How to Stay in Stroke with No Table

Mickey Qualls

Mickey Qualls

You study the watch......
Silver Member
Hi everybody, and thank you in advance for any suggestions you may have.

I recently had some pretty involved knee surgery, and the knee is immobile for a while. I can't put ANY weight on it at the moment. As the healing process continues, I will eventually be able to use it normally. But that's a long ways away. Three months at a minimum, possibly more.
I'm currently alternating between a wheelchair, walker, and crutches. The home care service will be installing a temporary ramp so I can get in and out of the house for appointments and such.
I have a table in the basement, but no way to get down there at the moment. Maybe as things progress, I can hobble my way down there a couple nights a week. But for the next couple of months, that's not an option.

Anybody got any ideas how to stay in some sort of stroke until I can get to a table without assistance ?
 
Mickey Qualls said:
Hi everybody, and thank you in advance for any suggestions you may have.

I recently had some pretty involved knee surgery, and the knee is immobile for a while. I can't put ANY weight on it at the moment. As the healing process continues, I will eventually be able to use it normally. But that's a long ways away. Three months at a minimum, possibly more.
I'm currently alternating between a wheelchair, walker, and crutches. The home care service will be installing a temporary ramp so I can get in and out of the house for appointments and such.
I have a table in the basement, but no way to get down there at the moment. Maybe as things progress, I can hobble my way down there a couple nights a week. But for the next couple of months, that's not an option.

Anybody got any ideas how to stay in some sort of stroke until I can get to a table without assistance ?
Click to expand...


Quite frankly, I don't believe this is possible.

Enjoy your time off from the game. You'll return to it with a refreshed perspective. Read some good pool related books like, "McGoorty," "The Hustler & the Champ," "Willie's Game," "Hustler Days," "Pool Wars," "Road Player," "Right On Cue," "The Hustler," "The Bank Shot," or "Confessions of a Poll Hustler."

The game ain't goin' anywhere -- it'll still be there when you're healthy :-)

Lou Figueroa
 
Imagination

Sorry you're going through it right now.

You reminded me of a study I read about somewhere, years and years ago. I'm pasting a description of it that I found in just a few minutes' searching. Maybe you can find more.

Quote from this link:

The power of visualization was illustrated in an experiment at the University of Chicago. Students, all with about the same ability in basketball, were divided into three groups and asked to shoot foul shots. The percentage of baskets each team made were recorded.

The first group was then told not to practice or play basketball for thirty days. The second group was told to practice shooting foul shots every day for one hour for thirty days. And, the third group was told not to go on a basketball courts al all for thirty days, but to practice shooting foul shots in their mind for an hour each day.

At the end of thirty days, there were some fascinating results. As you would expect, Group 1, who had not practiced at all, had made no improvement over their original percentage of baskets made. Group 2, the group that had actually practiced, had improved their performance by 24%. Group 3, who had not set foot on a basketball court, who had only imagined shooting baskets in their mind, had improved their performance by a phenomenal 23%, almost the same improvement as the group who had actually played basketball!

The reason? The subconscious doesn’t distinguish between an actual event and a vividly imagined one. It is medically and scientifically recognized that visualized images actually bring about psychological and physiological changes to virtually the same degree as direct experience. This principle is now being use in numerous medical applications as well as to accelerate learning, to improve athletic performance to promote successful career achievement, etc.

and i also found, but know nothing about, this link: http://www.coachr.org/psychskills.htm

Anyway, it always makes me think of a pro player who spent time in jail and got out playing really really well.
 
order a ton of accustats and get at least an hour of watching in each day

you just might come out the other side with a few new tricks in your bag
 
Sorry about your health issues, I recently went through shoulder surgery so I know a fraction of what you will be going through.

I would find a player that I like to emulate and get a few of their dvds, whether they are from TAR or accustats - you get more play for the money from TAR. I try to get a player that has great rhythm, stroke and shot selection - I like Alex & Shane. They are different but the same. It was amazing, after I started going back to playing, I was in much better stroke than I thought I would be - I think it was the dvds + me wanting to play.

If you don't have any and you like these players too, I would be happy to loan you one of my TAR matches w/these players: I have the one to 100 & the first time they met race 21. Both great matches, but if you root for Shane, the race to 100 would be harder to watch ;).

Just PM me your address and your selection & I will get it off to you via book rate mail (standard). You can return it when you get healed, no hurry. (this offer is only good if you are in the conus).

Dave
 
Last edited:
The mind does powerful things.
The mind works wonders.
The mind keeps learning.
Group 3, who had not set foot on a basketball court, who had only imagined shooting baskets in their mind, had improved their performance by a phenomenal 23%, almost the same improvement as the group who had actually played basketball!

I'm a believer!
 
Mickey Qualls said:
Hi everybody, and thank you in advance for any suggestions you may have.

I recently had some pretty involved knee surgery, and the knee is immobile for a while. I can't put ANY weight on it at the moment. As the healing process continues, I will eventually be able to use it normally. But that's a long ways away. Three months at a minimum, possibly more.
I'm currently alternating between a wheelchair, walker, and crutches. The home care service will be installing a temporary ramp so I can get in and out of the house for appointments and such.
I have a table in the basement, but no way to get down there at the moment. Maybe as things progress, I can hobble my way down there a couple nights a week. But for the next couple of months, that's not an option.

Anybody got any ideas how to stay in some sort of stroke until I can get to a table without assistance ?
Click to expand...

I practice my stroke every day. In the car, in the easy chair or just standing around. I don't need a cue stick to move my lower arm perfectly. I actually SET-PAUSE-FINISH without a pool table.
randyg
 
Read Willie Hoppe's Book On Billiards

Get a copy of Willie Hoppe's book (printed around 1941) and read it cover to cover until you can recite the diamond system by heart for different carom, billiard, and pools shots. I mean don't just read it...study it like it was for a test. I still browse through the book occasionally and have read it countless times over the past 35 years.

Then get a small coke bottle...the nip size - preferably made out of glass....and wash it out thoroughly....then practice your stroke with an old cue....stroke the cue like you would in a shot...practice strokes included...and never touch the sides of the bottle opening....then progress to where you can do that with your head turned away not looking at it....see how many strokes you can do before touching the bottle....try doing it after you started your stroke through the bottle with closed eyes.

Once you start the stroke, it should be consistent and repeatable and if it isn't, practice...practice...practice....when you get back to the table your stroke will be steady, true and the best it's been in awhile. It's because there's minimal movement of the cue tip and shaft during the actual stroke. Master this and you'll be playing like a champ. My stepdad, while he was still alive, grew up with players like Willie Hoppe and Ralph Greenleaf and all of them hustled pool back in the 20's and 30's. He taught me a number of practice drills and told me "Never just bang balls around." and "Always practice with purpose!". The coke bottle exercise was the very first exercise he showed me when I first starting out playing pool back in the late 50's.

Matt
 
^Agree with you. Becoming knowledgeable in pool is extremely useful. You can also hit up the pool rooms on your wheel chair.
 
I was sick all last week and never left the house.
Knowing I was going to have to play a tough league match Friday night, in an attempt to stay in stroke, I shot M & M peanuts into dinner rolls on my kitchen countertop.
I could spin the larger chocolate (call it the mud ball) into the smaller green object ball so it would almost roll off the counter, stop, and reverse about an inch or so.
Ended up shooting lights out in my match, and tortured a better player.

Not that I was bored or anything
 
I suffer from back and neck problems that sometimes keep me from playing. I love watching videos, but it's of little use to watch them casually. It's a good idea to stop, rewind etc., ask oneself what one would have done, why it would have been better or worse or just different, if one felt comfortable with what the pro in the video does, to visualize the execution from one's own player's perspective, "feel" the shot etc.

Nothing wrong with watching casually and have a good laugh thanks to e.g. funny commentators, of course, just saying, you'll get out what you put in.

Get well soon!

Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________

„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti
 
Last edited:
blah blah said:
Sorry you're going through it right now.

You reminded me of a study I read about somewhere, years and years ago. I'm pasting a description of it that I found in just a few minutes' searching. Maybe you can find more.

Quote from this link:

The power of visualization was illustrated in an experiment at the University of Chicago. Students, all with about the same ability in basketball, were divided into three groups and asked to shoot foul shots. The percentage of baskets each team made were recorded.

The first group was then told not to practice or play basketball for thirty days. The second group was told to practice shooting foul shots every day for one hour for thirty days. And, the third group was told not to go on a basketball courts al all for thirty days, but to practice shooting foul shots in their mind for an hour each day.

At the end of thirty days, there were some fascinating results. As you would expect, Group 1, who had not practiced at all, had made no improvement over their original percentage of baskets made. Group 2, the group that had actually practiced, had improved their performance by 24%. Group 3, who had not set foot on a basketball court, who had only imagined shooting baskets in their mind, had improved their performance by a phenomenal 23%, almost the same improvement as the group who had actually played basketball!

The reason? The subconscious doesn’t distinguish between an actual event and a vividly imagined one. It is medically and scientifically recognized that visualized images actually bring about psychological and physiological changes to virtually the same degree as direct experience. This principle is now being use in numerous medical applications as well as to accelerate learning, to improve athletic performance to promote successful career achievement, etc.

and i also found, but know nothing about, this link: http://www.coachr.org/psychskills.htm

Anyway, it always makes me think of a pro player who spent time in jail and got out playing really really well.
Click to expand...

Thank you for posting this information. This is precisely what I tell my patients, including athletes with whom I consult. Additionally, minute muscle memory actually occurs as you visualize performing an activity.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top