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Nick Prinsloo has been playing pool for a total of 21 years, 15 years competitively. Originally a pro-level snooker player and instructor, Nick discovered 9-ball and came to the US in 1998, where he has been playing on regional tours ever since.
Lately, Nick writes more about the game than he actually plays. Nick was the Guide for Billiards at About.com for almost four years. Nick's column archive is located here. |
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Part 1: The Pursuit Of Excellence - Step By StepBy Nick PrinslooSo, you want to be a pool player. A professional. Perhaps, one day, a champion. Maybe you just want to improve your game so that you can outplay your peers, or be good enough to join a league, or be able to hold your own against more experienced players in small local tournaments. Well, forget about it. Save yourself the trouble. Unless, of course, you are willing to learn. I mean really learn. I don't mean learn to draw the cue ball back into the parking lot, or how to play it with english that will make it zip around the table, or massé around an intervening ball. I mean, learn the right things - at the right time. You have to crawl before you can walk, walk before you can dance, and dance before you can Salsa - or Square Dance, for that matter. Someone who never quite learnt to walk properly will never be a good dancer. There will always be that one little missing thing that you need to be considered "good at it," let alone excellent. Each and every little step on the learning curve to becoming a good player is important. Not just important, but crucial. If you don't want to take each step in order, then just forget about it. Go back to watching junk TV and playing PS II. It is a lot easier, and a lot less frustrating, in the long run. So, you may ask, what are the right things, at the right time? For lack of my time and your attention span, this feature will not attempt to tell you exactly how to perform each facet of each step, such as how to hold the cue, or where to strike the cue ball. The finer details of that you will have to get from the available sources - some scattered on the Internet, some from professional instructors or more experienced players who are willing to help you with your game, but most of it in the multitude of instructional books that are available today. Then, if you are prepared to learn the right things to improve your game, read on, otherwise, get a computer pool game so that you can play pool without any major effort, or having to leave your computer. Copyright © About.com | ||