned. And that's what it's all about.

At least my stroke was working.

Seeking The Stroke

There is one thing that makes or breaks a billiard player. It is the ability, or inability, to develop a sound working cuestick stroke. It may sound simple to the bystanders who watch the game of billiards or pool, but truth be told, it is as complex as any other physical motion that any athlete would use to accomplish an intended goal. Whether it is a quarterback throwing a touchdown, a ball player trying to hit a home run or even a base hit, a golfer trying to hit a small white ball in the air, or in a hole four inches wide. All achievers have one thing they all work on. It is called concentration and rhythm in the motion that is being utilized. It is the pursuit of perfection that drives the performers above and beyond the norm.

I have to keep changing the date on this post because I want it to remain as the first post.

The New Session 1/26/09

Next Monday the new,or if you will,the spring session will begin. I am looking forward to it and the competition it creates. There is something about competition that brings out the gladiator mentality. There is a similarity in the mindset of those who put themselves on the line to win or lose. Obviously, it is a deep rooted state of mental preparedness that surfaces in the face of the enemy. This is a societal mentality at its best. Wining and losing is what drives mankind no matter what the agenda and where it is being carried out.

On a personal basis I am preparing for the competition. My practice sessions have increased to about 25 hrs a week, and I have also embraced about a dozen new drills.
You heard about one step forward and two back, that is proving itself in my practice
sessions. The obvious is the fact that when trying something new, one is making some changes to the regular routine. And as the practice progresses some of the changes will be embedded into the natural rhythm of ones game and others will be discarded as not comfortable in the greater scheme of things. Having set all these movements in motion, and practiced endlessly, one can only hope they survive the war on the table. Whether they do or not, one thing is paramount, others will replace them until the right formula is found and polished. Only time will tell.

End of winter session

Tonight we (the team) lost in the first round of the playoffs, and ends the winter session. We have a bye week on 1/11 and then the spring session begins on 1/19. We had a good run tieing for first. The playoffs are usually played by the best players as it is a race to three. Whoever wins 3 out of 5 matches first takes all. We still have a shot in the Local Tournments Competition in June so all is not lost.

I think it was Frank Sinatra who said, "Memories are made of this." Goodby to 2008.

Wing Drill

Here is another excellent drill. The object is to sink all the balls, but you must keep the cue ball within the angle. It is also a great draw and stroke practice.

New Years Day 2009

This is the beginning of the new year and we go to the playoffs next Monday 1/5/09.
We tied for first place with the season ending 12/21/08. The first place team does not have to go into the division playoffs but directly in to the tri-county competition. You tied for first place one may ask, so how is the tie broken? I had the same question. What the league does is to go back to the last match we played against the other team. The winner of that match gets the nod. It is the only fair way of doing it other than a playoff which I think would be even fairer. But the APA makes the rules that fit into a certain time span, so that's the way it is. If we had won the last match the choice would have been reversed.

Anyway, we go into a two week division play off that will determine who goes to the tri-county playoff, that being the stepping stone to Vegas and the Nationals. The spring session begins around the end of Jan into Feb. There is an MVP award, which I did not know about. It is something of a personal goal to go in that direction while at the same time keeping up the team play, which, is the main goal.

My stroke is coming along pretty well. I bought a dvd called the Sixty Minute Workout, and was very pleased with it. I was even more pleased when I realized that the instructor, Bert Kinister, is also a stroke maven and he kept reinforcing that point during the complete lesson. I learned a lot. I also ordered two other disk by him from Seyberts. I am also thinking about buying a portable dvd player so I can take the disk to work with me and play them as I practice. Ready reference. It will depend on the cost.

Have a happy and healthy New Year.

Searching for Mr. Stroke

As anyone who read this blog knows, I am a stroke maven, a pursuer of the Holy Grail of strokedom and a stroke techie. For me, it is paramount to a good pool match that can be won't or lost. Any wrong movement of the grip, the bridge, the head or an uncomfortable stance spells doomsday in a match.

One of the biggest culprits in the stroke is the scoop motion that so many players do without realizing it. The motion will also cause the head to come up.....or does the head come up before the stroke is finished thus causing the scooping motion? Or is it a simultaneous movement of equal mistakes? Or is it a too tight grip that can cause lost of control and followup? There are so many variables to consider when a person picks up a cuestick.

Last Monday at the league night I did not play due to the matchups. That in turn gave me time to analyse some of the strokes of the various players that played. It was like watching a movie. There were level cues, some slightly below level with the tip facing north of the equator, some with the butt raised various degrees, upright stances, side way stances, elbows flared out, wrist bent outward and inward,tight grips, forward grips and rear grips. And then there were a few miscues because some players forget what the chalk is for. The most entertaining was those who used body language. They are the ones you do not want to stand too close to less your eyeball becomes a cueball.

The interesting thing is that, despite all the different postures that come into play, the people who have one or some of the faults, come to play and they also come to win. The faults are not really faults. They are movements that each individual player developed as they learned the game, and no one ever took the trouble to point them out and try to correct them. The players, as a result, practiced the wrong thing instead of the right thing. And over time, taking into consideration the indomitable spirit of the human race, players took the wrong thing and adapted it to their own vision of the right thing and started winning matches.

So.....whose to say what is right and wrong? Not me...I've got my own stroke problems.

center table drill

This is a great center table drill. I took the idea from a youtube presentation developed by Bert Kinister. The idea is to sink a ball from center table and return CB to center before next shot. Great draw practice and also english The balls can be set at any diamonds a person wants.

Down the Stretch

It is two weeks until the end of the season...where did the time go? Where ever it went I'm happy my game didn't go with it. I won my match last Monday, and I believe it was only due to my practice sessions because my opponent was pretty good. As a team we are in third place. The next two matches will tell the story as to our future for the season.

Next Feburary I may go into a nine ball league. It plays on Thursday night so that will not be a problem with my job. Monday 8 and Thursday 9 should be an interesting schedule and competition. I'm looking forward to them even though I have not played very much 9 ball. I like 9 ball but truth be told I have no one to play it with. Most people work during the day or have more important things on their agenda. I haven't played with my friend George lately as he has be feeling under the weather. I found out last night he is in the hospital for a colon surgery. I'll call his wife tonight.

I have to find a daytime playing partner whether it is 8,9, or straight pool. It is a great practice for ball running against another player. It is a true test of ones ability and a great way to gain competitive confidence. Some where out there someone is thinking the same way I am. It's only a matter of finding him/her. I guess I'll have to wait until after the holidays. In the meantime, I will keep on with my own approach to practice with some informantion I got from Bob Henning's book called the Pro Book. The library finely came through. It has a lot of good stuff in it,but I'm happy the library saw fit to buy it instead of me buying it. I'm just a Po' boy.

I had lunch with my friend Bob today. It was very pleasent and we spoke about a lot of things. I would like to get a cue stick in his hands. I think he would be a good pool player. He' a retired accountant which means he has a systematic mind. Just what a good player needs. Maybe some day.