Managed to convince Will to get another taxi clock
. Hope he is happy with it. :thumbup:
They where originally used for billiard/3c, but when i went on holliday in portugal i remember the local poolroom used it for pool too. they just took 3 random balls and lock them up.
here's a nice pic of them.
I'm thinking of opening the last one i have, and doing a full restauration, so it looks like it would if it would have left the factory. might be a fun project. redo the paint, redo the inside filling, service the clock inside...
Anyway, some news. after 6 years of ballbanging and going up and down from A+ to a B- player depending on the position of pluto vs the moon and the amount of baby's born at that second, i was fed up of it. (i never learned to play pool, i just did. i learned with my eyes, with experience, with watching pool matches, but i hardly ever did something that could be called a proper training) and never asked someone to really help me (i loved to learn it by myself), but i've been playing the same level now for 2 years, only improving on tactical level, i'm my game is horribly inconsistent. my stroke is as bent as a banana and i sometimes amaze myself how i can pot a ball with such a crooked stroke
I asked my best friend and teammate, who is the father and coach of the khodjaev sisters to train me. I'm starting my own training program and i 'will be seeing him once every week to do corrections and ask questions. he is prepared to help me for free for as long as i wanted for all the help i gave them in the last 10 years.
Basically , the rough idea is:
Practically:
find 100 basic pool shots that come up often,
play each shot 1000 times. 100x in the morning , 100x in the evening. at 100K shots and 200/day, it will take me roughly 2 years. thats the amount of time i'm giving myself to push myself and see what my best level is. No goal, just give it 100% for 2years and be happy with what i will get back from it.
The coaching
from my friend will be on all the basics, preshot, stroke, tactics, exercises, and FAQ. he will be correcting me once a week. he's my third eye, that can see things my video camera can not.
Mentally,
i'm pretty explosive around the table, i got a bit of a temper and i shoke a lot when all the hard work is done... i'm very hard on myself and i hate to play bad, more then i hate to loose. so a lot of work on that part. David's daily quotes are very helpful to think about things, and i picked up meditation/relaxation/breathing techniques and applying the same ideas during competition play/training.
I HOPE i'll have the courage to keep doing this intensive training for 2years besides all the daily live things and besides my illness. it will be hard in the beginning to accept the daily grind of doing the same shot over and over, but i can already see what part of it might be fun, and i need to focus on that.
Shot 1: cueball 1 diamond away of OB. roll the cb exactly 1 diamond distance.
Shot 2: cueball 1 diamond away of OB. roll the cb exactly 1 diagonal diamond distance (+- 1.35 diamonds).
shot 3: cueball 1 diamond away of OB. roll the cb exactly 2 diamond distance.
Shot 4: cueball 1 diamond away of OB. roll the cb exactly 2 diagonal diamond
success is when OB is potted, and CB lands so close to the spot, that i can't put a ball on the spot. so +- 57mm precision. looks easy, but its harder then i thought.
First try i had a 28% success rate. 57mm precision ( 1ball wide) is BIG difference compared to a 2ball wide precision. from 2 to 1 ball precision my success rate dropped from 65% to 28%
I'll keep some record of my training here. might be a good idea to start a excel file.
ATM i'm at shot 4:
try 100: 28%
try 200: 52%
try 300: 65%
try 400: 68%
try 500: 61%
try 600: 64%
try 700: 67%
try 800: 72%
I'm hoping to get it in the 80's by tomorrow by the time i hit 1000 shots. I'm already noticing how important it is to follow trough perfectly, not drop elbow, accelerate, every little detail needs to be SPOT on, if you want to get the same outcome every time. it's hard , but man, when you put the cb on the dot 10times in a row inch perfect, you feel like a boss
on the other hand, i'm seeing the same mistakes in my practice as during tournament. as soon as i start to play well, i start to get sloppy thinking I don't need to concentrate as much anymore. I'm so damn lazy ! lots of work to do there too.
The only thing i'm afraid off, is that this is more like a newyears thingy, that every says at the beginning of the year, and then stop after 2 months.
. he had a drill challenge and didn't think an amateur could run it. I'll have to give it to him, because i wanted to give up several times, but then my stubbornness and ego wouldn't give up and i finally made the drill. 