It looks like trick shots are the only way I can get my son interested in pool. I showed him an old video of Landon Shuffet, and that seemed to inspire him(thanks Landon). I thought it was a great idea until I realized... I hardly know any trick shots! My son is only 5 so I'm looking for very easy, yet somewhat impressive.
Try this guy, Tim"The Dragon"Chin. He is awesome. you can go to his beginner shots and pick the set up shots(you can print them & watch most of them). My 9 year old was doing alot of them after I set them up. Hope this helps, Ron:thumbup:
look for the shots that have three object balls. Most of these are simple to set up, and simple to learn.. Most of your really hard shots only have one cue ball and one object ball.
The more balls there is the easier the shot...That is the easiest way to decide what to show him. Shots that contain 3-6 balls are the best. The poster before that mentioned Tim Chin this is one of the only times on AZB that someone actually mentioned a real trick shot guy.
Here's one off a Willie Jopling video. (I didn't see it at Mr. Chin's site, but may have missed it.) It's so simple a child can do it, yet whenever I shoot it, I'm reduced to rolling around the floor with giddy delusions of eminent mastery of every facet of billiards. You might have to alter the positions of the balls slightly to avoid interference off the cushions. Optionally, the balls can be covered with a handkerchief, but that's only for the seriously advanced.
To be fair, 5 is REALLY early to try to get your son interested in pool. I mean, we've all seen the videos of the boy wonders who can sink balls at that age, but hitting a ball with a cue into a little 5 inch target is a lot of coordination to ask for that age.
Give him time to see the game the way you see it. "Real pool" doesn't have much chance of fascinating most kids at that age (though there have been exceptions).
This one may be out of his league at 5 years but it's very easy to set up.
Just lay the cue stick down to help line up the balls. Then remove the cue. Shoot right between the 1 and 5.
What makes it possibly too hard is you hit between the balls with some spin to help in the bank. He may not be able to put a specific spin on the cue ball yet. But even if he can't at least 3 of the balls are sure to go. It may be possible to shoot from an angle and get the bank in without spin.
It looks like trick shots are the only way I can get my son interested in pool. I showed him an old video of Landon Shuffet, and that seemed to inspire him(thanks Landon). I thought it was a great idea until I realized... I hardly know any trick shots! My son is only 5 so I'm looking for very easy, yet somewhat impressive.
Actually, the railroad shot with the cues is the only shot Al has made. He can almost get enough spin to make the cue ball go 3 rails and up the cues, but not quite. But he has made it going one rail, from the opposite corner.
Much thanks to all for the great suggestions! In case anyone is wondering, I dont pressure my son to play. He usually gets pissed off when I try to put his arm in the right position, or try to fix his bridge. And, that ends the lesson. I dont push him, but I wont let him develop bad habits either. This last time was different though, the kid actually listened to me. A wise man once said, "when the time has come, you will know."
It looks like trick shots are the only way I can get my son interested in pool. I showed him an old video of Landon Shuffet, and that seemed to inspire him(thanks Landon). I thought it was a great idea until I realized... I hardly know any trick shots! My son is only 5 so I'm looking for very easy, yet somewhat impressive.
Thanks for recommending my site sk8ordie and jamison. There's certainly simpler shots to start with. Here's a couple with a similar setup. The 6-1 combo is the same for both shots. 'A' is certainly the easier option. The A-3 and A-5 centerlines should be aligned to the near half of the side pockets. From cue ball 'B', you have to aim to hit about half of the 6 ball. The B-9 center lines should be aligned to the far half of the side pocket and the B-8 center lines should be aligned to the near half of the corner pocket. Let me know if you need a few more. I could also point you to a couple on my site since there's so many!
Sure Tim, that would be great! I should have mentioned that I need shots where the cue ball is positioned close to a rail(think short kid on a stool here).
The shots above look really good, but I still need to let him stroke off of a rail. The top part of my side pockets are made of some kind of rubber, so even shooting from position B would be tough(GC III).
You can certainly move the cue ball around to accommodate comfortable bridging. I usually put it a couple ball widths out from the side pocket and end up bridging next to the side pocket.
Here's a couple other shots, unfortunately also kind of in line with the side pocket, but hopefully he can stretch over it. The second one is the classic coin wrapper one. I have some modified versions on my site, but this is the basis of all of them. Audiences love this shot.
Here's a couple shots that are similar. I have better pictures for the setup of the 'B' shot in one of my trick shot tutorials. Hopefully you have some patience to set these up and your son has decent aim and doesn't apply unintended english.
There's a few shots I can't really diagram on cuetable, using props to help. Like placing a rack pointing to the side pocket, just in front of it and freeze a ball inside the rack to the back edge. Hit the rack and it slides forward so the tip is over the pocket and the ball also moves forward, dropping in the pocket too. It's more of a proposition shot.
Last one I'll try to describe. Place a ball about a half diamond from both rails near the corner pocket. Freeze the point of the rack to it so it's aligned straight in to the pocket. At the back edge of the rack on the outside, stack two cubes of chalk and place an object ball on top of it. The cue ball should be aligned with both of the object balls and straight into the corner pocket. Aiming into the chalks, the cue ball will launch the ball on top of the chalks over the rack and into the corner pocket. The cue ball will nudge the chalks and the rack forward too, pushing the first object ball into the corner pocket as well. This is a speed sensitive shot (you can launch the object ball off the table pretty easily), so you'll need to judge how your kid likes to shoot and move everything forward or back as necessary.
Hope you understand some of this. Let me know if you need me to draw more formal pictures or if you have trouble with the setups.
