Were you naturally good from a young age?

I never played more than about 10 games of pool before I was 18.

I went into the Army and started playing in AIT, and soon was running 3-4 balls in 8 ball, and beating many of my fellow soldiers. Did I mention this was with a tipless aluminum stick that forced one to hit the CB DEAD in the middle, or risk a miscue?

I ran more balls than everyone else because I "got" the use of natural angles and speed for setting up my next shot.

I then went to Korea and saw my first good amateur player. He taught me nothing, and just beat me mercilessly for the next year.

I then went to Washington state and practiced every day in the barracks. I became enough of a sharpshooter that I was now winning little tournaments. This was about 18-20 months into my pool career, and this was with not being show one damn thing by any good players.

I found the pool hall in downtown Tacoma, and found a whole new level of players. I observed that when they had a certain shot they needed to make and get position from, they hit it naturally and hit more rails, where I was hitting max inside english..

I was doing it the wrong way.

So.. I had a naturally straight stroke from the beginning, and that allowed me to beat about 80% of the players I was likely to play, because I also had the smarts to plan out runs. I just didn't have the knowledge to do it the most high percentage way.

I was never taught anything by anyone other than the commentators on Accu-Stats. Once I got around good players and had a little practice time, my game took off for a short period before I got married.

Russ
 
Im teaching my sons how to play the game now , my hypothesis, is the sooner the better........

I personally didnt start playing seriously until I was 17..
 
Sounds like you have a great ability...Use it.........

JasonS said:
I've been playing for almost three years now (started at 23) and I'm able to play consistantly with guys twice my age and 10x more experience... My fiance would say that I act more like I'm 13 lol so in that case then youths have a greater chance of going pro, but honestly I think it simply has to do with a person's learning style and intelligence (not how intelligent, but in what aspect of all that we can do are we most intelligent)... Some people pick up on carpentry quickly but couldn't in a million years figure out how to program a VCR and vise-versa. Simply everyone has natural talents. One of my talents happens to be in understanding science and mathematics; for whatever reason I just get it. Same thing with pool, I just get it for some reason... I've never had to ask twice to see a shot I've seen a more experienced player shoot, it just sinks in and I don't know why it just does lol. I call it intuition but people tend to frown upon that word.
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Hi there Jason,

It sounds like you have a great ability. Some people are just better at learning things. Some people are just good at everything. I was one of these people.

You need to absorb yourself with all the knowledge you can. Your ability to learn and understand things can be greatly expanded by teachers and books and videos. So many players are stiffled by just what they see from players that they see or play.

You can add so many tools to your pool arsenal this way and you will continue to grow and improve. The info is out there everywhere.

The pool world is yours to take. Go get it.

advice from experience...........Have a great day............Geno
 
I ran my first rack of 15 ball rotation, all 15 balls, before I was a teenager. The first shot on the 1 was a three rail kick.
 
Was I.
They used to call me Fats Mosconi Jr. I never paid for a rack of balls until I was in my late forties, or early fifties.
I once played a guy for ten dollars and I only had five in my pocket. Now that's pressure.
I once played a woman so ugly she had bruises covering ninety per cent of her body. They were from ten-foot poles.
All of these required imagination, skill, and courage. A lesson for you youngsters out there.
 
I have no idea....

When I was young being inside was the last place anybody I new wanted to be hanging out.. If it wasnt moving fast, jumping high, being hit a long ways we wernt playing. Then along came SEX, DRUGS, and ROCK N ROLL, kiss 16 to 25 good bye. Introduce a few kids into hte mix were know at 32 and starting to play pool. THat was a few years and another kid ago and I still play the game like a blind man.
 
berry said:
I am sorry to say that you miss the actual point here. Yes there is a 10.000 hour rule with becomming excellent in something and practice is of great importance but your learning capabilities during this practice sessions are most important. This capabilities can be learned or stimulated by a good trainer, and the good players have more of it then less good players.
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I somewhat disagree with your claim, but perhaps this is not the right place to argue about that. Let's just say that there is no hard evidence supporting either view. The only thing that we know for sure is the effect of the amount and quality of deliberate practice has in becoming an expert in any field. Anything else is just speculation.

That said, I do think that it's important to not worry about whether they have the natural talent or not. Merely having the belief that one has fixed inherent ability will hinder one's effort to become better. (See Carol Dweck's research for more information.)
 
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As a kid i was fair in playing sports. But when i discovered pool at 13 years old it was like a light going on. i found the game easy to learn.
I ran my first 100 balls at 16 and ran lots of 2 and 3 racks of 9 ball.
I reached my peak in the 80's as a pretty good short stop by NJ/NY standards. I don't play much anymore but can still put together a few 9 ball racks. I always considered the game some what easy.
Now golf is a whole nother story.................................Stinky!
 
Ive only been playing going on three years or so. I was always pretty athletic and had decent hand eye coordination. In the first year, I learned a lot and my game improved drastically. Not really being exposed to good" pool, I thought I was getting good. As I played more I realize how far I have to go. And after really learning and improving, Ive hit a plateau where it takes me awhile to notice improvements
 
zy112 said:
Ive only been playing going on three years or so. I was always pretty athletic and had decent hand eye coordination. In the first year, I learned a lot and my game improved drastically. Not really being exposed to good" pool, I thought I was getting good. As I played more I realize how far I have to go. And after really learning and improving, Ive hit a plateau where it takes me awhile to notice improvements
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i believe ive hit a plateau as well. im thinking my game is as far as i can take it without drastically increasing my practice time, and/or time playing against others.
 
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