How should I measure progress?

S

sph3ric pyramid

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I've just started playing seriously a couple months back. Problem is I practice alone all the time, and where I play, almost everyone's a strictly recreational player.

I try to stay focused and practice consists mostly of shooting drills, but it does get tedious particularly when I match up so rarely.

I also have no idea of how quickly I should be progressing. Is there something I can do to check?
 
sph3ric pyramid said:
I've just started playing seriously a couple months back. Problem is I practice alone all the time, and where I play, almost everyone's a strictly recreational player.

I try to stay focused and practice consists mostly of shooting drills, but it does get tedious particularly when I match up so rarely.

I also have no idea of how quickly I should be progressing. Is there something I can do to check?
Click to expand...

Give this a try, you can track your progress for decades.

http://forums.azbilliards.com//showpost.php?p=518250&postcount=1
 
sph3ric pyramid said:
I've just started playing seriously a couple months back. Problem is I practice alone all the time, and where I play, almost everyone's a strictly recreational player.

I try to stay focused and practice consists mostly of shooting drills, but it does get tedious particularly when I match up so rarely.

I also have no idea of how quickly I should be progressing. Is there something I can do to check?
Click to expand...

set short term goals and work your way towards them.
 
Both of what the above posters said is good advice,i also think matching up is a good way,there were guys a year or 2 ago i couldn't beat,but my game has progressed so much that i am able to beat them or atleast make it an even game.Tournaments and being rated is a good way to start because then you can see yourself move up in rating say from +2 to a +4 or in the APA from a 4 to a 5.
 
A good way to check is at the end of the night you're holding your own and a little bit of theirs. LOL
 
I have measured my progress with tournaments. I suppose you could do the same thing when you are playing other people although it is not a tournament.

In the past, I have been playing in a tournament and missed a "shot" (pick a shot, any shot).

Then because I missed this certain shot, I lost the match. So I remember this shot because it caused me to lose the match! Then it would happen again! And again! That *same* shot!

So then I would decide to do something about it. I would go and practice that particular shot. And this would be something I was not very good at. I might work on that one shot for two months or more. Practicing that one shot every day.

Then a few months later I am in a tournament and that one shot comes up. Then I *make* that shot! Yeaaaaa! I am happy as can be. I have spent a lot of time and effort working on that shot, and it has paid off. So I am happy for the rest of the evening because I made that shot.

And this is how I measure my progress. Can I make certain shots I have been working on in a tournament situation? (Or in your case playing other people for fun.)

That's all there is to it. Play in a tournament and keep missing the same shots... So practice that shot for however long it takes... Then when you begin making those shots in tournament situations, move on to something else.

After a year or so of this, you will have a game against someone else. This first shot will be one you have practiced and you make it! The next shot will be a different shot you have practiced and you make it! And then a third different shot will be another you have practiced and you make that too!

Then you say to yourself "Look at me go!"

Your opponent says "You got real lucky on those 3 shots!"

(In this situation I don't say anything, I just smile. But I think to myself "It was not luck. It was hard work and practice.")
 
Have you tried checking how good is your "auto-pilot" (body and eye memory, less conscious aiming) now specially that you are not matching up often?
 
You'll know, that's all. Be ready for ups followed by plateaus followed by a miserable down and then a new up....I swear this process repeats every step of the way!
 
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