Need Help with Jumping a Ball - PLEASE !!!

[Tony_in_MD]

This is one of many reasons I am done with the APA.

I get frustrated too, b/c in APA we are restricted to a 45deg elevated angle max. Makes it tricky.

 

[eastcoast_chris]

Thanks guys. I really appreciate the advice. Now with all of your great suggestions, I have to find a way not to put a hole in my Simonis 860.

Do you have an scraps of Simonis left over from when the table was covered?

If so, cut a 5"x5" square of it and use it as a launch pad when learning... that's what I did.

 

[mullyman]

If you are on a home table what table do you have? The thickness of the slate can actually have something to do with it too. I would suggest cutting a piece of felt, if you have any left over, into a little square, about half a pack of cigarettes size, and put under the cue ball. That will help with lift and stop you from getting burn marks on your table.
MULLY

 

[gpeezy]

I've tried many jump cues and can't do squat. The first one I bought a few years ago was at the Baltimore trade convention. It was a Jerricho Stinger and was demonstrated to me by its designer, Jerry Powers. Not only was he jumping balls all over the place, but so was I. When I got it home, I couldn't do anything with it. I called Paul Dayton, who joked that the table I used in Baltimore had a trampoline under the cloth. Anyway, I could really use some advice. Thank you.

Sounds like you just need to work on you stroke and mechanics. As blackjack stated mechanics are crucial to jump a ball with any accuracy. I actually get somewhat side arm. This doesn't work for everyone but I feel I do more with the cue ball sidearm.

 

[av84fun]

I use (and teach) a "normal stroke" for jumping. I believe it is more accurate, and enables you to do more with the cue ball - including aiming the shot, and applying jump draw, top and english. The "normal" jump stroke is more natural, and looks just like a normal jacked-up shot, only the cue ball gets airborn. In fact, jumping ~1/2 a ball about a diamond away, you can draw the ball a full table when jumping with your playing cue and using a "normal stroke" - which you can't do with the dart. Sidearm is an alternative, but IMO, is much harder to learn.

In the end, whether you use normal, sidearm or dart, is a function of what you need to accomplish and what your body can accomodate. Tall people can get away with the "normal" in more situations than short people...

As for jumping chalk, it is the same as a 1/2 ball jump. I often use a piece of chalk when instructing beginning jumpers so that balls don't go flying off the table everywhere. So 2 chalks is a full ball jump. The downside is when chalk bits go everywhere...

-td

Gotcha Thomas...but show me a guy player who can execute a full ball jump between the long rails without having the CB jump off the table (due to the low launch angle) and I'll show you someone who is either over 6 ft. tall or who has an elevated forearm.

I am 5'9" with AT LEAST average flexibility and can only manage about a 45 deg. cue elevation with a perpendicular forearm. Much more than that would require being double-jointed so my point was, you are GOING to have to stroke it "side arm" to SOME extent so you might as well get used to it from the get go.

And it is really no big deal to get the hang of it....any more than the side arm stroke (in the opposite direction) used by most top players when they use the rake.

Having said all that, for long jump shots with plenty of table in front of you, I too find the "normal" stroke to be the most accurate and can easily jump a full ball with 3 ball widths separating the CB and blocker ball.

Closer than that I need a higher angle of attack and therefore, an increasingly elevated forearm.

Finally, I caution that while at higher angles of attack, the player might FEEL like he is using a perpendicular forearm, if he looks back, he may be surprised to find that it is actually eleveted somewhat.

Regards,
Jim