teaching a child

H

holland

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hello,

Is there an established curriculum of what to teach and how?

I'm teaching my 9yo son right now. I'm not the best teacher, as I'm not a very good player to begin with, and have limited knowledge and a mediocre stroke. At my best, I was probably a B player, run a few racks of 8/9 and a 14.1 run in the 60s.

He has an interest, we hit some balls now and then, but I don't want to frustrate him too much because he has trouble pocketing a ball. I'm asking him to work on mechanics at the moment, because where he wants to hit and what he's hitting does not match. Stroke, stance, grip, and a closed bridge with attempts at center ball strikes. I try to give instruction and observe daily, although we can only practice about 30 minutes a day.

I saw some mention of not introducing the cueball, I haven't thought of that and will probably try that through a few racks of 8 ball or cutthroat instead of just working on mechanics.

Are there any other suggestions to maintain interest while trying to set a solid foundation?

Thanks!
 
I have been going to a Jr League with my son for years, they start off new players with a simple shooting drill, line up a bunch of balls on the headstring, and just have him shoot them into the pockets. Show him how to line up the shots that way instead of using a cue ball and object ball.

You can also play around with using a stripe ball as a cueball and have him hit it and see what the strip does. Like the stroke training drill where you line up the stripe up and down and hit it in the middle to check if there is any spin on the ball.

Make sure the cue is not too large for him also, if he's using a full size one, may be good to use a smaller one, it's a lot easier to control.
 
randyG's post reminded me of this story & I'll state up front that it it not really related to how to teach a child AND it's about golf.

I was teaching my 8 year old son to play golf & we had just finished 9 holes & he had just hit his 2nd. shot on the 10th., when he asked me if we could quit. I said, 'not in the middle of a hole'. I then told him that the next hole was a par 3 to the 18th tee box. I asked him if it would be okay if we played that hole & then 18 back to the club house. He said, 'yeah, that'll be good'.

We finished the 1Oth, & he went straight to the red tee box for him. It was a 155 yard par 3. He hit a 3 wood that I had just put in a ladies shaft at full flex. He hit it with a little draw that landed on the collar of the green, bounced on, & then rolled right into the hole. I went crazy. The guys on the 18th. tee went crazy. When I told my son that he had just hit a hole in one. He said, 'good, can we quit now?'. I said, 'yeah I guess we can, right after we get that ball.'

He's never hit another hole in one & he will be 30 in Aug. He's glad I coaxed him into playing that one more hole.

All that said, I would agree with randyG. Keep the sessions only as long as he is interested & then...one more shot.:wink:

Regards,
 
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I will help you get him on track to start with......

Hi there,

I teach and travel all over the country and my specialty is aiming.

I teach all other aspects of the game but if the dominant eye is not in the correct position the brain is not getting the right image to do the task.

I have found that the kids pick this up real quick once they see how this works.

If you call me I will help you learn how to do this for yourself and then you will be able to help your son. The phone lesson is free and it will help you and your son more than you could ever imagine.

Just give me a call some late afternoon or evening when your by a table and I will help you learn how this works.

We need to build this pool world of ours and it all starts with the kids.

I have a son that I have played pool with since he was about 17 and it is one of the most enjoyable moments still to hit some balls with him. We have a bond with pool that is unmatched with anything.

Hopefully the same will happen with you and your son and is starting right now.

The results will be pretty quick. It will almost seem like magic.

Just give me a call. 715-563-8712.....Geno........
 
Willie Mosconi started as a child shooting with a broomstick and potatoes on his own. Don't over-supervise your son. Hang out with him but let him explore things on his own and let him know that you're there if he has any questions. Just make sure you make it interatctive and not a lecture. Kids get turned off to being told what to do. Remember, it's a game. Kids are great at exploring games.
 
That's good advice from Ms. Crimi.

My Dad basically did that with me when I was 13. He showed me how to bridge & where I had to make the CB hit the OB to cut it into the pocket & then just watched & let me play as he played too so I could watch him & learn.

In coaching other sports, I've seen children that actually hated playing & were only playing for their dads ...or even their moms. Sometimes it's a tight rope that needs to be walked between the 'work' of learning how to do something & the fun that comes from doing it. Some parents were too pushy & some were too laxed.

Sometimes my Dad might tell me that I could not make a certain shot. I'd say yes I can. Sometimes he was right but sometimes he was wrong. He would just smile & shake his head. Like Ms Crimi says kids are great at exploring possibilities.

Some of my best memories in life are of my Dad first teaching me & then playing the game with him.

Enjoy the bound that you are building.

Regards,
 
Ideally, let him work just the cue ball for a while, then add one ball only. Cue ball control, rail work and caroms--if you can get him to bite on this his skills will get strong for his age quickly.
 
FranCrimi said:
Willie Mosconi started as a child shooting with a broomstick and potatoes on his own. Don't over-supervise your son. Hang out with him but let him explore things on his own and let him know that you're there if he has any questions. Just make sure you make it interatctive and not a lecture. Kids get turned off to being told what to do. Remember, it's a game. Kids are great at exploring games.
Click to expand...

My son likes to play pool on his bed by setting up cushions with the blanket, using some golf balls colored as pool balls and uses a toy sword for a cue.

Not as rustic as a broomstick and potatoes though :smile:
 
Fran's got it...

FranCrimi said:
Willie Mosconi started as a child shooting with a broomstick and potatoes on his own. Don't over-supervise your son. Hang out with him but let him explore things on his own and let him know that you're there if he has any questions. Just make sure you make it interatctive and not a lecture. Kids get turned off to being told what to do. Remember, it's a game. Kids are great at exploring games.
Click to expand...

Excellent points!
 
Great points! Thanks for the feedback!

Geno, I will give you a call next week, I just saw your post.
English!, great story.

I have been letting him shoot on his own. His cue aim is not quite there, but he's practicing on his own. He's shooting a cue ball and one ball right now, on the short end of the table and pocketing it regularly. I might have him add an angle to it, in his practice. He can shoot the cue into the pocket easily, though without the proper spin control (not center ball). His stroke is still like a newbie's, a bit all over the place, and it doesn't help that he has to use the bridge many times The error shows when he shoots the 9' direction.

I played 8-ball with him last night. I gave him ball in hand on every shot, he had fun, as did I.

The other thing I'm a bit concerned about, sidearm stroking. He does it when he stretches out, which is quite often, because he's not tall enough if the cue ball is more than 1.5 feet off the rails. I've thought of getting a platform of some sort, but I figure it'll just throw off the rhythm by having to move it, and adjust it.
 
A couple months ago, I wrote an article on "Inside Pool" on teaching kids and other youths. It was in the March 2013 issue.

Here is the article:

How to Teach a Youngster to Play

If you happen to be a parent or aunt/uncle to youngsters, you have a personal responsibility introduce them to the challenges and pleasures of the Green Game. You cannot allow them to grow up without at least knowing how to hold a cue stick and hit the cue ball without miscuing. Think of it as an intervention program to save them from the horrible early experiences of ignorance and stupidity that you suffered.

When is a child old enough to start learning? It happens as soon as he (or she) expresses any kind of interest with the balls. You might notice the kid hand-rolling balls around the table. Or, during a casual conversation, you hear about experiences on a friend’s home table or at a youth center.

A note of caution about working with a young person (or anyone): do not attempt to teach more than the individual is willing to learn. Forcing information is guaranteed to kill any interest in pool.

As with any opportunity to be a teacher/mentor, start by asking if your potential student wants to learn. Begin the teaching process only on a positive response.

Provide information in small doses. Teach one little activity, followed by the pleasure of shooting the balls into the pockets.

The real key to getting a young person started right is in holding the cue stick and stroking the cue into a ball. If this is all you can do, it will be enough to save the kid years of bad habits.

Here is a simple step-by-step process (if this is all you ever do, it will be enough):

1. To teach a simple open bridge, place hand flat on the table with thumb pressed to forefinger. Raise the knuckles to adjust the stick height.
2. To explain stance, draw a triangle on a paper to show the placement of the back foot, front foot, and bridge hand with a line for the stick.
3. Get your kid into a rough stance and make major adjustments only according to the triangle. (Force yourself to ignore chicken wings and elbow pumping.)
4. Get a slow forward and backward stick movement going.
5. As the stick keeps going back and forth, you move around to the front with a bunch of balls.
6. When the stick moves backwards, place a ball in front. On the forward movement, the ball is hit.
7. Repeat until the young student becomes bored (about 10-20 times).
8. Allow unsupervised playing.

Everything else must follow this simple exercise. It is enough that all the body parts in roughly in position.

Keep the lessons to a few minutes at a time. Basically, teach one little thing based on the previous lesson. Setup a few shots to help gain some experience, then turn the kid loose to have some fun.

On all shooting setups, start with slow speeds only. Only when you observe confidence in the stroke, allow medium speeds. Do not teach high speeds - EVER. These are hard to control and confuse the learning process.

Encourage as much practicing between lessons as possible. Advance knowledge and skills progressively. Start with simple, and slowly increase the difficulty. Everything must be from the general to the specific.

If enthusiasm is high, this is an excellent opportunity to teach how to play with left and right hand shooting. At this level, it is not difficult to learn both. If only mildly interested in pool, just teach right-handed (or left as appropriate).

There is a transition point that must not be missed. It occurs when your young student starts getting bored with shooting ball in hand shots. That is when to introduce the concept of position play. When setting up practice shots for the latest lesson, also setup a second ball to be pocketed. This allows the experience of practicing the new shot and considers position on the second ball.

When there is the passion to learn, you can coach the greater complexities of the game - table analysis, shot selection, cue ball control, position play, and all the other stuff that makes the game so interesting.

Don’t be disappointed if your young student’s enthusiasm for pool is replaced by another hobby (i.e., ping pong, street hockey, chess, etc.). Eventually their interest will return to the Green Game. You will be remembered (even decades later) as the person who got them started right.

Do not abandon the younger generation to video games. Those do not teach the necessary interaction between players who honor sportsmanship and the competitive spirit of competition. You have a duty to help your younger family members when they express an interest.
 
I want to thank everyone for the tips. Geno, I never did call. I do know my son is right eye dominant and shoots righty.

Just an update, I played a few games of 9 ball with him today. He gets ball in hand, and I get the break. Well, today my son kept running out on me. I get 1 miss only. My first rack, I scratched on the break, pocketing 1 ball, and he ran 8 balls on me. Stop shot speed, nice control, and 2 of the shots were half table shots. He is choosing for the longer corner shots now instead of the easier side pocket. He's got good center ball hits and is playing the cushion when the ball is sitting in the pocket.

He's working on angle shots, but he doesn't want to do that in a game against me. He just wants to beat me. He's a bully now. :(

He also uses both open and closed bridges.

I also bought him a McDermott K91c. He likes it alot, but I think the cue was a rip off. The QC is bad and I need to send it in to McDermott for a replacement...on my dime. I should have bought a cheaper Players or Action and turned the shaft instead. The tip is loose, the shaft needed sanding, the joint is cracked, the shaft and butt are slightly warped, and the irish linen is not coated/waxed.
 
holland said:
I want to thank everyone for the tips. Geno, I never did call. I do know my son is right eye dominant and shoots righty.

Just an update, I played a few games of 9 ball with him today. He gets ball in hand, and I get the break. Well, today my son kept running out on me. I get 1 miss only. My first rack, I scratched on the break, pocketing 1 ball, and he ran 8 balls on me. Stop shot speed, nice control, and 2 of the shots were half table shots. He is choosing for the longer corner shots now instead of the easier side pocket. He's got good center ball hits and is playing the cushion when the ball is sitting in the pocket.

He's working on angle shots, but he doesn't want to do that in a game against me. He just wants to beat me. He's a bully now. :(

He also uses both open and closed bridges.

I also bought him a McDermott K91c. He likes it alot, but I think the cue was a rip off. The QC is bad and I need to send it in to McDermott for a replacement...on my dime. I should have bought a cheaper Players or Action and turned the shaft instead. The tip is loose, the shaft needed sanding, the joint is cracked, the shaft and butt are slightly warped, and the irish linen is not coated/waxed.
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On April 17th your son had trouble pocketing a ball, and less than one month later he's running racks on you? He is truly a prodigy. I expect to hear about his winning the Junior World Championship next year. Best of luck to him with his game.
 
FranCrimi said:
On April 17th your son had trouble pocketing a ball, and less than one month later he's running racks on you? He is truly a prodigy. I expect to hear about his winning the Junior World Championship next year. Best of luck to him with his game.
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Ha! I don't know about that, but thanks for the support. He gets ball in hand on every shot now. I think when he starts to use angle shots in a game, his % will decrease. It will further decrease when he learns english and loses ball in hand. I think he's a long way from being competitive with real rules.

He likes to practice, he practices every day for about 30-60 minutes, just hitting the cueball and an object ball from different positions. I asked him to work on speed control now just to get power into the equation, and he started angle shots on his own.
 
holland said:
... He gets ball in hand on every shot now. ...
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You should consider transitioning to ball in hand every other shot. That way he will learn quickly where he has to be to get to the next ball easily. After that, maybe ball in hand twice in a turn.

I don't think nine ball is a good game to learn with for a child in general. With ball in hand every time, it's not nine ball for him, though. I'd suggest you try some straight pool after he learns a little position. You can spot him two and stop.
 
Bob Jewett said:
You should consider transitioning to ball in hand every other shot. That way he will learn quickly where he has to be to get to the next ball easily. After that, maybe ball in hand twice in a turn.

I don't think nine ball is a good game to learn with for a child in general. With ball in hand every time, it's not nine ball for him, though. I'd suggest you try some straight pool after he learns a little position. You can spot him two and stop.
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Yes, straight is on the list of games to learn. We play both 8 and 9 ball right now. He has a ways to go before learning to play straight. I want him to play on open tables with less clutter right now. I haven't yet taught him how balls react when they hit each other, let alone how they react when they hit a rail.

When he can show me he can hit angled shots at a semi-consistent rate, then I will give him the lesson on angles off object balls and rails using center ball hits. I'm leading into it now, by having him learn the table speed by just lagging the cueball to see if he can place it on the rail next to him, and on halfway of the table, and on the opposite rail.

Do you think that's a good approach by taking it piecemeal in almost month long steps?
 
holland said:
Ha! I don't know about that, but thanks for the support. He gets ball in hand on every shot now. I think when he starts to use angle shots in a game, his % will decrease. It will further decrease when he learns english and loses ball in hand. I think he's a long way from being competitive with real rules.

He likes to practice, he practices every day for about 30-60 minutes, just hitting the cueball and an object ball from different positions. I asked him to work on speed control now just to get power into the equation, and he started angle shots on his own.
Click to expand...

Oh, OK --- I didn't realize you were giving him ball in hand on every shot. Still, he's doing very well. Keep up the good work.
 
Kids at that age are great mimics.... If you could show him a professional stroke the ball correctly and have him try and duplicate it with a small reward if he can do it he would likely look textbook in just a little time....

As far as learning to hit the cueball where he will need to.. add a new game for the 2 of you..... Buy a rempe training ball or one of the other practice balls and take turns trying to get the chalk mark where you call putting it... Can be a race to 3 or 5 just something different and something that is short.....

Stay with the ball in hand until you have done the cueball game to the point where he is getting decent on making contact with where he says he is going to... Until he can hit where he wants to position is only going to make the game less fun... Let him beat up on old dad but maybe you could make him have to shoot at least the first shot as a half ball cut each time.....

I'd also look at playing "Pairs" with him to make him think from time to time... "Pairs" are where you shoot the 1 and 9, 2 and 10, 11 and 3 and so on... the first player with 4 pairs wins.. I am sure there is a way cooler name for the game but that was the boys club game... We played partners and If i made one of a color my partner had to make the other... If he missed my ball respotted so the pair was still alive..... He can still take ball in hand but he has to look at what balls are easiest......

Just food for thought,
Chris
 
One more thing... If he is beating you keep the score on a piece of paper so you can stick his triumph on the fridge... This used to be great motivation for kids learning to golf and bowl, well back when you actually kept your own score bowling........ If you win put it on the fridge as well so he decides he wants to get the next win......

Chris
 
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