Help coaching VERY new player

[Clusterbuster]

I've been reading AZB a good while but have yet to post a new thread. Anyway, I needed a little help so here it goes.

I am an APA 6 in 8 ball and bouncing between 6 and 7 in 9 ball. Not the greatest player in the league, but I have a clue. We have only had seven people on our 8 ball team this session and it recently became apparent that we were a bit top heavy so we cast about for a lower skilled player to complete our roster. I found a guy at work. He's a super guy who, in the long term, should work out, but for right now he knows NOTHING of pool. I had him over to the house just to get a notion as to where he was in the game and we had to basically start at the "hit the white ball with the skinny end of the stick" level. I have no doubt he is willing to work and, given what I saw at my house, he is not completely without hope. He did pretty well on two or three tries at Dr. Dave's MOFUDAT drill. We only got to spend about forty minutes together and I think he probably got overwhelmed with terms, rules, league issues, etc. The next night was his first match and it was a predictable blood bath. He tried to rack one-handed, don't know where he got that. Nonetheless, he took it well and said he had fun. He made at least one table length shot and got down to the 8 on one of his games though that also had a great deal to do with his opponent. He said he couldn't remember anything I told him which, I expect, is really my own fault.

With that background, my question is where to start showing someone with this much inexperience the basics? I expect I can have him over for a couple of hour or hour and a half sessions at my house before next week's league match. I know next week will probably still be ugly, but if I have two or three hours to work with him before then, where is the most bang for the buck? I'm thinking you deal with stance, bridge, stroke and staying on the vertical axis and save english, position play, etc. for another day. Longer term, he should be fine but we're looking to insure in the short term that we at least have a chance to avoid a loss when we put him up against a 2 or a 3. Thoughts and input are much appreciated.

 

[Celophanewrap]

I think as he is new to all this you probably don't want to load him up with technicalities of league pool, I think a bunch of drills and fundamentals practice would be kind of pointless and he might just lose interest awful fast. I think center ball and soft and hard will be plenty and your best chance for instruction will be when you call time out for him after that just let him play for a while. After he loses to a girl, a young girl, a young pretty girl he will likely have some questions and then additional instruction can be addressed. For now, make sure he can break and shoot a first shot and for goodness sake don't let him play with your cue.
Keep you eye on the big picture - he will be the sacrificial lamb for a while but it won't be long before he is winning his share of matches, then that 2 or 3 that you needed will be a 3/4 and a 4/5 and you'll be top heavy again

 

[jcrack_corn]

the only thing he needs to work on is making consistent contact with cb to ob. and the basic rules so he doesnt foul.

 

[Pidge]

First things first....id teach him how to bridge. On the rail, on the baize, over balls to hit high, to hit low.

Then I'd go through how to stand. Teach him a decent stance.

Then id look at his stroke, try to keep his natural cue action as close to natural as you can. It will probably need slowing down as most new players seem to take short quick jab style practice strokes and final strokes.

Then onto pocketing. Teach him the basics of ghost ball. Some people either pick up a cue and can instantly make a few balls. Others, like me when I first picked up a cue couldn't make a ball no matter what they try. After this you can go through tangent lines, how to stun, follow and draw, the 30 degree rule and so on.

I'm guessing with it being league, he will find himself in snookers A LOT, so teaching him simple kicking techniques will save him from getting pissed off at always being snookered.

Then you can start to fine tune certain parts of his fundamentals. The grip, adding a pause, sorting his alignment and stance out and maybe teaching him a more complex system for ball pocketing.

Whilst all this is going on go through league tactics and strategy. Could be picking the right ball set in 8 ball, spotting patterns on 9 ball but as he's playing before or during league afterwards just mention where he makes a wrong decision and what he should have done, and don't forget to praise him when he makes a right decision or makes a nice safe or pot.

I've mentioned quite a few things to go through, and it will almost certainly put him off if its all thrown at him too soon. You may want to spread things out over a month to keep him progressing steady and still excited to play.

All the best.

 

[JuicyGirl]

I have read a lot on how to learn. To be honest I am an APA SL 4. Believe it or not people do ask me for help. I teach folks just 5 things.

1. High

2. Center

3. Low

4. Left

5. Right.

The toughest thing for people to understand is left and right. So I put them on the short rail and have them shoot just the cb directly ahead with right and then with left.



Showing them just that takes me a solid 50 minutes.

 

[ShootingArts]

Kis

I left the last S off as I don't particularly like it but KISS is the way to go, keep it simple!

Make sure he can bridge and stroke. Show him follow and draw, limited to one tip only now, don't try to teach extreme follow or draw.

Have him buy Li'l Joe Villalpando's DVD's. That will show him what can be done even by a child and if he gets an itch to play pool he will be trying to do the things he sees on the DVD's soon. Anybody that really learns what is on Joe's DVD's will beat nine out of ten players he runs into. Of course he won't be a low ranked player by then!

Do explain shape to him but don't have him worry about it too much yet. He is just trying to get a solid hit on the cue ball and send it where he intends to. Ghost ball is easy to explain and demonstrate using two object balls and hitting the one in ghost ball position. All the aiming systems are used to get the cue ball to hit the object ball in the same position as ghost ball so it is a fine place to start regardless.

As has already been said, don't overload him with information at once and take the fun out of pool.

Hu