Last Resort - Can an Amateur Teach: An Amateur Instructor's Dilema (A Story to Share)

[NB-DOWNUNDER]

I'm trying to get them to buy a Jim Rempe training ball to use as their cue ball for our sessions, and I was going to designate 5 balls each from the 15, as their set of balls for all the excercises and drills I would teach them, and give them 2 pockets each and rotate them around.

I think one on one would be ideal later on the track, but I just want them all to develop decent fundamentals all at the same time, and hopefully, they can pick each other up when they start playing.

To give an idea of where I'd like them to be: I'd like for them to be able to place all 15 balls down one corner, and shoot a ball at a time, down to the other corner, without having to take a practice stroke, and be able to do it without looking. Because as it is - going to use aircraft terminology here to describe their stroke - they would be lucky to get 5 in a row, as there is pitch, yaw and roll in their back arm, and their cue stick is not moving in one direct path, but has paved way for a 4th dimension.

They all have the habbit of adjusting their aim when their down, and their stance is ridiculously unbalanced from my point of view. Their shot selection is very poor as I've often remarked why they are stretching across the table where they can barely get 6" of stroke, when they have an easier option that they can take. They are however tranfserring from English pool which is a 6 foot table - so I can understand where that habit comes from.

I'm whipping up a PDF of the material that I want to deliver, and I'll post up to see what everyone here thinks. Criticism welcome.

Thanks again for your feedback, SloMoHolic

 

[NB-DOWNUNDER]

I'm trying to get them to buy a Jim Rempe training ball to use as their cue ball for our sessions, and I was going to designate 5 balls each from the 15, as their set of balls for all the excercises and drills I would teach them, and give them 2 pockets each and rotate them around.

I think one on one would be ideal later on the track, but I just want them all to develop decent fundamentals all at the same time, and hopefully, they can pick each other up when they start playing.

To give an idea of where I'd like them to be: I'd like for them to be able to place all 15 balls down one corner, and shoot a ball at a time, down to the other corner, without having to take a practice stroke, and be able to do it without looking. Because as it is - going to use aircraft terminology here to describe their stroke - they would be lucky to get 5 in a row, as there is pitch, yaw and roll in their back arm, and their cue stick is not moving in one direct path, but has paved way for a 4th dimension.

 

[NB-DOWNUNDER]

I'm trying to get them to buy a Jim Rempe training ball to use as their cue ball for our sessions, and I was going to designate 5 balls each from the 15, as their set of balls for all the excercises and drills I would teach them, and give them 2 pockets each and rotate them around.

I think one on one would be ideal later on the track, but I just want them all to develop decent fundamentals all at the same time, and hopefully, they can pick each other up when they start playing.

 

[NB-DOWNUNDER]

To give an idea of where I'd like them to be: I'd like for them to be able to place all 15 balls down one corner, and shoot a ball at a time, down to the other corner, without having to take a practice stroke, and be able to do it without looking. Because as it is - going to use aircraft terminology here to describe their stroke - they would be lucky to get 5 in a row, as there is pitch, yaw and roll in their back arm, and their cue stick is not moving in one direct path, but has paved way for a 4th dimension.

They all have the habbit of adjusting their aim when their down, and their stance is ridiculously unbalanced from my point of view. Their shot selection is very poor as I've often remarked why they are stretching across the table where they can barely get 6" of stroke, when they have an easier option that they can take. They are however tranfserring from English pool which is a 6 foot table - so I can understand where that habit comes from.

Thanks again for your feedback, SloMoHolic

 

[NB-DOWNUNDER]

To give an idea of where I'd like them to be: I'd like for them to be able to place all 15 balls down one corner, and shoot a ball at a time, down to the other corner, without having to take a practice stroke, and be able to do it without looking. Because as it is - going to use aircraft terminology here to describe their stroke - they would be lucky to get 5 in a row, as there is pitch, yaw and roll in their back arm, and their cue stick is not moving in one direct path, but has paved way for a 4th dimension.

They all have the habbit of adjusting their aim when their down, and their stance is ridiculously unbalanced from my point of view. Their shot selection is very poor as I've often remarked why they are stretching across the table where they can barely get 6" of stroke, when they have an easier option that they can take. They are however tranfserring from English pool which is a 6 foot table - so I can understand where that habit comes from.

Thanks again for your feedback, SloMoHolic

I'm also going to post my PDF that I'm making to show the material I want to deliver. Thoughts, Advice, Criticism welcome. I should be done with it in the next day or so.


**I'm having trouble posting - all of my posts are always being sent for moderation - not too sure if it's because of the length??? I'll try and keep my posts short and sweet I guess.

 

[FranCrimi]

Well.....That's a WHOLE lot of information you posted there.

Basically, you're asking if you should charge $20 , being that you haven't been formally trained, right?

Well, you're not a pro player and you haven't really had much experience as a teacher....

If this was the medical profession, I'd suggest that maybe it's not such a good idea to practice without a license.

But being that it's pool, I say, find a rate that's reasonable for you and them. You'll know if you're in the ballpark by the look on their faces. But, only you can figure that part out, but whatever you do, keep it honest. Don't mislead or trick the players you're helping into thinking you're a pro or an expert.

You are who you are.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[NB-DOWNUNDER]

Well.....That's a WHOLE lot of information you posted there.

Basically, you're asking if you should charge $20 , being that you haven't been formally trained, right?

Well, you're not a pro player and you haven't really had much experience as a teacher....

If this was the medical profession, I'd suggest that maybe it's not such a good idea to practice without a license.

But being that it's pool, I say, find a rate that's reasonable for you and them. You'll know if you're in the ballpark by the look on their faces. But, only you can figure that part out, but whatever you do, keep it honest. Don't mislead or trick the players you're helping into thinking you're a pro or an expert.

You are who you are.

Welcome to the forum.

Yes, exactly right, and going in to almost that exact profession - but for teeth - we have all these lectures about ethical practice and so on.
That's why I was in a bit of a pickle? Would it be right to charge for lessons even though I am not an instructor? But at the same time, I have other commitments and my time is limited.
They know of my history tournament-wise, and I've told them I'm not the best there is. Because I do miss shots and I'm always trying to make myself better. But what I can give them is my indepth knowledge of the game, the table, and give them a way to use it so that they can improve their practice from what it is now - so they don't develop nasty habits early.
I've told them that I don't promise that their pool will improve straight away - that it takes hours, days, weeks and years to master the game.
But what I did promise them, I know I can deliver - and that is, for each of them to be able to cue properly, hold the cue properly and be able to deliver the ball down a specific path that they see. Then, I can teach them to start pocketing balls - and they acknowledged that.
It's just really hard in Perth to guage what is fair for pricing for lessons when we have no one here really. I guess I could base it upon what other instructors charge for English Pool and Snooker.

Where my lessons will start to plateuau in experience is safety play - I'm very aggressive - and is probably the reason why I failed in the 2012 State Championships - is because in my mind I still had the pocketing ability, so I played like I could - but being just out of touch so what normally would have gone down, didn't, and I should have played safe instead. I can make safties - and I do them well - it's just that I never play them when I should. There's another group of kids that come in, that watched me play 9 Ball, and it wasn't until they started talking amongst themselves that I realised from their accents that they were Filipino too. With that group - theres a guy that I play where I tell him, you play as agressive as you can, because I'm going to play safe the whole time. I've managed to get several 3 foul rules, but didn't call it.

What makes safties an even harder aspect in the game to manage is, the level (or what makes a good safe) of your saftey is also dependent on your opponent's skill level. - That's how I see it. The degree of difficulty increases for making a good safe when you play skilled opponents.

It's something I cannot teach - because I am trying to master it myself. I can tell them the fundamentals of the safety shot, but it's all down to feel, control and cueing to be able to park that cue ball up against another ball. That's something that cannot be taught but practiced with dedication.

I'm actually working on this part of my game right now in my practice sessions, and tieing it in with 2,3 Rail kicking... my practice routine is play safe, escape using 2 or more rails. I actually found the zero-x kicking really useful in-conjunction with all the other systems I've come across so far. It's great knowing a few, because I can crosscheck using each system, then average out all the aiming, and I usually hit it spot on.
This is what my table looks like when I'm at work...

and thank you for your feedback

 

[NB-DOWNUNDER]

I suppose another good thing about teaching others is that if I can promote 9-Ball/10-Ball, 1 Pocket enough to generate more interest, we may be in for a good chance to set up an American Pool League here in Perth. It's definately picked up quite alot since I started working there, and I know I've had a fair few people ask me what I've been playing, when they see me rack a diamond rack. It's great. Pool is dying here in WA - we've had 2 big pool rooms close within a year. I'm fairly certain it's not being marketed correctly, because I have no idea why it's taken off in the Eastern States of Australia, but no one seems to care in Perth. I plan to do everything in my power to change it. All the Snooker players hang **** on me because they say I play on a table with huge pockets, but most of them that come on to the table, I make sure they don't leave the winner. Sure, it's bigger pockets than what's on the snooker table, but it's not just big for you. It's big for your oponent too. So if you miss, and you're playing at a high enough calibre.. that miss, just cost you the rack or the match. That's the idea that they all seem to be blind to. I've recently rekindled my Snooker playing too since I started working at the pool room - and just for laughs, I still use my Pool Cue which they call a broomstick. But I give them a damn good run for their money. I actually beat my standing record for high score that I set when I was 13, a score of 73. I scored 84 two weeks ago, but I attribute that to well placed snookers so I gained 20 points in fouls.
Australia needs to send someone to the World Championships to bring back a trophy. We need exhibitions here, even Artistic pool. So much more versatility on American tables than English tables. We need something big & to bring the younger generation in to 9 Ball.

 

[NB-DOWNUNDER]

I suppose another good thing about teaching others is that if I can promote 9-Ball/10-Ball, 1 Pocket enough to generate more interest, we may be in for a good chance to set up an American Pool League here in Perth. It's definately picked up quite alot since I started working there, and I know I've had a fair few people ask me what I've been playing, when they see me rack a diamond rack. It's great. Pool is dying here in WA- we've had 2 big pool rooms close within a year. I'm fairly certain it's not being marketed correctly, because I have no idea why it's taken off in the Eastern States of Australia, but no one seems to care in Perth. I plan to do everything in my power to change it. All the Snooker players hang **** on me because they say I play on a table with huge pockets, but most of them that come on to the table, I make sure they don't leave the winner. Sure, it's bigger pockets than what's on the snooker table, but it's not just big for you. It's big for your oponent too. So if you miss, and you're playing at a high enough calibre.. that miss, just cost you the rack or the match. That's the idea that they all seem to be blind to. I've recently rekindled my Snooker playing too since I started working at the pool room - and just for laughs, I still use my Pool Cue which they call a broomstick. But I give them a damn good run for their money. I actually beat my standing record for high score that I set when I was 13, a score of 73. I scored 84 two weeks ago, but I attribute that to well placed snookers so I gained 20 points in fouls.
Australia needs to send someone to the World Championships to bring back a trophy. We need exhibitions here, even Artistic pool. So much more versatility on American tables than English tables. We need something big & to bring the younger generation in to 9 Ball.

 

[Pjaze]

You must have missed this thread..

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=308660

Btw there is another pool hall with 16 american tables in the middle of the city (Not to far from where you work - Pot black I assume?)

The place is an anime/manga/bubble tea/cafe, everyone in there is asian and it is pretty hidden. I stumbled across is a while ago and couldn't believe my eyes.

The problem is they use Ricker cloth? It is way to fast and feels strange.

Anyway, free pool at my place whenever you want.

 

[NB-DOWNUNDER]

You must have missed this thread..

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=308660

Btw there is another pool hall with 16 american tables in the middle of the city (Not to far from where you work - Pot black I assume?)

The place is an anime/manga/bubble tea/cafe, everyone in there is asian and it is pretty hidden. I stumbled across is a while ago and couldn't believe my eyes.

The problem is they use Ricker cloth? It is way to fast and feels strange.

Anyway, free pool at my place whenever you want.

Thanks man.

That place is Formosa Cafe, I play there often. Francis Street, North Bridge.
Nice quality tables, Aileex. Used in the Asian Tours. Owner is run by a family and his dad used to play in China.
I play with him and his dad quite often, and he's recently racked up 9 ball more after I showed them the sweet spots to break.

The Ricker Cloth runs about as fast as 760. We have the 860HR on Table 19 at Pot Black. So if you have a run on that, then play at Formosa, Formosa will be slightly faster. The problem there is - that some of the tables have not been spirit leveled correctly when they reclothed this year. So only a few tables are dead flat. **Note - I have played on a Carom table with S300 - so maybe my idea of what's fast may be skewed because of this

 

[Pjaze]

I guess I am scewed the other way because my table has had the same 860 on it for 4 years and is extremely slow now. I will be sure to head down to pot black some time, is the table in use often?

 

[Scott Lee]

NB-DOWNUNDER...Please don't take this the wrong way, but from the lack of patience I see with your posts (you have basically posted the same exact post about a dozen times in this thread), you may not be cut out to be an instructor. Post ONCE...and wait a while. Even if your post takes a few minutes to show up, RESIST reposting it again, and again, and again. A good instructor must learn patience, and have excellent communication skills.

While your writing skills show promise, sometimes that doesn't carry over to verbal skills. It sounds to me like you want to teach to "make a few bucks", to "have lunch while at university". That's a poor reason, imo. Almost all teachers teach because they love to convey knowledge...frequently teaching for nothing or nearly nothing, just for the love of the subject matter. The payoff for the teacher is when the student excels with the information.

You could take a stance of giving these players some instruction, and let them choose how much to pay you...or whether to pay you anything, or not. Professional instructors, like myself, have had a lot of formal training, and charge what want. Our students are the ones who choose whether to seek us out...or not. Good luck with your project. I would still talk to the people that Bob Jewett suggested. You can't possibly know them all.

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com