If (insert system, method, etc) was good...

[alstl]

I have a question not meant to take a jab at anyone or any system.

There are tons and tons of aiming methods, diamond systems, kicking systems, breaking systems, etc.

Each one you read says that you receive a clearer understanding of angles and pocketing balls and to quote a recent post from someone on here "the balls just go" when you understand how to aim.

No idea if thousands or 10's of thousands of people practice these systems, but my question is.

Why aren't there MANY MANY more great players.

If your flaw is that you can't pocket balls or can't aim properly but you are a shortstop, shouldn't these systems raise you to a high level? I'm not talking about immediately, but in a few years.

Because most people don't have the dedication to play enough pool to become a great player.

Can we get some harder questions here?

 

[BRKNRUN]

Look at it this way....systems are only tools to help you play the game better...but they don't make you a great player....practice does.

I liken it to that of a carpenter.....A good experienced carpenter can take a crappy hammer, an old saw and a basic ruler and make a great cabinet....Many weekend warriors with all of the top of the line laser guided tools will only succeed in making a nice clean cut when chopping off a finger.

 

[nineballtko]

All awesome points made here...my two cents is this....applies to any skill or job or activity really.....work ethic...table time....knowledge...experience...all necessary....but I feel what seperates the great from the nearly great is natural ability....at most sports and such...many friends whom I have taught over the years...some for many long years....many of them gathered knowledge and practiced hard...at the end of the day some seemed to take to it like the proverbial duck to water and some just could only improve so much and seemed that no matter how long or hard they worked...they were capped out at a certain level...so it seemed....the interesting thing is that in most of those cases I could see the natural ability very quickly in some and their skills developed better and faster with most everything else fairly even like time spent playing and knowledge acquired!!!! I also believe that good pool requires intelligence and creativity....some people just have more of those things than others....if pool was a simple...straight forward mechanical...system based game only then I believe most people would improve at the same rate and top out at the same place roughly....the very thing I love about pool is the creativity and brain work it takes to play it well...simply said I believe a lot of it is God given talent...just like Michael Jordan for example....u know plenty of NBA players probably worked harder or just as hard...had the same coaches and equipment...for some reason a few always become the very cream.....almost forgot...probably something should be said about heart....I have seen inferior skilled players out heart superior players on numerous occasions....some people just want it more than the next guy and it shows through usually!!! Every player and every rack of pool are markably unique...and I love that fact....adapting to situations as they present themselves can simply come easier to some than others in all areas of life!!! I thought of one more thing...all my pool years I have noticed that players from similar regions have similar styles....probably very similar to that of a top level player in that are (emulation if u will)...My region MT suffers because of lack of population...especially a population of true top level players....the talent pool gets stagnate in some areas quickly...some areas....Europe....Asia....Phillipines....are blessed with deep levels of top level players so they automatically have a different outlook and a higher standard they must adhere to to be competitive at all...in a place like MT I had to travel far and spend big bucks to get tastes of that level...most here don't do this for whatever reason and they seem to stall...amazingly whole areas seem to stall due to lack of new and fresh talent....generations have gone by since my beginning days some or most of the good players back 20 plus yrs ago haven't improved much at all in many long times...lol...yet some pass by and seemingly jump levels in very short periods of time...I know that low populated areas like MT don't have the highest bar set....when I started hitting the road long time ago seeking out the best competition I could find or afford...I passed many many players that I nearly worshipped inside of my first couple years...and would look for the next level jump as I felt ready...sometimes I wasn't really ready...neat part was I would come back off the road in those early days and I felt invincible at times to people who previously struck fear into me!!!
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