Opinions on traditional sports training for improvement in billiard play?

Hi, I was wondering what the instructors here opinions on traditional training techniques to improve hand eye coordination, spacial awareness , and depth perception . A example of this would be Juggling to improve hand eye coordination as well as improve memorization.

The other specific to this would be sports visualization techniques and sports vision training as well as using aids like the Brock String.

Juggling I know for sure should raise hand eye coordination and of course there would be regular training of playing billiards or practicing pool, but everything I keep reading on training for pool or billiards never mentions traditional training techniques like physical fitness, visualization exercises are spoken of but not very in depth, and most while they don't ignore the impact that good hand eye coordination and muscle control have on playing pool don't seem to have many exercises beyond. Practice a lot of pool.

I myself am starting a training program in May that includes some of these training methods to build up hand eye coordination ( I am minorly above average player) .


Here are some articles :

https://www.dynavisioninternational.com/news/need-for-visiontraining


http://coachkeegan.com/jugglingforathletes/


I was just wondering if there were some other techniques that people have heard of similar to these that improve hand eye coordination.

pooltchr said:

I think some of what you mentioned could be beneficial, but most instructors, myself included, are more likely to recommend training that is more specific to cue sports. You mentioned visualization as one area. I personally put a large emphasis on this during the mental game training portion of the class.

bottom line, any training is good, but game specific training is probably going to be more effective.

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Yes, I am doing specific drills and training mostly focused on my aiming and hitting center. I am also though adding in the visualization exercises, a physical fitness routine, and juggling.

Basically this is my commitment to myself to get healthier ( I need to lose like 15 pounds but I am not very overweight at all). Get better at pool and enjoy myself.

Pool actually burns a lot of calories.

Right now I am having trouble with Center Ball hits specifically long distance ( I practice on 9 foot tables) cross corner straight in shots so any drills on those are welcome.

I am also tracking my progress every 2 weeks by doing drills and recording my results. My goal is 100 hours by September of practicing pool. I think I can get to 8 hours a week. 3 on weekends 4 hours on Weeknights. In addition to my league play.

I'm practicing using Byrne's videos on pool practice, Doctor Dave, some of the drills from New Standard/ Critical 99 , I also try to use this billiards training app that I have on my phone called CheckBilliard.

Mostly I am straight in drill and also things like Sniper drills , along with Tip to Tip. I also practice some other drills as well. I'm splitting my time 60/40 of play and drills.

BilliardsAbout said:

Hitting center ball shots is in itself a drill. Time to check alignment and head/eye position for consistency. Cue over the diamonds on a long rail. Note the moving your head to one side, rotating it, etc. changes the view. Find the spot where the alignment is true and looks true. Bring this body/head alignment back to the center ball shots.

Center ball shots over a distance are prone to error when striking/gripping too hard. Lighten up.

If those two things don't do it for you--send me a note for a free lesson, no obligation. Happy to have a student with actual drills, routines and goal setting!

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Thanks for the encouragement. Yeah, I am headed up to the hall now to practice for a few hours and I am going to be practicing straight in drills ( short distance I have no trouble with but past that to I'd see mid range long shot straight in I am not nailing them like I should .

I'll try that with the head positioning . I also do the tip to tip drill where you strike the cue ball center drive to diamond long ways then let the ball come back and strike the tip of your pool cue ( I'm sure you know which drill I am talking about I don't know the actual name of it other than tip to tip).

My problem is I find that drill so incredibly boring to do so I have to shake things up and practice it in short 25 shot breaks between playing and practice. Goal is to get to 3000 shots by the fall just on that drill. I have a counter on my phone. I figure it I do it 100 times each practice session I'll get there.

I also track my accuracy with a stroke counter on my phone so that I can get my overall accuracy. Usually I play a game of 8 ball against myself where I pick spot or stripe then run all the spots or stripes out then switch over. This is super hard for me but I really enjoy it. I think my best is 18 strokes.

BilliardsAbout said:

Hitting center ball shots is in itself a drill. Time to check alignment and head/eye position for consistency. Cue over the diamonds on a long rail. Note the moving your head to one side, rotating it, etc. changes the view. Find the spot where the alignment is true and looks true. Bring this body/head alignment back to the center ball shots.

Center ball shots over a distance are prone to error when striking/gripping too hard. Lighten up.

If those two things don't do it for you--send me a note for a free lesson, no obligation. Happy to have a student with actual drills, routines and goal setting!

Click to expand...

Yeah I did Dr. Daves Centerline Stroke Drill. I am hitting to the right of the cue ball center ( When the CB bounces off the back rail it moves to my right more than my left. I am also left eye dominant but right handed. Thanks for the advice.

I did about 50 probably more ( I couldn't get internet so I couldn't record what I was doing in my spreadsheets) Cross Table Straight In Shots, the closer the ball was to the pocket the easier it was for me to get it I was about 80% on those, the further the OB was placed toward the center line of the table the lower my accuracy became despite being perfectly lined up with the pocket.

It's definitely something to work on.

Then I played straight pool for a while. I was working on a 9 footer. Total time was 2 hours and I spent probably an hour playin and hour of practice then my shoulder started hurting and stopped.