Dealing with the weakest player on a team

justnum said:

In team play there are strong players and less strong players.

Its common to know who the less strong players are before inviting them to a competitive.

The situation that comes up is when the team needs a weak player to pull off a few shots above their skill level. You know they were weak and weren't capable of certain things, but now with the championships on the line you need them to find new skills.

How have you coached less skilled players in choice needed moments before a match or before a shot? Have you had any success in those situations with those types of players?

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The "weakest player" is a relative term. For those of us that play APA 8Ball or 9Ball the weakest player is correlated with a players skill level. In other words; take me for example. I'm a decent SL7 in 9Ball but we also have two SL5s that should probably be SL6s. Who's the stronger player? The SL5s; that's who.

But if you're going to boil it down and take it in the direction that I think you're trying to take it; and if you're dealing with players lower than an SL5...timeouts are crucial.

Prior to a shot in 9Ball on a typical league night our team captain (SL9) or co-captain (me SL7) will usually be responsible for calling said timeouts for our SL4 and below players. This goes out the window for tournament play when the player is responsible for calling their timeouts. Because of this we make it very clear to our lower ranked players to bide your time and take your timeouts only when a ball-in-hand situation crops up with 4 or less balls left on the table.

There is no reason to call a timeout on a low percentage kick shot or when they are snookered. There's also very few situations that I can think of when it's worth asking a lower ranked player to put extreme low inside English on whitey to go three rails around two balls for position on the seven. We need them to make balls and take the easy lay every time. The heavy lifting falls on the shoulders of your SL6s and above.

As far as fundamentals. Well, if you're only now discovering that your lower ranked players can't execute a simple stop shot or a two ball run out; that's failure on your part as a coach. That should have been in the pipeline since the second week of the season.

Well, I’ve always found it’s a series of stepping stones but firstly, proper stance is a must and the first thing I always advocate for because it will make every shot easier.

Then just have them practice putting the cue ball 2-4-6-12 inches so they have a feel of the cue ball so they can execute simple safes, and do it with them, so they don’t feel silly about just barely rolling the cueball over and over.

Then once they get that, show them a half ball hit off the rail to hide behind another ball with that same soft cue ball putt. That way they have the concept of simple safes and can hopefully recognize how to apply and execute them in other situations. Then they won’t need to come with any world beater shots when the pressure is on.

I assume a weaker player is generally playing another weaker player, so a decent safe will usually put them in a position to win.

You can't get oil from a water well. If you have a lower rated player to meet handicap requirements, then all you can expect that player to do is at best meet their rating. Sometimes they'll outperform it & other times they'll under perform. The rating is an average. If they could control when they play well, it would be indicative of a higher level player who should have a higher rating. If they're not sandbaggers, then you got what you got & it's up to you to manage the team accordingly. I feel your pain because I'm dealing with the same situation.

In my experience it's mostly a matter of trust. I have coached a lower teammate to throw a bank shot around a blocker, he told me 'that's not possible' I told him to try it anyway, it was for the match win - he executed my instructions perfectly and the shot dropped. I have other members that won't do what I suggest if it goes contrary to what they are thinking (I don't coach them much anymore)

Right before a shot I'll try to keep it light, humorous, and I'll always ask what they think,
what they'd like to do, when we've decided on a course I'll have them look at the shot all
the way through the back of the pocket. Use of a visual aid can be helpful here.

At this point I have seen far too many less skilled players come up and panic, one stroke
or no stroke and pull the trigger without a high rate of success, so the last thing I'll go
through with them is a shot pre-shot routine - take a breath or two, when you're ready
approach the table, place your cue down and gather yourself around it, adjust the cue
and not your body, at least 3 practice strokes when you're comfortable and when you're
ready, then pull the trigger, if it doesn't feel right stand up, re-chalk and take another look and
start again, loose grip and try to relax and remember, if you miss the world will end.

Way back in 1986, my team had three stronger players (relative to the area), a good player and a weaker player.

We went to one of the contender team sites one night. They had what some called the best shot maker in the state. He could run out easily. My idea was to put our weakest player against him, so if there was a big win, it wouldn't be that out of ordinary. He was ok with the plan and ended up getting about 5 balls each game. (I can look it up later in my notebook for the season)

We ended up winning all four rounds that night.

With weakest players, you get what you get. All I know is they have a much higher percentage of shooting and making 9-ball combos for the win. I've come to expect it, can't get surprised much. No matter where it is they seem to land it

Celophanewrap said:

Right before a shot I'll try to keep it light, humorous, and I'll always ask what they think,
what they'd like to do, when we've decided on a course I'll have them look at the shot all
the way through the back of the pocket. Use of a visual aid can be helpful here.

At this point I have seen far too many less skilled players come up and panic, one stroke
or no stroke and pull the trigger without a high rate of success, so the last thing I'll go
through with them is a shot pre-shot routine - take a breath or two, when you're ready
approach the table, place your cue down and gather yourself around it, adjust the cue
and not your body, at least 3 practice strokes when you're comfortable and when you're
ready, then pull the trigger, if it doesn't feel right stand up, re-chalk and take another look and
start again, loose grip and try to relax and remember, if you miss the world will end.

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Great advice, I may try that at the local Center.