Jennifer Baretta's preshot routine

BRussell

BRussell

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
It's really consistent and a little unusual I thought.

After sighting the line, she steps in with both knees bent, then she straightens her right leg as she puts her head down, leaving her left leg bent. And it looks like a snooker stance, with her body more square to the shot line rather than sideways like most (American?) pool players.

She doesn't take any full practice strokes, maybe a just a few very short jabs toward the cue ball.

I wonder if this is something to be emulated, or if anyone knows where she learned it. Who else shoots like this?

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(Full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsFMFYTVVGQ)
 
I dont know the answer, but its a very good question. I love the GiFs, it would be even better to get the same stroke from two camera angles, but I dont think it was broadcast like that.
 
Looks likes she is creeping up on the ball like that with her legs bent so she can keep her head and vision centre on the line of aim she picked out. Legs bent as she goes in may just simply be because she gets a better view a few inches below where she would be if she stood upright. The short jabs aren't actually jabs. They're controlled feathers that are very common in snooker.
 
Jimmy Reid would suggest this as "addressing the table." He was really big on the need to address the table with a proper stance.
 
She learned a solid preshot routine and is very good at doing it on each shot. I'm sure she does it to minimize any errors in her stance, bridge or stroke. It likely also helps her focus on the shot more as her brain is occupied on the routine instead of other things like "danm this is a tough shot" or "hope I don't miss this".

The issue is that this thing takes like 3.2 minutes each ball, she is one of the slowest players out there.

Not that any of us mind :grin-square:

If you look at how Shanelle plays she does almost the same thing just with much worse results.

BTW rep to you for doing those nice videos, really shows how similar each shot looks.
 
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The GIF maker is at at giflike.com. It's easy and works really well - just copy-paste the youtube url, and then drag to the time you want it to start. It stores the GIF on its website, so you can just link to it.
 
BRussell said:
Pidge would you say it's a snooker stance?
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There is no such thing as a snooker stance ;-) lots of snooker players stand with the hips quite side on and not always so square to the shot. But to say so and so is using a snooker or pool stance...it just doesn't make sense to me.

I would say it closely resembles Ronnie O'Sullivan as far as the stance is concerned. The feet are almost perfectly square to the shot making the hips almost perfectly square to the line of aim.
 
Rather than debate, why not go to the source to learn the secrets of her stance? Take a lesson or two from Jennifer Baretta.
 
JAM said:
Jimmy Reid would suggest this as "addressing the table." He was really big on the need to address the table with a proper stance.
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Hey Jennie, I think Jimmy got that from ROTC in Gloucester High School. It was mandatory back then. We used to march around in those old wool army uniforms and had to wear them at school on Tuesday's and Thursday's. We all looked fairly goofy bumping into each other and all. I believe he refers to it in the bio section of his website. When I was a junior in high school we had a demonstration against ROTC being mandatory and we all ran off the school grounds. It was quite the scene. If I remember correctly Gloucester was the last public school system with mandatory ROTC for boys in America.

On topic, his belief is that it's important to square up to the angle of the shot and that is what he refers to in his lessons. He comments about keeping your eyes and shoulders in line with the shot then dropping down on line. Anyone have any idea how he is these days?
 
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hang-the-9 said:
She learned a solid preshot routine and is very good at doing it on each shot. I'm sure she does it to minimize any errors in her stance, bridge or stroke. It likely also helps her focus on the shot more as her brain is occupied on the routine instead of other things like "danm this is a tough shot" or "hope I don't miss this".

The issue is that this thing takes like 3.2 minutes each ball, she is one of the slowest players out there.

Not that any of us mind :grin-square:

If you look at how Shanelle plays she does almost the same thing just with much worse results.

BTW rep to you for doing those nice videos, really shows how similar each shot looks.
Click to expand...

Agonizingly slow. I never see her get in free stroke. Just so deliberate it seems to hinder her. Like 10 minutes to run a rack
 
Quesports said:
Hey Jennie, I think Jimmy got that from ROTC in Gloucester High School. It was mandatory back then. We used to march around in those old wool army uniforms and had to wear them at school on Tuesday's and Thursday's. We all looked fairly goofy bumping into each other and all. I believe he refers to it in the bio section of his website. When I was a junior in high school we had a demonstration against ROTC being mandatory and we all ran off the school grounds. It was quite the scene. If I remember correctly Gloucester was the last public school system with mandatory ROTC for boys in America.

On topic, his belief is that it's important to square up to the angle of the shot and that is what he refers to in his lessons. He comments about keeping your eyes and shoulders in line with the shot then dropping down on line. Anyone have any idea how he is these days?
Click to expand...

At the 2004 Open, I think it was, Keith was practicing before a match, and Jimmy Reid was sitting tableside, sweating Keith with me. He told Keith that he wasn't addressing the table correctly. If I understand what he meant by that correctly, he wanted Keith to actually take a brief pause before he leaned down on the table. In other words, when Keith walked up to the table to analyze the shot he was going to take, he wanted Keith to pause for a brief second while analyzing the shot.

Actually, it did work. We both noticed that when Keith paused before he leaned down on the table and actually addressed the table (Jimmy's words), Keith pocketed balls more consistently. :)
 
there should have been a warning from the op as I was in a trance for 4 1/2 minutes watching her "stroke" :eek:
 
It's the style she has developed through practice and play, and obviously suits her.
As for practice strokes, there is nothing written that ever requires them.
Allison Fisher, stands about as square to a table as anyone I know of. :smile:
 
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