Teaching 6 year old to play pool?

Billy_Bob

Billy_Bob

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I've been teaching my neighbors 6 year old boy how to play pool. After just 3 weeks of practice and playing, he can shoot a bank shot in one out of 10 tries and make about 75% of his shots if he has ball-in-hand for each shot. He can shoot the cue ball dead center and make it come straight back. He can shoot the cue ball into an object ball 1 diamond away, and make the object ball hit the far rail to come straight back and hit the cue ball (1 out of 7 tries). He can also do this with the cue ball frozen to the rail.

He is learning quickly and beat his mother with no handicap last night.

The little monster also seems to be learning how to shark/distract his opponent when he/she is shooting! I don't know who he learned that from? :confused:

He uses a short cue BTW. And I have a little step stool he can use.

But he of course has physical limitations like fingers are too short for a closed bridge and can't make an elevated bridge when shooting over a ball. And if the cue ball is near the center of the table, he can't reach, so he can't use a normal stroke.

Should I be concerned about him not being able to stroke his cue properly when the cue ball is near the center of the table? i.e. Will he develop bad habits which will be hard to change when he is older?

Any tips for teaching a 6 year old and dealing with their physical limitations?

For his practice, I throw out all balls at random and have him shoot each ball directly into a pocket (not using cue ball). Then bank 9 balls directly into side and corner pockets (no cue ball) using diamond system. Then shoot cue ball into object ball 1 diamond away to go to far center diamond and return straight back to hit cue ball - then same but cue ball frozen to rail - then same but cue ball frozen to another ball (he can't do this because he can't make an elevated bridge). Then hit cue ball as if breaking from center diamond to make cue ball come straight back - then again for speed to see how many rails he can make the ball go. Then progressive long shots and progressive cut shots. He can do all these things except shooting over another ball.
 
Umm, screw you man! This kid will be a demon by the time he is 16 and probably kick my ass. :(

Seriously though, sounds like you have it going well, the foot stool is VERY important, I myself if I ever have a kid will build a proper level step all around the table so that the kid does not develop a Hoppe style stroke and can reach most shots. The ones the kid cannot reach are not a great thing, but at the same time I am 5'5 and at 28 years old shoot alot of shots that are not optimal reach, I am sure the kid will benefit from those rare shots he cannot reach adn the practice in making them. Watch Bustamente on some long shots, he tends to reach for most of them instead of getting the rest, maximum reach, super long stroke, and holding the cue right at the butt. This is the one thing I would change soon for the kid though, I am not sure about a really short cue, I thing asap you should be getting a closer to normal length cue because in all honesty they help on longer shots and allow the 90 degree angle stoking arm on those shots instead of a short cue without the needed reach. At 5'5 I use a 59 inch cue and while many people wonder why I can show them quite clearly why a shorter person will actually benefit from a longer cue as much as a taller person. I think the most important thing is normal length cue and a step so that the kids waist is at the proper height so he can bend over the table like you are supposed to. Other then that I dont think you even need bank drills and should just get him stroking balls with the cueball as much as possible as kids that age pick up on this stuff REALLY fast. Plus get some accustats and other vidoes of pro's and what they do adn how they play 9-ball, kids that age are like sponges and will learn tons from it all on their own just from watching and doing it. Formal instruction or drills are almost a waste at that age as he will absorb more just from the muscle memory and such.
 
The best way to teach a kid that age to play golf is to give him a couple of the basic fundamentals that are down pat, and let him rock and roll and have fun. There are too many parents and adults that want to make everything book perfect at that age and you just overload a young mind that's not developed for complexity yet. Before you know it the kid looks like he's in drudgery and hating every minute. The most important thing is that he's just developing hand/eye coordination and having a blast.

BTW...don't let the little fart come on here and start posting either. :D
 
Billy_Bob said:
Any tips for teaching a 6 year old and dealing with their physical limitations?
Click to expand...

My little girl Stacey has been shooting a bit for the last few years, she is 9 now. We don't play proper games, we just pot balls. Whenever there is no shot she can reasonably execute we simply move the balls so she can get a stroke on it. My philosophy is that once she is older and can manage the entire table, she will have a stroke and understand how to pot and play some position. Then she will ba able to play 9 ball, 8 ball, whatever. Until then, she's just having fun, and not getting frustrated by wanting to play a shot that is beyond her physical capabilities.

This is kinda the equivilant of Harvey Penninck (sp?) suggesting new golfers should shoot every shot on the fairway off of a tee. Limits much of the frustrations for beginners, making the early phases of learning much more fun. Real important with kids.

Sounds like you are having fun too, and that's great !

Dave
 
Well Kids can do most stuff better than Adults if they love the Game or Sport. As they can devote 111% of their time & attention to Pool or what ever. Plus they need not be distracted by things like House Payments, a Job, Paying for Food, Car Payment, and all the Non Sense Adults are plagued with. :rolleyes:
 
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we got our table when my son was about 5 yrs old. the rails were about up to his chest or neck, i don't remember exactly. he couldn't reach the cueball on the table so i always just moved it over to the rail for him, and he shot bridging off the rail. he never liked using a stool, i don't think he felt too steady on it. i always encouraged him to try banking balls in and he became really good at it fast. we always played 8 ball together, he was given 2 shots for each of mine, and got to move the cueball to where he could reach it. for years he kicked butt playing with his uncles, etc. at parties.he's 23 now, and though he could be shooting pro-level by now, he never took the game seriously or spent a lot of time practicing, and i never pushed him into it.

i hoped, years ago, by the time he finished school, there would be some money in the game, but that's never materialized. it's better that he's played it as a game all this time, and had fun with it.
 
What's wrong with getting the kid to use a mechanical bridge to reach the long shots? You have to learn some time.
 
Well, Billybob, gotta give you credit for showing a youngster how to have fun playing pool.

By the way, at age seven, Mosconi, shooting his shots standing on a milk carton, came within a hair of beating then world champion Ralph Greenleaf in a game of straight pool. Hence, it stands to reason your protege should be giving Alex Pagulayan a very tough game one year from now.

Keep us posted.
 
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