What do you consider practice??

[frankncali]

When someone asks, "How much do you practice?" , what do you
consider when you state your timeframe.

Do you consider playing a weekly tournament practice? or playing a buddy?

Just wondering how many consider anything things other than a single player working on drills, playing the ghost, Fargo, etc practice.

 

[randyg]

Hi Frank

I quote from a noted sports Phycologist:

"You can't learn while you are playing, and you can't play while you are learning. Two different sides of the brain."

Remember this, TRAINING, PRACTICE & PLAYING are three different things.

I TRAIN three times a week.
I PRACTICE twice a week for about 20-30 minutes. (Alone or with video)
I PLAY twice a week.

I consider my League nights and weekly tournaments as PLAY time. The next day I might correct what went wrong last night.

Last night I had a private student at 8pm. I arrived at school an hour early. I knew that I wanted to work on SAM the aiming system. I ran 50 balls in about 30 minutes, quit and gave the lesson. 30 minutes of quality PRACTICE. Now my job is to take my PRACTICE habits unconsciously to the PLAYING table. Because today I SPARR with an Instructor......SPF=randyg

 

[ironman]

Hi Frank

I quote from a noted sports Phycologist:

"You can't learn while you are playing, and you can't play while you are learning. Two different sides of the brain."

Remember this, TRAINING, PRACTICE & PLAYING are three different things.

I TRAIN three times a week.
I PRACTICE twice a week for about 20-30 minutes. (Alone or with video)
I PLAY twice a week.

I consider my League nights and weekly tournaments as PLAY time. The next day I might correct what went wrong last night.

Last night I had a private student at 8pm. I arrived at school an hour early. I knew that I wanted to work on SAM the aiming system. I ran 50 balls in about 30 minutes, quit and gave the lesson. 30 minutes of quality PRACTICE. Now my job is to take my PRACTICE habits unconsciously to the PLAYING table. Because today I SPARR with an Instructor......SPF=randyg

Great points!!

 

[UWPoolGod1]

Before my recent 9ball tourney on 7 footers I practiced by myself at my local bar's 7 footer. Good tables, good rails, true roll, newer cloth.

Drop the balls and practiced my breaks. Rack 9 balls, break and if you make a ball pull out a striped ball and rerack. Rerack if you don't make a ball. Just practice the break over and over until I was consistently making a ball. Actually taking into account break speed, concentrating on aim spot. Most important shot of the game so you can't just go up there winging away as hard as you can. That leads to scratching and flying the cueball off the table.

Then when I was through with that portion I would drop all 15 balls, throw em on the table and run em off in rotation 1 though 15. Some misses here and there, also play safeties when I didn't have a clear shot with a leave after. That really helped with noticing areas where the safe would be a better shot and also helped with those little speed control soft spin safes to hide the cueball. Plus warming up with alot of rotation is a good way to get pinpoint contol of your cueball to surgically cut the rack apart, especially on the 7 footer. When I got to the 9ball tournament I found myself having the best cueball control of my life as it was if I was taking ball in hand every shot. And with practicing the break, I usually made a ball and then only had 7 or 8 balls to runout in rotation instead of 15, which then seemed like I had tons of room on the table to maneuver. I did this in the days leading up to to tourney for a few hours each day as well.

I did not practice my jump shots, luckily I only had to attempt two. Hit one and made the other.

 

[Andrew Manning]

Hi Frank

I quote from a noted sports Phycologist:

"You can't learn while you are playing, and you can't play while you are learning. Two different sides of the brain."

Remember this, TRAINING, PRACTICE & PLAYING are three different things.

I TRAIN three times a week.
I PRACTICE twice a week for about 20-30 minutes. (Alone or with video)
I PLAY twice a week.

I consider my League nights and weekly tournaments as PLAY time. The next day I might correct what went wrong last night.

Last night I had a private student at 8pm. I arrived at school an hour early. I knew that I wanted to work on SAM the aiming system. I ran 50 balls in about 30 minutes, quit and gave the lesson. 30 minutes of quality PRACTICE. Now my job is to take my PRACTICE habits unconsciously to the PLAYING table. Because today I SPARR with an Instructor......SPF=randyg

So if I get your meaning correctly, you "train" which means using various techniques to teach yourself and your muscles proper fundamentals and habits, for example using a stroke trainer to teach your muscles to stroke straight. You "practice" which means taking these movements/stances/techniques you've trained yourself to do and learn to apply them in real shooting situations, paying conscious attention to make sure you're using good fundamentals. And you "play" which doesn't involve thinking about fundamentals, but rather relying on the fundamentals you've already incorporated into your subconscious habits.

Am I correctly inferring your meaning with these three types of activities? How would you recommend players of various levels to split up their time among these three categories for optimal improvement?

I'm curious because I know I'm guilty of not using my practice time as efficiently as possible, and it's something I'd like to change.

-Andrew

 

[Pete]

Hi Frank

I quote from a noted sports Phycologist:

"You can't learn while you are playing, and you can't play while you are learning. Two different sides of the brain."

Remember this, TRAINING, PRACTICE & PLAYING are three different things.

I TRAIN three times a week.
I PRACTICE twice a week for about 20-30 minutes. (Alone or with video)
I PLAY twice a week.

I consider my League nights and weekly tournaments as PLAY time. The next day I might correct what went wrong last night.

Last night I had a private student at 8pm. I arrived at school an hour early. I knew that I wanted to work on SAM the aiming system. I ran 50 balls in about 30 minutes, quit and gave the lesson. 30 minutes of quality PRACTICE. Now my job is to take my PRACTICE habits unconsciously to the PLAYING table. Because today I SPARR with an Instructor......SPF=randyg

Hi Randy,

What is SAM the aiming system ? I've never heard of it. I am going to take a lesson from Scott Lee when he is down in MA (in March I think), and maybe try yhe Pool school in Hartford CT.

Billiardpete out

 

[TannerPruess]

SAM is the NUTS for aiming. If you deliver a straight stroke to the intended number, you can't miss. The price of the lesson will be worth it just knowing how SAM works. Have fun!

 

[bruin70]

doing something in a non competitive enviroment, (usually by yourself), that you learn from.

 

[td873]

Just wondering how many consider anything things other than a single player working on drills, playing the ghost, Fargo, etc practice.

Most people consider practice as anything related to the physical part of the game. That is, training your body to repeat motions.

But practice also includes training your brain and training your emotions.

As for your brain, I think the most important things you need to practice are: (1) concentrating properly [which is hard to learn], (2) focus correctly [also hard to learn], (3) recognize patters, (4) percentage analysis.

Emotionally, I believe that you can practice remaining calm, and controlling excitement and anxiety.

You can practice some of these OFF of the table. For example, I often "practice" recognizing patterns by watching pool And I often "practice" remaining calm by talking about shopping with my wife.

Practice is good - but as often repeated here - perfect practice makes perfect play.

-td

 

[randyg]

So if I get your meaning correctly, you "train" which means using various techniques to teach yourself and your muscles proper fundamentals and habits, for example using a stroke trainer to teach your muscles to stroke straight. You "practice" which means taking these movements/stances/techniques you've trained yourself to do and learn to apply them in real shooting situations, paying conscious attention to make sure you're using good fundamentals. And you "play" which doesn't involve thinking about fundamentals, but rather relying on the fundamentals you've already incorporated into your subconscious habits.

Am I correctly inferring your meaning with these three types of activities? How would you recommend players of various levels to split up their time among these three categories for optimal improvement?

I'm curious because I know I'm guilty of not using my practice time as efficiently as possible, and it's something I'd like to change.

-Andrew

ANDREW: This may be one of the greatest answer/questions raised on this subject. You are right on my man!!!!!!

It's tough to know what to Train and how to PRACTICE. Find a SFP Instructor and they will guide you through the entire process.....SPF=randyg

 

[randyg]

Hi Randy,

What is SAM the aiming system ? I've never heard of it. I am going to take a lesson from Scott Lee when he is down in MA (in March I think), and maybe try yhe Pool school in Hartford CT.

Billiardpete out

You read Tanner. SAM is the NUTS. Hard to miss a ball after Scott teaches you SAM.....randyg

 

[Donovan]

I consider training anytime I am getting lessons, do physical exercise, or doing anything to feed my brain.

I consider practice anytime I am doing anything at the table (drills or shots) repetitively that have the soul purpose to learn or improve a skill or at least has a goal that needs to be accomplished for improvement.

Play, is obviously anytime I am competing or just having fun with the game.

 

[VIProfessor]

I consider training to be when I am specifically working on my technique, and practice, for me, includes drills, solitary play, and "sparring" with my pool partners for minimal stakes. One thing that has been alluded to but not specifically stated is that it is important not to spend all or even most of your practice time doing training and drills. As Randy G and others mentioned, thoses processes call on the player to use the left side of the brain to consciously observe and correct what the player is doing on the table. When you play, however, you have to be able to let go of all that and simply trust yourself to do what you haved trained to do. That in itself is a skill that needs to be practiced and honed. As such, I try to ensure that about 60% of my practice time consists of solitary play or sparring sessions.

 

[Ryan A.]

Hi Frank

I quote from a noted sports Phycologist:

"You can't learn while you are playing, and you can't play while you are learning. Two different sides of the brain."

Remember this, TRAINING, PRACTICE & PLAYING are three different things.

I TRAIN three times a week.
I PRACTICE twice a week for about 20-30 minutes. (Alone or with video)
I PLAY twice a week.

I consider my League nights and weekly tournaments as PLAY time. The next day I might correct what went wrong last night.

I see what you are saying, but with me I don't play unless im in action. I never play for free and can't practice because it bores me. I feel like I get something out of every session. Then again, maybe it has slowed my development.

 

[VIProfessor]

Hi Frank

I quote from a noted sports Phycologist:

"You can't learn while you are playing, and you can't play while you are learning. Two different sides of the brain."

Remember this, TRAINING, PRACTICE & PLAYING are three different things.

I TRAIN three times a week.
I PRACTICE twice a week for about 20-30 minutes. (Alone or with video)
I PLAY twice a week.

I consider my League nights and weekly tournaments as PLAY time. The next day I might correct what went wrong last night.

I see what you are saying, but with me I don't play unless im in action. I never play for free and can't practice because it bores me. I feel like I get something out of every session. Then again, maybe it has slowed my development.

I hear what you're saying, as I have heard many players saying that they find practice and drills boring. All I can say is what I've been made to understand--you can learn more in one hour of drills than you can in six hours of just playing because of value of repetitition. Let's say you have a particular shot that you just haven't mastered yet. In competition you may see that shot only a few times per night. If you do a drill centered around that shot, however, you can shoot that shot fifty or more times in an hour. I believe that the most rapid development is experienced by players who judiciously combine practice with play.

If you love the game and your goal is to improve, you must find something about practice that holds your interest. As my avatar indicates, John Coltrane, perhaps the greatest jazz saxophonist who ever lived, is a hero of mine. One of the reasons for this was his work ethic. As you may or may not know, the C scale is generally considered to be the easiest scale to play. At the height of Coltrane's career, when he was widely considered to be the greatest saxophonist alive, he was once observed practicing the scale of C for 24 hours straight without stopping to eat, rest, or have a drink of water. You can question whether or not this was obsessive behavior, but if you listen to his music, you certainly can't question the results.

 

[sharandrew]

Teaching yourself to play good

Some people can practice and some can't but you have to do the work.

I have a background in Mental Heath work and used behavioral charting to help in training people to gain Pool skills. How quickly someone develops these skills is always going to be measured on how much dedicated time they put towards going for the specific skills. Playing games and fooling around casually does not really get some to the level they want quick enough.

I use to break 50 times in a practice session 3 times a week for 6 weeks and chart all of it and get the balls and rerack after each break, i think that that experience created a excellent snap

If you can't get results on your own get a coach or teacher

 

[frankncali]

Thanks for all the responses.

I think most of us our guilty of not actually practicing but rather playing more often.

In 2007 I hope to be able to practice more. However I think playing and using what has been practiced is important as well. IMO this is what makes golf and pool so expensive. You have to put in ample practice to see results when playing yet limited time and resources usually lead to
just play.
I'm hoping to hit RandyGs pool school in Dallas in 07 as well. Learning what to practice and how is half or more of the battle.


Like others I often become more while practicing and will have to find ways and methods that keep it interesting and moving. Years ago I used to practice with another person playing FARGO or just shooting some type of drill. I think it helped keeping me focused as well as keeping me in a normal pace. Sometimes by myself I get ahead of a good pace for me.
thanks again for the responses.

 

[Eric.]

Hi Randy,

What is SAM the aiming system ? I've never heard of it. I am going to take a lesson from Scott Lee when he is down in MA (in March I think), and maybe try yhe Pool school in Hartford CT.

Billiardpete out

"SAM" is an acronym/name RandyG gave to a simple but effective aiming system that originated from Hal Houle. Giving credit where credit is due, Hal Houle is a long time proponent of aiming systems and he gives them to anyone who wants to call him. He teaches over the phone and doesn't ask anything from the caller.

The gist of it is that there are specific spots on the CB or OB to aim at and there are only so many cut shots neccessary to make any shot on the Pool table. They are:
center of the CB to center of the OB
center of the CB to edge of the OB
edge of the CB to edge of the OB

There's a little more to it, I'm not the best person to explain it. I do use it and it works great.

You can find more details here:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.sport.billiard

or call Hal directly, he welcomes calls regarding his aiming system.


Eric

 

[randyg]

"SAM" is an acronym/name RandyG gave to a simple but effective aiming system that originated from Hal Houle. Giving credit where credit is due, Hal Houle is a long time proponent of aiming systems and he gives them to anyone who wants to call him. He teaches over the phone and doesn't ask anything from the caller.

The gist of it is that there are specific spots on the CB or OB to aim at and there are only so many cut shots neccessary to make any shot on the Pool table. They are:
center of the CB to center of the OB
center of the CB to edge of the OB
edge of the CB to edge of the OB

There's a little more to it, I'm not the best person to explain it. I do use it and it works great.

You can find more details here:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.sport.billiard

or call Hal directly, he welcomes calls regarding his aiming system.


Eric

Sorry, that's not SAM. SAM doesn't use the cue ball to aim with. Nor the pockets.......Randyg SAM founder.

 

[CaptainHook]

Sorry, that's not SAM. SAM doesn't use the cue ball to aim with. Nor the pockets.......Randyg SAM founder.

Great thread, very informative.