Deliberate Practice

One thing I have noticed as a player over the years is that people for the most part don’t put in practice. Now I don’t mean racking them up, smashing them, and trying to clear up, that’s what I call “bashing balls around”. You don’t improve like that. In fact, for a good player, I often find they go backward as old habits start to creep back in.

By practice, I mean purposefully designed sessions designed to work on the areas you need to improve. That may be very different from player to player although we all have similarities most of which come down to the fundamentals of cueing and striking the cue ball. It’s strange to me that players literally spend zero time here and just pick up a cue and start bashing balls around.

Think about it. When you learn to shoot a gun and hit targets they don’t just put a gun in your hand and say “Go for it”, do they? Of course not. They spend time upfront and teach you the correct way to hold the gun, position yourself, sight the target, aiming, etc... Cue sports are no different from that aspect. The fundamentals are so important. In saying all that, we set up our students with structure and deliberate practice that aims to improve them technically and then translate that to on-table success. We progress them when they start mastering the basics and progress them through drills and routines that challenge them and keep them attentive and goal-focused. If you’re one of those players who bash balls around with no real structure to your practice and wonder why you’re not improving, reach out I’d love to talk to you!