Hot Seat Match

calcuttaman

calcuttaman

Pool Player
Silver Member
Just watched your hot seat match at...

http://www.propoolvideo.com/spiritsemi1.html

A few questions if I may.

Your stance, both legs seem to be straight, where did you learn/acquire that?

Shoes, were those slippers? Seriousely, do you always play in flat soled shoes vs some type of high heel?

Grip, you were very choked up on the stick, something you learned, or was that developed that way?

After watching this video I can understand why you have legions of fans!
 
Thanks for the questions and kind words.

My stance tends to vary on certain shots. Sometimes both legs are straight, other times I have a very square stance and other times I bend my left leg. It really just depends what shoes I am wearing or what feels comfortable.

My shoes were just flat shoes. Usually if I play I wear heels because I'm short. I just wanted to be comfortable because unlike at pro tournaments where we only play one or two matches a day, this tournament had long hours.

I am more choked up on my cue than I used to be. It was brought to my attention not too long ago that my hand was too far back making my arm swing a bit funny. I choked up a little and it helped. I'm only 5'1 so that contributes to that as well.

Sarah
 
sarahrousey said:
My shoes were just flat shoes. Usually if I play I wear heels because I'm short.
Click to expand...

I used to play in cowboy boots with a small heel, maybe 3/4". A good friend of mine who is a snooker champ recommended that I only play in flat shoes. I took his advice. Did it help, I thought it did in the long run.

Just rambling here...if you play in high heels in one tournament and then flat shoes in the next, isn't that going to affect your mechanics such as stroke, stance, etc depending on what your footwear is??

And, since you won in flat shoes this time... <grin>
 
You may have a point with the flat shoes. It has been running through my mind for the past week.

I have worn heels because I can reach just a little bit more and most of my dress pants are too long so it makes them the right length. I'm considering putting all that aside though. It seemed to work out fine at this tournament.

Sarah
 
you better start playing in flat shoes.it worked for you this time.how about thorsten hohmanns shoes,those are a dandy lol.
 
First Hot Seat Match

Sarah,
Your video looked great. You were pretty relaxed compared to your first hot seat match Sarah-at-9.jpg
 
HAHA, way to bring back memories. I don't think anyone can tell if that was yesterday or 15 years ago.

Sarah
 
Thanks Seymore. I wasn't really breaking all that hard because the table didn't really rack all that well.

calcuttaman, I just realized I forgot to answer one of your questions. The difference between playing in heels and flats and switching back and forth. There really isn't that much of a difference. I think I have just gotten used to it though. I remember at first having a little trouble. Sorry I left that answer out.

Sarah
 
Sarah's come a long way since that photo

Here she is on the upcoming home page of propoolvideo.com:
 

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Grip position

Sarah,
I watched the video (prior to reading Calcutta's post) and immediately notice your grip position. Nice shooting, by the way!
I recently took some lesson's from a great and well know pool teacher. He firmly advised me to move my grip from the top of the wrap (same area as your grip) to the area of the cue between the rear of the wrap and the butt cap. I still have to keep reminding myself to move my hand back.

I guess the old cliche' is appropreicate... different strokes for different folks.

Best Regards,
Hal
 
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Hal2 said:
I recently took some lesson's from a great and well know pool teacher. He firmly advised me to move my grip from the top of the wrap (same area as your grip) to the area of the cue between the rear of the wrap and the butt cap.
Click to expand...

Hal that is about where I grip my cue but then again I am 6'-5". Not sure if that would work for Sarah.
 
The page looks good Jorge and the video looked good as well.

Hal, you are right, everyone does something different. I have to remind myself to put my hand where it is because for so long I had it too far back.

Wally, I could try your stroke...but it might look a little funny since I am almost a foot and a half shorter than you.

Sarah
 
One other thing...

Sarah, is that on your hit stroke on your break, it was going lower and to the right from your warmup strokes, probably from you 'winding' up a little before the hit stroke. Your break, though, was better than Tracie's.

Your kicking was okay, but warmup on the jump stick, then you have 2 options for any situation.

Practice your safeties more, you need to tighten them up. You fell short a few times trying for a safety, but in all honesty, it did seem the balls stopped real quick on that table, and maybe should have traveled 6-8" more on each shot. Get someone to teach you how to FREEZE the cue ball on an object ball when playing a safe, and then practice it with all kinds of safeties.
 
Scott,

I have always broke like that and I wasn't even aware of how it looked until my dad took pictures of me in a match a few years back. I was even shocked at how my arm looks. It doesn't feel like I am doing that much. After realizing what I do, I started watching some of the other short players break. I noticed that alot of them do the same thing.

I do need to learn how to use the jump cue. I don't rely on it much because it is really uncomfortable and I'm more comfortable kicking, unless a ball is hanging in the hole.

The tables there were all playing different. The table I played on right before that match had very springy rails and a fast bed. The table that match played on had somewhat springy rails and a slow bed. I couldn't seem to get the speed down. Plus, playing smart and safe is something that is somewhat new to me. I'm working on it.

Sarah
 
sarahrousey said:
Scott,

I have always broke like that and I wasn't even aware of how it looked until my dad took pictures of me in a match a few years back. I was even shocked at how my arm looks. It doesn't feel like I am doing that much. After realizing what I do, I started watching some of the other short players break. I noticed that alot of them do the same thing.

I do need to learn how to use the jump cue. I don't rely on it much because it is really uncomfortable and I'm more comfortable kicking, unless a ball is hanging in the hole.

The tables there were all playing different. The table I played on right before that match had very springy rails and a fast bed. The table that match played on had somewhat springy rails and a slow bed. I couldn't seem to get the speed down. Plus, playing smart and safe is something that is somewhat new to me. I'm working on it.

Sarah
Click to expand...

I totally agree about the table conditions. It looks like it could have used some new cloth. I noticed that right off. I couldn't believe how slow that bed was. Was the pockets tight? I can't stand tight pockets with a slow table. It really gets in my head. Well as bad as i play it don't take much:D
 
The pockets weren't tight at all. The pool room has two diamond tables that played tight with slow cloth (IPT conditons) We didn't use those for the tournament though.

Sarah
 
Oh ok. I bet it is hard to get the feel of the speed with something like that. It probably also changes alot of shot selections too.
 
For some reason I tend to grip my cue more like you. I found that I had better speed control when I gripped at the balance point (obviously depends on the bridge length). However, I've changed my tune a bit. One thing I've noticed from most of pros is that they grip pretty far back, and their stance accomodates this. I learned why from a post on a different forum. The extra weight in front of your hand keeps your cue down when you shoot. Grip a little farther back when you have to draw or when you're shooting off the rail or when you're not feeling confident (to help counteract popping up mid-stroke). A more foreward balanced cue may help.
 
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