Perfect Aim and pivot-based aiming not found in other pocket-based cue sports
CreeDo:
Apologies I'm seeing this only now, but better late than never, I guess.
I'll answer your questions in-line...
But do we know for SURE they don't exist, or is it just that we live in a country where pool is more popular and the forums have more pool-related info (including links to pool instructional materials)? Maybe the snooker equivalent of AZB has comparable products?
I can answer that, since I play snooker, and I read several snooker forums. The answer is that I've seen only one -- that's not a typo, "one" -- aiming alternative to traditional "dummy ball" (the term our UK/European friends use for what we on these boards know as ghostball). That alternative is actually a fractional aiming technique (which we on these boards are also familiar with), shown here:
Part 1:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZQM5lFkeYl8
Part 2:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KjCnZSVjBrw
Part 3:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=M18didHSIBE
In the years I've been playing snooker, I've NEVER HEARD of any pivot-based aiming technique for the game of snooker, either described in text, by players, in forums, by commentators, or what have you. Pivot-based aiming is simply not an option, for the very rudimentary reason that pivot-based aiming BREAKS snooker fundamentals. There is a basic premise in snooker fundamentals -- you align as many joints in your body *INTO* the shot (e.g. your feet, your knees, your waist, your shoulders, elbow, wrist, etc.) so that any flexion in these joints goes into the shot, not away from it. The very premise of pivot-based aiming goes against this core snooker foundation. Sure, the CTE advocates will say "pivot before getting down on the shot" (that whole air pivot thing), but it doesn't work that way in snooker. A good snooker player sees the dummy ball accurately, it's just that simple. Your average pub snooker player ("bar banger" or recreational player) "needing" such things as Perfect Aim or pivot-based aiming probably has other defects that
detract more from his/her game than just merely aiming. Whenever you see a snooker player of any decent skill miss a shot, he/she almost NEVER says "I aimed wrong." No, the answer usually lies in a fault with his/her fundamentals. And video analysis usually reveals what went wrong -- a little sideways hitch in the stroke, popping up, etc.
As for the "Perfect Aim" product, the need is already addressed by the core snooker/Pyramid fundamentals. Proper head/eye placement is CORE to the technique. In pool, there is no real "core" technique other than what the BCA-certified (or SPF) instructors teach. Rather, you hear folks saying "do what's comfortable." So if a player is "comfortable" with his/her head cocked at a 35 degree angle to the cue, noone points this out, unless the player is missing badly. So here's where a "product" like Perfect Aim comes in -- to address a need (read: opportunity) that either wasn't addressed before, or isn't addressed in the pool fundamentals by some sort of checks-and-balances system like the snooker/Pyramid fundamentals do. (That "checks-and-balances" system is the 4-point contact, which ensures one's head and eyes are *always* in the correct position -- every single shot.)
And not a lot of us even read enough russian to be able to say what products can be found on russian sites for pyramid.
I speak and write Russian to a decent extent, CreeDo, by virtue of my ex. (Я пишу и говорю русского. Мой бывший супруга русск.) And I can tell you in all the Russian Pyramid videos I've watched, I've never heard nor seen any sign of a pivot-based aiming technique. Most of those Pyramid players have world-class fundamentals, and the shots played are usually NOT "shoot cue ball at object ball to pocket object ball." No, the majority of the shots are carom shots -- to carom the cue ball off the object ball to pocket the cue ball. So in effect, Russian Pyramid has more in common with 3 cushion billiards than it does with pool. You don't see pivot-based aiming techniques in 3-cushion, right?
I would think in sports where shots are harder to aim, the appeal of an aiming system or some shortcut would be even greater.
You would think so, right? And in any other circumstances I'd normally agree. Except that it doesn't work out that way. Because pool has such relaxed pocket apertures compared to snooker or Russian Pyramid, a little slop here and there is ok (and useful, actually -- cheating the pocket in pool is a core technique!). In the other pocket-based cue sports, accuracy is at a premium. Pivot-based aiming simply does not fit; the core snooker/Pyramid fundamentals would have to be modified to accept it. And considering the age of CTE (it's quite old from what I understand), you'd think surely it would've crept over into those other pocket-based cue sports by now, right? The fact is, it hasn't. And for good reason. It's simply not accurate enough.
Hope this helps,
-Sean
