Thanks for the info. Yes, very interested. The book sounds fascinating, and I just purchased a digital copy.
Do you have a "learning style"? Maybe not
- Thread starter Bob Jewett
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Well, I did manage to see that last line!
But honestly, I wish you would reconsider your posting style. You have a lot to offer, and I'm positive you would reach more people if you changed your approach of how you share information here.
I thought pool instructors already knew everything. What's going on here, Fran?
Darn, I should have answered the question here before watching the video, then see how full of it I am.
Believe it or not I would have said "all the above."
As this would related to my game, 3Cushion, I used to go through books with lots of diagrams in preparation for a tournament. Sometimes I'd read what was said about the shot, most times I didn't. I mostly just wanted to see the lines, fall asleep with diagrams floating in my head. With those shots I felt like I needed to read/review the paragraph, I would sometimes also physically practice the shot a couple dozen times. Not to perfection (why I'm not a better player) but to get a better feel for the situation.
Believe it or not I would have said "all the above."
As this would related to my game, 3Cushion, I used to go through books with lots of diagrams in preparation for a tournament. Sometimes I'd read what was said about the shot, most times I didn't. I mostly just wanted to see the lines, fall asleep with diagrams floating in my head. With those shots I felt like I needed to read/review the paragraph, I would sometimes also physically practice the shot a couple dozen times. Not to perfection (why I'm not a better player) but to get a better feel for the situation.
Stuff
www.stuff.co.nz
It's one of my favorite books.
I purchased it on recommendation from Bob Jewett here on the forums! It’s a great read.
You must be thinking of the great pretenders.I thought pool instructors already knew everything. What's going on here, Fran?
"Wise coaches know they don t know all which makes it easy to begin to learn."I thought pool instructors already knew everything. What's going on here, Fran?
The Sports Gene is based on physical ability and improvement....but while you are reading it, consider replacing the physical aspect with intelligence as a subject. The result will be almost illegal.
ne
Hey Tennesseejoe, correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds to me like you think the book is racist. You might be right. I haven't read it yet. But instead of using substitutions and analogies, just have the courage to say what you really mean.
I said nothing about race...you are incorrect...and I am insulted...you owe me an apology. Never mind the apology...I prefer to cease this communication.
I don't owe you anything when you're cryptic like that. Write clearer next time and people won't have to try to interpret your intent. Now, are you going to explain to us what the "almost illegal" comment is all about or are you going to remain cryptic and continue to keep us guessing?
It seems to me that your posts condense a vast amount of information into a very compact space.
By principles of clear and concise writing, this would measure as spectacular! In practice, people like some filler to allow time for complex ideas to be absorbed. But if you did that, the post would turn into a short book.
I found it necessary to go through the posts very slowly, dwelling on the ideas in every line. Which is an unusual style of reading, and takes a bit of self-discipline to maintain. And even then, I'm going through them one post at a time.
But the choices are:
- Don't give the in-depth information
- Give the information in a compact way that's hard to read
- Give the information in an enormous post that people will quit on.
I prefer the option you chose!
This fascinates me.
I've read in sports psychology literature that the subconscious uses 'feel' more effectively than words. That this is inherent to the subconscious (at least as a broad generalization).
(I use this in my own game using feel cues to 'warm up' the pool subconscious. I find it very effective.)
But does this oppose the idea that the subconscious can have one of three 'learning style' preferences. (If not outright contradiction, it's pulling in the opposite direction.)
I suppose the 'subconscious feel' theory is contrasting feel with linguistic information. Which isn't quite the same as contrasting kinesthetic preference with visual/auditory preference.
But 'feel' and 'kinesthetic' seem very close.
[Edit to add: There is also a left-brain right-brain thing involved here. The right brain functioning better with 'feel' than linguistics. Another model to throw into the mix!]
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Not trying to sling mud here, as I enjoy your posting, but physical ability is thought of as a form of intelligence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligences#Bodily-kinesthetic
Pick any 800FR player today, or any of the past greats, and I bet you'll find they have genius levels of kinesthetic intelligence. It's not just genetic lung capacity, blood cells, heart size, etc.
Take, for example, the description of this type of intelligence to include "a sense of timing, a clear sense of the goal of a physical action, along with the ability to train responses," and it's basically describing the fundamentals of a billiard stroke. Some people are just better at it because they intuitively understand how it all comes together better; not necessarily because they have better muscles or eyeballs.
Consider Dan DiLiberto. Great boxer, but weak hands (damn genetics!), so he took up pool at a high level, with a straight pool high run in the 300s. Also bowled 300.
Fran, I saw your name on here a couple of months ago and I had the weirdest feeling that I knew it from somewhere.
Then out of the blue it occurred to me: I've read your 'Everything' book!
May I say it was exceptionally well written. One of the clearest and most level-headed pool books I've read.
The ideas are not really at odds.
The “feel” often acts as a trigger accessing fully developed skills.
When the stroke is a single act, not a conscious mishmash of pieces hoping coordination is in the mix this time, the subconscious was in charge.
In Lee Brett’s case his subconscious and the trigger would likely be in the same sense.
In my case, my subconscious is visual.
Looking at the shot from distance, my sight line decision is a felt sense on my body center.
If it looks/feels right I’m ready to go. (hand/eye task)
Stepping up to the shot I have the cue angled vertically, over that line.
My bridge holds the cue at about the joint so I see the shaft as I drop into the shot.
The process involves my elbow hinge aligning to pull the cue back along the shot line while the bridge finds its place on the line.
This is deliberate, holding onto the look/feel, linked directly to retaining the aim line.
Since the grip is pulling back into set position it only needs to return on the retracted path to move back through the ball.
It’s a bit like pulling back a bow, but the extension needs to be to the vertically dropped right arm, hinging at the dropped forearm, from the elbow.
Once that hinge feels physically and visually aligned everything become vision centric.
The cue moving straight, then stopping to fixate on the target and future landing place/ path of the cue ball.
Execution in my case is now more a mindless act, with the height of contact being the exception on certain precision shots.
Even pace is often based on visuals.
I imagine the cue ball path, with or without spin, reacting with balls and rails in specific ways, based on the envisioned contact point and pace.
If there is a feel element it is at my unconscious level.
This is why I say that it’s literally, “different strokes for different folks”.
Maybe your “warm ups“ might better be termed as “waking up” subconscious resources.
Pulling automated skills into consciousness lets your subconscious “tweak” or “tune into” slight variations, based on observed differences vs situational needs.
The resultant adjustment can still be subconsciously executed, with the adjusted contact criteria in mind.
Kinesthetic and feel are in the same domain, including the physiological effects we call emotions.
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