Making a world beater

[Shermanscs]

What about the mental side of the game, both the strategies involved as well as the ability to think and execute under pressure. I have seen the most talented of players miss straightforward shots in pressure situations. I remember a guy telling me once that if it weren't for pressure, there would be a hell of a lot more world champions. Many shots are easy until you apply pressure. I have seen players who can't take the pressure & frustration of a safety battle - and lose when they crack.

The mental side of the game is a more complex question regarding "are champions made or born". I believe you have to have a certain aptitude that you are born with to excel.

Consider this question- do you think anyone can become a mathematician? Or do you have to be born with certain wiring that allow your brain to excel in this? To naturally be able to think and compute numbers of a complex nature. I would maintain you could give me all the training and I can practice for a million hours, but I have a ceiling on how good I will ever be in math or how much I will ever know. Can anyone become a chess master and play as a world champion? How much of pool can be compared to chess? I maintain a lot.

In a physical analogy, you could teach me for a million hours the mechanics of playing baseball. I will certainly be able to play the game at some level, but even starting at the youngest of ages (which I did), I just don't have the physical characteristics to excel in the sport.

You also need to be extremely self reflective and self-aware in order to constantly improve. I am amazed at how many individuals lack this innate quality.

Just my opinion, but to be a champion, I maintain one needs god given physical & mental abilities, solid training and a dedication to put in tireless, countless hours of practice - and to naturally love it! If it is work and drudgery to you... Forget it! And one final thought, isn't naturally loving it "god given"?

Steve

 

[softshot]

I honestly believe that with enough hard work anyone with the drive can play run-out 9-ball 5-6-7 racks in a row run-out 9ball... anyone can become a 100 ball runner in 14.1... those are high but very achievable goals for almost anyone...

I can beat almost anyone... 1 set ... I have top quality pool skills for a little while..

I don't have the ability to fly across the country drop in on a new table I have never seen before and play lights out for 3 days..

there is a difference between enough pool skill and knowledge to play run-out top flight pool... and having the "IT factor" to come with it day in and day out... anywhere in the world on someone else's table when the owner is in gear and beating him anyway...

that's not pool ability... that's something else

 

[rrick33]

Forget about pool, look at Basketball or Football or Baseball. There is real money there. There are THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of 10 year old kids playing their hearts out, with the goal of being a pro when they grow up. For you that say anyone can do it, why is it that only a fraction of a fraction of a percent will make it onto a pro team when they grow up?

It's difficult to compare team sports to individual sports.

In a team sport, other people decide if you have the skills they are willing to invest their time and effort to improve upon. This can often be very subjective.....Did you see the movie Moneyball.

In an individual sport it is all upon the individual.

It's important that we make a distinction between the willingness to achieve a dream and the ability to achieve a dream.

Many possess the ability but for various reasons are unwilling.

Dreams can change over time....we often exchange one dream for something completely different.

In some sports, candidates are drafted almost entirely from the college ranks. If you didn't go to college, your chances are greatly diminished.

If you leave home at 18 and need to get a job to pay rent or support a family or just about any number of reasons....you may find you sacrifice one dream for something more imperitive or perhaps more valuable.

Look at all the kids who dream of being a police officer or fireman and end up following a business career because the money is better.

I don't think you can easily correlate thousands of kids having dreams but only a select few achieve them as a foundation that natural ability must be the prevailing factor.

I would say that those with a greater willingness to do what it takes to make the dream a reality are those who are successful.

 

[Ty Arnold]

Only a very low percentage of players out there even have a chance at EVER being a world beater. No matter how much work they put in it will just never happen for most people. The perfect stroke, perfect concentration, nerves of steel, and knowledge only thousands and thousands of hours of play and practice will accomplish. All those factors MUST be there for it to ever happen.

 

[CreeDo]

It's rare we hear a story of someone taking up pool late in life, and then reaching an elite level. They seem to reach a very high level early in life (like, B or A player in their teens) and then a year or three later, they jump up the few extra percentage points needed to be considered a pro.

My first instinct is to say "this must mean they were born with a gift for pool" like superior hand-eye coordination or something. But it may not be anything like that.

It may be that they were born with an abnormal love of hitting balls, and continue to hit balls for hours (and care about the results) long after another dude gets bored and goes home. It's not a physical gift, it's just that sinking shots pushes their buttons in a different way, it's more satisfying, it scratches some itch.

Or it may be that some aspect of their upbringing makes them feel desperate to prove something to the world, and so they become very driven and competitive, they need to be excellent at something, they can't stand being average.

That kind of need for approval (or whatever) is strongest when you're still young, and coincidentally when you're young is when your brain is most pliable, you can groove things into muscle memory more easily and learn new things more readily.

Maybe that's the secret. Take some kid with daddy issues, make him want your approval, convince him that hitting balls perfectly is the only way he'll get it. Start him young enough and steer him away from bad habits (both in terms of stroke and lifestyle). Kind of cynical but I bet it's close to the truth.

 

[rrick33]

It was stated:

"Only a very low percentage of players out there even have a chance at EVER being a world beater. No matter how much work they put in it will just never happen for most people. The perfect stroke, perfect concentration, nerves of steel, and knowledge only thousands and thousands of hours of play and practice will accomplish. All those factors MUST be there for it to ever happen."





I would contend that anyone which is everyone has a chance. It is simply a matter of desire that prevents anyone from investing the ammount of time and effort necessary to become a world beater.

Obviously, age plays a factor but we all have to be young before we become old so we all have the opportunity to achieve this goal if we act upon it in a timely manner and possess the willingness and drive.

 

[mantis99]

Yes,i think you have to love the game with every cell of your body to stand any chance in the first place.Then find a good teacher,this can speed up the whole process. And be ready to practice....A LOT! other than that you need good eye-sight to make all those long cutshots and good fitness regime to endure long practice/tournament sessions.conclusion?yes,i honestly believe that almost anyone can become world beater if he/she puts enough work focused into right direction into it.

Sent from my MB632 using Tapatalk 2

I think it depends on your definition of a world beater. I think the average person can reach a certain level, probably around a solid B with the above mentioned atributes. However, to reach an A level or pro level quality of play, at least a certain amount of talent for pool qualities is needed. Just because pool doesn't require the same physcial type abilities as baseball, football, or basketball, doesn't mean it doesn't still require certain things to reach a top level. Hand eye coordination, the ability to strongly focus for long periods, the ability to handle pressure, the ability to adjust to different playing conditions, and the ability to visualize the cue balls pathways are some of the attributes needed to reach a dominant level. Also, if you are good, but others have these things at a stronger level and practice as much as you, they will still likely rise above you.

Because pool does not require as much specialized physical ability, theirt are probably more people that can reach a competitive level, but not all will be able to play at the same level as the top 10-20 percent no matter what they do because those people simple have better physcial and mental attributes specific to pool.

 

[Island Drive]

Everybody's opinion is welcome. But after reading Genes thread on making a champion I was wanting to know if anyone could be made into a world beater on a bar box or big table? Or do you think you have to have a certain quality about ones self.

Nope................ya can't Make a Babe Ruth, just like ya can't make an Efren or you can't make someone paint like Picasso or be a singer like Frank Sinatra. Most greats were formed because of that inner desire/curiosity/ability and LUSTFUL need to keep at it. Most the of the best never New what was coming down the pike. Tiger Woods may be an example of this, but if ANY of his desire to be the best was to please his dad or to impress others, that will surface in time and not in a positive manner.

 

[mantis99]

I tend to agree with this. But, from what I'm told, Dick Lane is an example of a guy that got to the top level by sheer determination and long hours of practice, as opposed to an abundance of natural talent. Interesting topic.

That doesn't mean he didn't have more natural talent than the average joe, just not as mug as the gifted few.

Also, while he may not have had the physical talent, he may have an increased ability to focus during practice and play allowing him to get more out of practice and overcome his physical shortcomings.

 

[mantis99]

I hear a lot of people throwing out terms like "Natural ability" or "God given talent" as a prerequisite for achieving a world beater status.

I have to disagree totaly with that mentality. It would mean that only a select few are even afforded the whereforall to achieve world beater status from birth regardles of desire or drive.

While genetics may play a factor in a persons personality which might contribute to their drive to succeed or even their obsession for the game, these are just attributes that can be nurtured. They have no influence on a persons "ability" to perform at the highest standards simply a persons disposition or willingness to perform at that level. Incentivize a sport with enough cash and many, many more unmotivated players will find the willingness.

While it is also apparent that as we age, we lose some of the benefits afforded a young developing brain, that dosen't mean we lose the ability to learn. There are many older players with the knowledge to achieve world beater status but age has robbed them of the endurance and intense levels of focus necessary to sustain the level of committment in time and effort required to keep their skills honed.

Since the vast majority of success on a pool table is learned behavior and programming, I believe that anyone with sufficient desire, reasonable intelect and the ability to sustain their focus levels and commit the time to keep their skills sharp, could achieve and maintain a world beater status with sufficient practice and education.

Throw enough money into the sport like tennis or golf and you'd find a multitude of world beaters climbing out of the woodwork within 2 to 3 years.

A persons ability to program their body for pool based action is a lot of the natural ability that separates one from another. It's true in every other sport as well as pool

 

[mantis99]

Two ways to think of this. Is it really true that there are THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of kids who play their heart out and don't make it? Or is it the kids who do make it, the best of there sports, are really the ones that put their heart and soul into being the best? I would bet if you talked to the Micahel Jordan's, the Tiger Wood's, the Muhammed Ali's or any other person who was once considered the best ever in their sport, that there definition of "playing their hearts out" is worlds different from what you or I consider "playing their hearts out".

I disagree with you. I played a lot of sports including college baseball, and I encountered a significant number of players that were simply more talented for a number of reasons and had a much higher ceiling than people who tried twice as hard. At the college level we practiced a solid 4 hours a day during the season, had morning and evening practices as well as workouts during theoffseason, and their were still obvious differences in players on the same team due mostly to talent level.

Today's kids are specializing more and more with club sports, private lessons and offseason practice happening more and more and at a younger age, yet many of these kids won't even get college scholarships because they just dont have the talent.

The necessary drive and work ethic are needed to be successful at most sports, but it is those that combine the drive and work ethic with freakish talent that reach the top of their sports.

When I was younger I was always in a sport, developing my physical abilities. I took private hitting lessons, practiced fielding with my dad, and worked out more than most players on my teams. I came home every day in the offseason and hit wiffle balls until dinner time, then went back out and hit until dark. I used to feel likeI was doing something when my hands would start to bleed from swinging do many times each day. While I made it to the collegiate level, the reality was that I simply lacked the talent to go any further in baseball. No matter how hard I tried, I simply did not have the arm strength, running speed, or bat speed needed to be successful at the next level. All of my attributes in those areas were better than the average person, but not enough to move on.

I understand that pool is not as physical of a sport, but it still requires physical and mental attributes that effect ones ability to play and progress in the sport. No Matter how much one tries, if their ceiling for those attributes is below world beater level, then so will their eventual progress be.