Genetics..John Morras parents are both accomplished pool players.
Is there such a thing as natural talent? Some say yes, I do not think there is?
- Thread starter tableroll
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Anybody who has coached little league knows the answer to this one right away. A few kids walk on the field the first time and have it. The big majority can work really hard and get close to having it. And the other group will never have it, regardless of how many hours, months, years, or dollars they (or their parents) put in.
Natural talent can get you only so far. If you want to go to the top tier, takes desire, hard work, and sweat. The saying "sweat during practice prevents bleeding during competition". Ask Josh Filler and Jason Shaw how hard they have worked. Those who believe Pros have gotten so far is because of "natural talent" are coping out and using this excuse for not doing the work.
Wait, let me get this straight. You tried something once...cried and gave up....and that makes you think that you don't have talent for it...lol. No, what you don't have is determination and balls.
Jaden
All your laughing and you cant READ. He clearly said "We spent hours every day skating. " Are you slow?
Stop being a hater.
TFT
LOL, I can read exceptionally well...Skating on the street is not the same thing as ramp skating. I spent hours every day skating too and I was pretty good, I could ollie onto park benches.. First time I tried to drop in on a half pipe, fell on my ass and knocked the breath out of myself...
They're two different animals...It would be like playing 9 ball for years and then getting pissed that you can't break a 100+ the first time you try snooker.
Actually, let me revise that, it would be more like playing miniature golf for years and then being pissed you didn't play scratch golf your first time on the course.
Jaden
Talent is the excuse people use when they don't have the drive to succeed.
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I have extraordinary talent for closing deals on the phone as a telemarketer. I made it through the ranks in the phone room biz to the very top in a few months. The rest of the guys who “made it” typically took 2-3 years. Took me 8 weeks.
It wasn’t luck. It was talent going to work 12-14 hours a day on the phone. I became well known in the biz, more so than here on AZB. This was in Vegas when telemarketing was the 3rd largest industry in Nevada and recognized as a legit biz, there were 400 phone rooms back when I was well known in that biz. Before it went corrupt. (I never liked the attention) I never mentioned it here and likely won’t again. Point I’m making is I have a “talent” and know what it is. It sets me apart from everyone almost in a very specific niche of life. Otherwise I’m a normal person.
I could get more $ in the door faster than anyone without every misleading a person. I’m very convincing and honest on the phone. I still am in biz, I’m also lazy. I could make loads more $, but I’m not all about working.
So yes I possess a extraordinary talent. I’ve studied others who have it in other disciplines as it’s always fascinated me why some guys can run faster, jump higher, pinch harder, run 500 balls, lift more weight, sell more customers, generate more followers on social media.
Talent is a real thing. Johnny Archer told me “pool is easy”. And for him, I believe it is. It’s not for me. In 100 years I couldn’t run 100 balls in 14.1. Impossible.
But for me I can’t explain why im good at what I’m good at. But I can prove it. I have nothing to prove to anyone-im just making a point.
Talent is real. Some men never find theirs. The lucky ones do.
Best
Fatboy<———not bragging, just stating the facts as I’ve learned them after studying people & greatness pretty much my whole life.
It wasn’t luck. It was talent going to work 12-14 hours a day on the phone. I became well known in the biz, more so than here on AZB. This was in Vegas when telemarketing was the 3rd largest industry in Nevada and recognized as a legit biz, there were 400 phone rooms back when I was well known in that biz. Before it went corrupt. (I never liked the attention) I never mentioned it here and likely won’t again. Point I’m making is I have a “talent” and know what it is. It sets me apart from everyone almost in a very specific niche of life. Otherwise I’m a normal person.
I could get more $ in the door faster than anyone without every misleading a person. I’m very convincing and honest on the phone. I still am in biz, I’m also lazy. I could make loads more $, but I’m not all about working.
So yes I possess a extraordinary talent. I’ve studied others who have it in other disciplines as it’s always fascinated me why some guys can run faster, jump higher, pinch harder, run 500 balls, lift more weight, sell more customers, generate more followers on social media.
Talent is a real thing. Johnny Archer told me “pool is easy”. And for him, I believe it is. It’s not for me. In 100 years I couldn’t run 100 balls in 14.1. Impossible.
But for me I can’t explain why im good at what I’m good at. But I can prove it. I have nothing to prove to anyone-im just making a point.
Talent is real. Some men never find theirs. The lucky ones do.
Best
Fatboy<———not bragging, just stating the facts as I’ve learned them after studying people & greatness pretty much my whole life.
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I suppose in fields that don't require apparent physical prowess, talent might be the operative criteria and pool might be on the fence in regards to physical prowess. IOW, sure Strickland could churn_out after out after out_ but the skill is all but invisible. Poke at the white ball over and over; it might as well be magic.
Is that talent? The details are all researchable if not common knowledge. Maybe the question should be how much innate ability will get you by?
Is that talent? The details are all researchable if not common knowledge. Maybe the question should be how much innate ability will get you by?
Josh Filler was competing well at 14 with pros in Germany. Look at videos of him playing at that age, and you could see the raw pure talent in his stroke, combined with the emotions of a young teenager. Sure he worked at it. But he was starting with talent far beyond others.
1000000% correct
We've know a clumsy person who still stumbled and ran into corners well past their 20s? I guess they just didn't practice walking hard enough, or "want" it bad enough. OR, as I showed in a previously example, maybe some people are born with a hard limit on muscle memory and the ability to sense where their limbs are in space. (Kinesthetics)
Your opinions seem to be just as ill-informed on pool and talent as they are in politics and religion. Some people are born with a higher level of "talent" for logic, apparently.
Actually, I stand corrected. It wasn't 14 when he started slaying dragons. It was 12.
No one is saying that there aren't physical limitations that some people have over others. No one is saying that some people don't have better hand eye and better visual spatial relational ability. Mostly people who are counter to the natural talent argument are simply saying that raw ability NEVER gets you to a top level. It always requires proper training, proper practice and LOTS of experience.
What I'm saying is that most limitations are self imposed and someone stating that they tried something once and failed is not indicative of not having talent at something.
Jaden
MAybe you should ask him how many 12 hour/6 or 7 day a week months/years he had played to get to that level...lol...I would imagine a minimum of 18 months with proper structure and instruction.
Jaden
The topic of the thread isn't "Can you achieve a high level of play without natural talent?" It's "Is there such a thing as natural talent?".
Some players just inherently sense after a very short time, just how long the slides stays on the cue ball, allowing them to optimize stroke to open the pocket as much as possible. That's Filler. He hits off angle shots with the absolute PERFECT speed to maximize the make percentage, in a way that I have not seen any other player do. If that is not raw talent, then I wonder why every other pro player who put in the time does not hit the ball that way.
I don't think a single person in this thread has said natural talent gives one a free pass from having to work hard.
But let's look at it another way. Even throwing steroids into the mix, Arnold Schwarzenegger had absolutely perfect genetics for aesthetic bodybuilding. Didn't mean he did not have to put in the two a day weightlifting sessions. Didn't mean he did not have to put in the time and effort to eat right and make notes on exactly how specific foods affected his physique. The thing was... Lots of other people were putting in the same amount of work, and doing the same things, and did not get his results, due to inferior genetics.
Boom! Nuff said.
A young man I had never seen before walked into my local poolroom, picked up a house cue, threw out all 16 balls on a fairly tight table and effortlessly ran the rack. He did it a second time, and then a third time, without even breaking a sweat.
Now, his girlfriend/wife comes over, says, "Hon, we gotta go now", so they both leave.
I asked the houseman, "Who was that guy?"
"Oh, that's Nicky. He used to play, but he quit years ago, got a job, got married. etc."
Pat Fleming ran 50 balls after playing pool for only one month.
Allen Hopkins ran 100 balls in his first year of playing.
Natural ability for excelling in pool exists, and I've seen it.
Now, his girlfriend/wife comes over, says, "Hon, we gotta go now", so they both leave.
I asked the houseman, "Who was that guy?"
"Oh, that's Nicky. He used to play, but he quit years ago, got a job, got married. etc."
Pat Fleming ran 50 balls after playing pool for only one month.
Allen Hopkins ran 100 balls in his first year of playing.
Natural ability for excelling in pool exists, and I've seen it.
How many accounts you have here on AZB?
What's your Fargo? I thought so.How many accounts you have here on AZB?