2009/2010

2009: Retrospective

I think I spent the majority of 2009 working on the basic mechanical aspects of pool. In trying to build a better foundation on which to improve my pool game I tinkered with the length of my backstroke, straightening my bridge arm, straightening my stroking arm and messed around with my head position and my feet position.

Results:

I shortened my backstroke. It’s improved my accuracy but now, sometimes, I end up poking at the ball. I need to work on keeping a shortened backstroke while still stroking through the cue ball.

I straightened my arm but it caused increased difficulty with my back (I have chronic back issues) so I went back to a modified bent arm. It’s “straighter” but it’s still bent.

I never could straighten my back stroking arm. It just wouldn’t straighten. I’m stuck with it being in towards my body a little. (Chicken wing.)

I raised my head up a little until, just recently, someone pointed out that my feet might be too close together. Now I’m widening my stance which allows me to bring my head lower and which might relieve some issues with my back (less bending) and allow me to sight the balls better.

With less pain in my back I might have to go back to tinkering with straightening my bridge arm again…

In short, 12 months of tinkering only resulted in a shorten backstroke with a pokey stroke.

Productive huh?

It was actually very helpful.

I think I needed to experiment to find out what works for me – my body type and my body quirks – and to settle in on “my style”. This is the way I’m going to stand, this is the way I’m going to hold my cue and this is what works bests for me.

PRODUCT PLUG: I got it in my head that there’s a “textbook” way to stand and hold a cue - since it’s always the same in every instructional book on pool out there - until I saw the IPAT video. Watching video 1 and watching how the Germans determine your stance and cue position helped me in being comfortable being “non-textbook”.

I only got video 1 so if anyone wants to send me videos 2 and 3…

IPAT videos can be purchased from those cool dudes at Pooldawg. Use Billiard Digest’s cover girl Sarah Rousey’s code: ROUSEY when purchasing at Pooldawg to get 5% off your order.

It was a good year and I think I've made improvements to my pool game or, at the very least, have a good foundation to develop a pool game.

2010: The Game Plan

I’m pretty comfortable with my mechanics now, but no guarantees that I won’t stop tinkering, so I think 2010 is going to be about working on my consistency – something all the tinkering around screwed up. For example, I couldn’t settle on a pre-shot routine since my pre-shot kept changing you know?

And with every change I made it was two steps back in hopes of going three steps (or more) forward which showed up in my match records for the year. Some great wins and finishes, 3^rd in a Predator A-B-C-D-event being the best individual result for me, but some ugly nasty losses as well. (Too many to recount here…and let’s not bring up that ugliness.)

Now that I’m settled in on my foundation I’m hoping I won’t have those extremely ugly losses to go with my moderate successes and to play at a more consistent level. Well, as long as I keep practicing regularly.

I’m also settling on a cue. I kept changing cues, trying low deflection shafts…and I’m going to TRY to stick to one cue for all of 2010 which should, I hope, also help with my consistency. This is, of course, unless I somehow end up getting another cue. I tried a Dennis Searing cue the other day…me likey. (Too bad I don’t have the 3k-5K+ to get one.)

Along with being more consistent in my mechanics and my approach I have to learn to be more consistent in my strategy. I have to play “smart” all the time and approach every match the same way regardless of opponent or situation; regardless if it’s “just practice” or a league match.

Here's an example:

Recently someone pointed out to me, after I took a really tough cut on a ball down the rail, that there are two things that are going to happen on that shot: you’re going to make the ball but its LOW PERCENTAGE or you’re going to miss and the result is you’re going to leave it hanging in the pocket. The best move here is to play safe and extending the game and hoping for another chance at the table rather than selling out and never getting back at the table. It’s recognizing these shots, playing the safety and not saying “fugit” and shoot at it anyway that I have to improve upon. (Either that or get really good at making really low percentage shots.)

I also plan to compete more in 2010. Due to the economy and changes in my financial situation I couldn’t compete in as many tournaments as I liked – and I think because of it my game focus and competitiveness waned. Things are better now financially and I’m hoping to compete more since it’s a lot of fun.

So that’s my game plan for 2010 – being more consistent and building on the foundation I set in 2009. We’ll see how long it lasts.

(Probably until March – March has the Super Billiards Expo event and I should have my tax return by then and with all those cuemakers...)

Laters.