Any notoriously tall players?
- Thread starter G.Ouellet
- Start date
Actually he is not very tall, he is very fit and looks tall, but he isn't... same for Corey Deuel (he also mentions his height in the TAR podcast with John Schmidt, if I remember well he doesn't reach 6')
I just saw and talked to Shane in person about a month ago, and Corey (briefly) -- I'm taller than both of them by a pretty good margin and I'm about 6'3" ish. I'd put them closer to 5'10"-6' TOPS
Being 6'3", I've considered this more than once and have come to the same conclusion. For the longest time, I tried to convince myself that the majority of the really strong players I knew were just around that height because it's about the average male height, if a little on the short side. Now I think otherwise.
To begin with, pool was built around the player, so the table height and cue length are best suited for an average male in the late 1800s, which would be slightly shorter than average now. Sure, there are shots that I can reach that a 5'8" guy can't, but there is a bridge for those cases and the majority of shots can be reached comfortably by a person of average height. The "height advantage" certainly doesn't make up for the extra difficulty involved in getting into a good stance tall players face on every shot.
Another disadvantage of being taller is the difficulty that having longer arms imposes on maintaining a solid stroke. Each lever involved in the stroke is just a little bit longer, which makes any errors at the fulcrum just a little more pronounced at the end of the level. In a precision game, those errors can add up to be the difference between making or missing a shot or getting out of line.
None of this is going to stop me from playing, but I think that recognizing that my height can cause me problems that most players don't experience has been the first step to coming up with solutions. Knowing that getting down and staying down is going to be a problem has led me to pay more attention to my stance. Realizing that I had a habit of trying to compact myself by holding my cue too close to my body has led me to consciously move it away and get it in line under my elbow. If you're a tall player, you need to convince yourself to play like a tall player. Spread out a bit more, move people and chairs out of your way when possible, etc. It really does make a difference.
Dave Yeager..... 6/6 or 6/7. But I've never met a ''player'' that was tall that was Not good. Sigel is 6'2'' which is I think the perfect height. A tall person has a Big advantange in rotation games, they often can play shape in Much closer to their next shot, and during the roll out days, tall players were Very aware when their opponent needed the rake, as it was to their advantage in many situations. All the other games, shorter is better, But taller players can have more swing/stroke, but with the fast cloth of today, it's not that much of an advantage anymore. Tall players also can perform Jump shots from an easier shooting position.