Some players can't wait to get to the table to practice. Some players look at practice as an unsavory and grueling task, like homework, when they'd rather be out doing something more fun.
If you don't enjoy practicing, do you find yourself finding reasons not to practice?
I've encountered this with students who don't even consciously realize how much they hate to practice.
Just some food for thought in case you're one of those players who wants to improve but can't seem to find the time to practice. Maybe you really don't have the time. But just maybe it's something more than that.
Do you really know yourself?
Instructors: Have you noticed this about students?
Guess we've all been offered a pretty penny for shortcuts like "teach me how to put draw on the cue ball, but please, I have no intention of working on my stroke, change any bad habit whatsoever, let alone devote any of
my valuable time to practice"?
In some respects, of course, practice
is like homework, only that we're assuming students, since they insist they're taking lessons with us to improve their game, should think of practice as fun. Luckily in my experience, this proves to be true most of the time. It's always been one of the differences to me between teaching teens (I used to be a high school teacher) and adult education that people who search out help and are ready to pay for it tend to have a more open and inquisitive mind (they may also be more demanding or exacting in their needs, but that is fine with me). I'm also a firm believer that anyone who's studied didactics
should be able to make the learning process fun and not just "work" - the fact that pool is thought of as a "game" by many doesn't automatically make perfecting oneself at it a playful process.
But let me relate the "worst" that's ever happened to me teaching pool: there was this sweet and affable man who'd even bring his supportive and studious wife along to watch his lessons, who, after he paid for eight lessons in advance, never showed up again after the third lesson when I convinced him that he won't profit unless he'd practice in-between lessons. Yes, I
did ask the poor guy to show me his "homework" - something I've rarely had to do in all these years because students usually tell me about how it went before I even ask.
It's not like I told him not to show up until he'd do his "homework" either, on the contrary, I have great sympathy for laziness (like all teachers, I used to be a student once, after all). Having said that, I always try to make sure people know what and how to practice before they leave, including video-taping and whenever possible, try to call to their training partner's attention what to look for in their buddy's game.
But in this case, I could see it in the man's eyes that he was dead serious when he said he would not be back before he'd bring himself to practice, wistfully and almost guiltily explaining he could easily see during the lesson what difference it makes that I'd shown him, and loved how his confidence level went up in my presence.
Even so, he apparently didn't put any of what he soaked up so greedily to practice. I contacted him later (he'd prepaid, after all, although I'll admit I genuinely care about all my students), but he not only wouldn't hear of reimbursement, insisting that it was not my fault, and that I was doing a great job, but that he'd be back as soon as he could get his "act together".
I personally don't believe that putting pressure on oneself is for everyone. We (by which I don't just mean we pool players) don't all need to be (like) athletes. There's more to life. Having said that, I do not regard it as my job to tell people what that "more" may be for them individually. Merely that I'd like them to get the most out of the lessons they take with me,
whatever that means to them. Basically, when they're happy, I'm happy (not that I'm not proud to see them improve).
Be that as it may, that was the last I heard from that person. Believe me, the experience has since made me wonder if I should send him a yearly Christmas card, or spare him the embarrassment… :scratchhead:
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________
„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti
