Last night during my practice time, a newer player (APA level 4 in 9 ball) was up at the bar telling a story while I was getting food. I made a few comments, he asked a few questions, and I offered to help him a bit. I intended to answer 1 or 2 of his questions on banking/kicking - 5 hours later (at 1:30am) I had taught him 2 1-rail kicking systems, explained the corner 5 three cushion system, helped him with his stance, leveled out his cue, got him drawing the ball a table length, and showed him Pro1 and SEE!!! Quite a night, be interesting to see how much he remembers... He was actually not a bad shot for a 4, just new to the game, inconsistent fundamentals and aiming but not horrible, and generally shot too hard and too elevated on some shots.
So, the interesting part of this is - after showing him some Pro1 and then SEE for about an hour, he started pivoting properly and pocketing balls pretty well, much better than before. We worked on a wide variety of shots up to about 50 degrees mostly. Once he was making 3 or 4 in a row from various angles within a given range (so I knew he was lining up and moving properly), he asked "Now what about English?"
So, I showed him the track line adjustments with SEE that I'm currently using. I asked him to shoot an inside english shot, trying to spin 3 rails back to center table. 2 diamonds from the pocket, cue ball another 2 feet away, so not too difficult. Predictably, he overcut every shot because of squirt/deflection, even when trying to adjust for the misses. So, I just told him - "Line up like you were making those last category 1 shots, but aim at the shadow instead of the center with 1 tip of english and shoot."
First ball - right in the middle, but a punchy stroke and cue ball only made it off the long rail to the end rail. Next one - ball goes in, cue ball goes a little farther. Next one - slightly misses the ball, twisted his wrist. Next one splits the pocket, cue ball goes three rails and comes up a bit short of center table - he grins. Now I told him to stroke smoother - center pocket, cue ball spins past center table almost up to the opposite end rail! And all of this from an APA 4 who 10 minutes earlier couldn't make a single inside english shot in 4 or 5 tries! Gotta love the track adjustments in the SEE system, so powerful, makes shooting with english a joke, especially once you work on and develop the baselines.
Now, I overloaded him with information - funny enough, in a paid lesson environment I would actually be more careful to pace it out a bit more. But I was happy with the results, as was he. It will of course take him months to really work on the system stuff and learn all of the nuances and adjustments, if he chooses to do so, and I encouraged him to get the materials to really learn everything. Not to mention other things he will have to learn as he progress to higher levels. But to have that sort of immediate improvement shows just how powerful the systems can be in shortening the learning curve and calibrating your aim, even if you don't use them long term. I bet he could shoot that inside english shot better now without even lining up, just because he has the confidence based on positive results to know what the shot should look like at address and how to shoot it.
Scott
So, the interesting part of this is - after showing him some Pro1 and then SEE for about an hour, he started pivoting properly and pocketing balls pretty well, much better than before. We worked on a wide variety of shots up to about 50 degrees mostly. Once he was making 3 or 4 in a row from various angles within a given range (so I knew he was lining up and moving properly), he asked "Now what about English?"
So, I showed him the track line adjustments with SEE that I'm currently using. I asked him to shoot an inside english shot, trying to spin 3 rails back to center table. 2 diamonds from the pocket, cue ball another 2 feet away, so not too difficult. Predictably, he overcut every shot because of squirt/deflection, even when trying to adjust for the misses. So, I just told him - "Line up like you were making those last category 1 shots, but aim at the shadow instead of the center with 1 tip of english and shoot."
First ball - right in the middle, but a punchy stroke and cue ball only made it off the long rail to the end rail. Next one - ball goes in, cue ball goes a little farther. Next one - slightly misses the ball, twisted his wrist. Next one splits the pocket, cue ball goes three rails and comes up a bit short of center table - he grins. Now I told him to stroke smoother - center pocket, cue ball spins past center table almost up to the opposite end rail! And all of this from an APA 4 who 10 minutes earlier couldn't make a single inside english shot in 4 or 5 tries! Gotta love the track adjustments in the SEE system, so powerful, makes shooting with english a joke, especially once you work on and develop the baselines.
Now, I overloaded him with information - funny enough, in a paid lesson environment I would actually be more careful to pace it out a bit more. But I was happy with the results, as was he. It will of course take him months to really work on the system stuff and learn all of the nuances and adjustments, if he chooses to do so, and I encouraged him to get the materials to really learn everything. Not to mention other things he will have to learn as he progress to higher levels. But to have that sort of immediate improvement shows just how powerful the systems can be in shortening the learning curve and calibrating your aim, even if you don't use them long term. I bet he could shoot that inside english shot better now without even lining up, just because he has the confidence based on positive results to know what the shot should look like at address and how to shoot it.
Scott
