Wow, I went out to see friends that flew in from interstate, and my post still isn't up....
I'm glad I cut and paste, I'll see if it'll let me post without being moderated.
The original message was 13100 characters, so I had to split it.
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I didn't get to play much 9 Ball in American tables in Australia - as back in the late 90s and early 2000s - American pool was only starting to get popular in South Australia - and there were only limited venues that catered for American Pool - and that I could practice at because of my age. So I ended up mostly practicing with school friends on a 3/4 Snooker (10 Foot) table, playing and teaching them 9 Ball.
I've never received formal instruction, and all my knowledge up to this point in my mid teens was obtained through reading books, and funnily enough playing "Side Pocket" on my Nintendo. I was lucky enough for my sister to have started dating a guy (now her husband) who was also a pool fanatic and played competitively - so now I was able to tag along to some other venues.. and was a treat for a young kid to know in the back of his mind, he had the owner of pool room and some of the other veteran watching him when we was busting out trickshots like the Butterfly (I learned the set up while playing "Side Pocket" on NES :thumbup
, and doing Jump shots (my jumps didn't develop until a lot later in life when I moved to Perth, and had guys that knew how to jump, show me how to jump - could only do partial balls, not full ball at this stage) with a normal house stick on the American Tables.
I was also lucky to have started dating a girl whose father owned at the time - my favourite Pool room in Australia - Empire Pool Lounge.
At this stage I was usually running 6-7 balls and if I was lucky I could run a rack of 9 ball (I could already run 8 ball racks on English tables by now - not consistently but 2-3 times per practice session of about 2 Hours), but I was limited to my knowledge of the use of english off rails, I knew it existed, but didn't have enough power(technique) in my stroke to be able to execute the shot correctly. My style was more or less - Follow, Stun, Stop or Draw, to get position for the next shot. I rarely kicked at balls, as I only knew the mirror technique from English tables, so I prefered to Jump - however, I did have an intermediate understanding of banking, as I loved to shoot doubles/triples on the Snooker table.
So that is the history of my pool playing for 6 years - at 16, I played pool a little less and concentrated on school. Pool turned in to a weekend thing to do with friends when we went out to town, so I didn't get to play as much as I would have liked. I became an adult and as adults do, I had an adult job. The Navy. There are no pool tables on a ship. So pool was non existant for about 6 years of my life. When I left Adelaide, South Australia, Empire Pool Lounge only had a couple of American Tables, and the rest were English - and when I came back, I was amazed to see how much the community has built up and that there was a complete reversal in the ratio of American to English pool tables. Unfortunate for me, however as I lived in Perth now.
Perth, in Western Australia, up until this year and from when I moved here in 2006, had 3 Venues that catered American Pool. It felt like an eon for me to find a pool hall that had American tables... and I finally found one in the heart of the city that had a Brunswick table. I was ecstatic It was short lived - as 6 months down the track, I returned to find Snooker napped cloth on the table. I shed a tear that day, and never returned. 2 venues have closed down now, 1 place has opened up (Short story for this coming later) and the other venues from the same franchise had their tables clothed with Snooker napped cloth. One of the places that did close down - I ended up being very good friends with the owner - and this is where I rekindled my love with 9 Ball. He had and American Table there, but it was reserved. Reserved because - he was the one playing on the table. From him and his friends I was able to fix my stroke, learn CIT, SIT, Jumping and using the rails for Position play. 2007-2008, I was there every day after work, and we would play beyond closing time. It was the first time, where I was properly schooled in pool, where I would come cold on to the table as I didn't get a shot for racks on end. I was able to learn from friends that had played on the UK circuit, and the advice they gave helped lift my game.
Real life took hold again, and switching jobs - left pool on the back burner once more. I'd briefly lost contact with my mentor - and when I stabilised again and hoped to return to pool - I found out that he no longer worked there and was over seas - new management didn't have the passion for pool, so I was a little disheartened. Also, disheartened with my career path that I chose to return to studying. I played pool towards the end of the year of 2011 - to reward myself for good grades, at the only place in Perth that had worsted cloth on their American tables - Essex Street, Pool Room. I got to know the guys that ran the room fairly well, and they would play against me. Then they told me of a competition coming up - 2011 State Open 9 Ball championships. I finally took the advice of my old mentor's group telling me to buy a cue. So I bought a VX 2.1. I thought - well, it's a Jump, Break, and a Play. It'll do me better than a house cue that I've used my whole life.
Tournament day came - and I was prepared. During the lead up throughout the year, I had another friend show me a place for 3 Cushion... I practiced here for 2 weeks before the trounament.
This was the first tournament I had entered, and I was very surprised with my final standing.
I had made it to the Grand Final through the winners bracket undefeated.
The format was Race to 5.
But because of my lack of experience - I'd not thought about eating during the day. By the time they had finished the losers brackets for someone to play me - it was around an hour and a half wait for me. Close to 8 hours of pool, with no food, with hypoglycemia kicking in, I was exhausted, and bombed out. In my heart - if I had been better prepared - I know I could have won it. There were big shots played, Jump shots, jumps off rails, 3 Cushion shots to pocket the 9 sitting in a corner pocket, masse, and power strokes. Though I did miss those key shots that could've won me the title.
I hold my head high, as later I did research of who I had beaten that day, and the player who I faced in the Final, I had beaten in the earlier stages, was also a Veteran Australian 8 Ball Hall of Fame inductee.
I was proud of what I had accomplished. Runner up in the State championships - after not holding a cue for almost 3 years.
I was decimated in the 2012 championships as it was held in the middle of the year, and I was unable to get practice in for the stronger field, but I will enter again this year, as I managed to score a job at the Pool Hall that had the Brunswick table, and I've managed to get Simonis back on to it and restore it to it's former glory. My very first rack on it was a run out, and it's great to practice on a table that feels the same as the very first time I played 9 ball and fell in love with the game. I've ironed out the kinks in my stroke again, and am back to being able to draw back full table lengths of cross corner object ball in jaws and cue ball in opposite corner down the long rail. I've had tons of practice at this other venue that's popped up that offer Aileex tables, which is great, because those corner pockets are unforgiving. The owner and his dad usually challenge me to a few racks when I'm there, as I usually give them a few tips on the speed and amount of english to use when doing banks and kicks on their tables.
That is my life story for my pool experience thus far, and now is my dilema.
We have had a group of regulars come in interested in American pool - and they invite me to have a few games with them everytime they come in. There's 4 of them that want to have instruction in Pool.
But my dilema is - because I'm not working anymore and am studying again (was only working during my holidays), my time is limited - and I need some sort of income. As little as it may be - as I love the game, and love to teach others - I was wondering what sort of reasonable price can I charge?
I was thinking $20/hr for up to 3 of them. I could get 3 of them on the table at one time, each taking a pair of pockets each. There's a lot of work to be done, and I'm currently writing up a plan of what I aim to teach and what they should expect to learn.
From observation whilst playing with them - they need to:
Fix their stroke.
Hold their cue properly.
Sight, before dropping down.
Have the line for the cue, before dropping down.
Stroking techniques.
Their stance. Oh God, their stance.
ROCK SOLID Bridging.
and to stop Jabbing at the balls.
They are just the fundamentals that I want them to have, so I know that they can drop down on to the cue ball and push it straight down a line.
I was going to have them just aim and pocket balls straight in to a pocket without missing, so they know they are properly aligned.
These are just some of ideas I'm having, and not having instructed before, I would like to know if I'm on the right direction, as I'd like to be the best teacher I can be if I'm asking for a small fee to teach the group of them.
I'm really a nobody in the grand scale of things so I'm never going to ask a ridiculous amount for lessons, but my ambitions is to be able to represent Australia in the Pool WC'ships one day, and put us on the map. I want to win, and win twice so I can claim one for the Philippines. Also to play 3C - as I've contacted the Australian Pool Players Federation and the President told me, there is no one playing 3C in Aus.
I know I can teach the fundamentals, intermediate, and a little of the advanced techniques and aiming systems for American Pool - but am no where up to a standard where I would class myself as an Advanced Instructor.
I plan to travel to the States - probably Canada - as it's Commonwealth - and work for a year, and be closer to where the action is for pool. While I'm there, I'm going to grab as many lessons from as many different schools, pros, and other players as I can. I'm always learning, and there's always something for me to practice.
So, is it reasonable for me to charge $20/hour to teach 2-4 at a time? - as their first stage of learning is getting the fundamentals down packed.
I don't want to teach them anything else, until I know they're cueing straight, and can sight correctly.
Once they can have developed good cueing habbits, I can move them on to Stun/Stop, Follow, Draw.
Then using Centre Ball w/Follow or Draw for cuts, then start introducing english later on.
I'm going to teach them in the order in which I learned - and I learned to make balls first, before making balls by banking, and kicking.
I've also asked them to each buy a Jim Rempe training ball before we start.
I'm confident that I can teach this correctly, as I wouldn't be able to get half of the action I get on the cueball if I'm doing something wrong myself.
My cueing isn't perfect (one thing I want to fix up when I go travelling) but it's a damsight stronger and straight stroke than what my potential students have right now.
Thank you for reading my long story, but there wasn't really a quicker way of explaining my depth of knowledge short hand.
Any advice is greatly appreciated in regards to how, what I can teach these new guys & girls. There is NO ONE in Western Australia that I would go to myself for tuition/lessons in American Pool. We have no one here. They are all in the Eastern States.
I've run the some self grading using the info I've found on Dr Dave's rating page: billiards-colostate-edu/threads/ratings-html
On the A-D Scale, I'm B+ have highlights where I feel like I'm A- on some practice sessions.
Unfortunately, there are no 9 Ball Leagues in Perth, so I can't rate some of the other ratings.
Tried the Hopkins Q Skill, I'm a B
Playing the Ghost, I'm A+/A++
I would teach them for free, but I need to have lunch while I'm at university.
