First off, tens of thousands of students lololol.
And how many of "your" students have BECOME pro players???
He is smarter than I give him credit for, he's knows when he's on the losing end of an argument, and one that could affect his income too.
Teaching is overrated. I know players can be helped by teachers, but it's not nearly to the extent people think. Instructors try to make everyone feel they NEED teaching to become better. That there is some "knowledge" they have that others don't. The things I cringe when I hear are "you're reinforcing bad habits as you practice (omg there could not be a more loaded line), or the things we've heard in this thread. They are just not true. It's like learning a language as a kid: sure, every now and then you'll get corrected by your mom, "no, you didn't win him!". And that helps. But, the vast majority of the accumulated knowledge and ability to speak comes from the child being immersed 15 hours a day and inquisitive about the language.
That's exactly how it is with pool. People learn to win and improve as a pool player by being immersed in both practice and serious competition. Sure, they can get a little tidbit here or there that may help them, but in the grand scheme of things, the knowledge passed from one person to another is not even worth considering. This is why we don't see monsters simply emerge from basements one day, unknown to the world. It's because the skill and learning are all only through actual battle and intense practice. The best example that lets us see the truth clear as day is the Philippines. Those guys are monsters because they're playing each other competitively under very stressful, pressure packed conditions, and because they frankly got nothing else to do but practice and play pool.
You don't learn how to win under extreme pressure (which is the definition improvement I think) by talking to people, you do it by being there, time and time again. You do it yourself. There's no teaching the stuff you need to know when you're in there.
Look at it this way: do a poll and ask how many top instructors teach aiming systems. It will be at or near 100%. Do another poll of top players and ask how many aim balls with a system alone. There will be a huge disparity between the percentage of instructors pushing aiming systems, and the greatest players. The answer as to why is obvious... one subset has something to sell, the other doesn't. It's not a big mystery.
Good pool comes from being right in the middle of the highest pressure games, along with a steady dose of practice. The reason people think they get better when they get a lesson is obvious to me. I once got a new cue, and I swear I have never practiced so good in my life. Looking back on that, I realize the reason I played so well was not because the cue, or because I had come over some plateau, it was simply because there was something very new and unique in my hands (I had the same cue previous to this for about ten ears), and the balls were reacting differently, and it very much peaked my mind's interest. That's what happens to students too in my opinion. Something different is there to peak their mind's interest when they have a teacher next to them for the first time, and they play with a different passion, and may even practice more and harder. That's great, and that's what I think a really good teacher would try to stir up in his students, but, it's the actual student who made the strides. I'm not trying to take any credit away from instructors when it works, I just feel it has more to do with a player's interests being peaked than I do with any one piece of knowledge the instructor happened to pass on. It's never about actual knowledge, you've gotta find that yourself in the heat of battle, actual learning/improvement is more about a player's interest and passion being magnified.
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