Sam, I am a supporter of yours. I really dig when someone goes all out for a goal. I've reached goals in my life, and I can testify that it can be reached, no matter what the goal...IF you go all in 100%.
I quoted Neil, because his words are extremely important here and now is the time in your progression to take them into account.
You might be a little young, so you may not have seen it, but in the movie Rocky, the old salty trainer Micky (played by Burgess Meredith) had many words of wisdom. While training Rocky he says “For a 45-minute fight, you got to train hard for 45,000 minutes....and you haven't even trained 1”
Neil is echoing the essence of Micky in his post. (If you haven't, watch Rocky-there are points about training and the psychology behind it that can apply to all aspects of life).
I watched some of your practice session and came away with some constructive thoughts. Your training has to be more regimented, plain and simple. If you block out four hours of the night, you have to treat it as your profession. You should have a plan going in that is documented and set. Or else the quality of your training will suffer.
College courses follow a syllabus. Tradesmen follow am apprenticeship. I was once an apprentice when starting out work on power lines. As a first step apprentice, you aren't allowed to touch anything hot (live voltage). By the book, you start working hot in your second year, and it's only on voltages of 5,000 volts or less. My point is, you can't start out in any field working with professional grade methods without first going through the basics. In the military they have basic training before going to your specialty training. I think you get the point.
So if you haven't mastered one rail kicks, it makes no point to go to work on two or three rail kicks.
Neil is expressing the fact that of you are to reach your goal, your time is not infinite. When you put down in your log book that you spent an hour on banking, was it a straight hour, or did you take mini breaks to check your phone?
In my experience, after four hours of intense training, I'm exhausted, mentally fatigued and somewhat optimistic and defeated at the same time. So a long break is in store, and then training can resume after a recovery. If this isn't followed, the mind wanders and you will fall into lazy training methods.
All in all, lessons with a coach are fine, but when you come to the pool hall the other six days, you should have your trainng manual, log book, and study materials and ready to go over the drills designed for the skill level you are at now, not where you will be in three years.
Someone earlier mentioned Ralf Eckert. He is now promoting the check billiard app.which is the modern day take on the PAT tests that he helped create. The gem about PAT level 1 is that it starts out with a training set of drills which you need to be able to do FIRST, before progressing to Level 2. So now you have an idea of where you are at skill wise, but also goals set to aim for during each training session.
But like anything in life, it's all what you make of it. You have to search out the right material, design the regiment and stick to it. I recommend you stop all league play, gambling, tournaments for one year. Train hard and consistent-exhausted at the end of every day. After one year, your fundamentals will be miles ahead of where you are at now.
Neil's words carried a sense of urgency, as did Micky when talking to Rocky, because the clock of life is ticking. Our time at the table is not infinite, and it must be invested wisely. Get your PAT Level 1 and work it until you score off the charts, then earn the way to Level 2. You can't go wrong. It's just an example, but the point is, get regimented and treat your goals like a profession. How many hours did you spend at the table and were your working every minute of those hours to the best of your potential?
Best of luck, and keep going.
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