I always tell people, that we all have differing styles, but one thing we all have in common is that we all try to do our best for the student/player. My niche isn't fundamentals - it is more with game strategy, the mental game, etc. When I have students come to me with issues that are grounded in the fundamentals, 9 times out of 10, I refer them to one of the SPF family of instructors. I would be doing them a great disservice by trying to teach them something when I know that they could greatly benefit by receiving better quality instruction from Randy, Scott, Steve, Rufus, etc.
I believe that as a teacher, it is important to put the student before your ego.
I do teach a course in fundamentals, and most of what I teach has been directly passed down to me from Randy anyway. I just feel that the student will benefit more from Randy, Scott, or Steve. JMO.
I do teach differently, and I teach things that are slightly outside the box. Sometimes that's not a bad thing to do. I believe that I was the first instructor that utilized the block building/pyramid structure - something I had found that was utilized effectively by Coach John Wooden. I had the idea of applying it to pool rattling inside my head for about a year. Finally, I sat down one day and put it on paper... then I did a diagram. Then I wrote a few paragraphs about each block in the structure. Two paragraphs eventually became 38 separate 20-page chapters.
Almost 15 years later, I have seen other instructors adopt this method and use the same/similar block building structures/pyramids in their material. Some have upgraded and improved upon the foundation of my original work, which is fine by me - IMO, if that if it helps students to improve - then it is good. Years ago, the "blocks and pyramid" was considered unconventional and "outside the box" thinking - today it is commonplace, widely accepted, and extremely effective.
What others may not know, is that we all communicate with each other to help each other become better teachers. We look at new techniques, training methods, etc, and we supply each other with feedback, evaluation, pros and cons. That is a vital part of what makes the best instructors the best instructors. To me, as long as the student win, we all win. For that reason, I will never hesitate to I refer students to best instructors on the planet - much like I did for Charlie in this instance.
