The Best Training Tool—By Steve Jennings

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The Best Training Tool

The marketplace is filled with tons of unique tools designed to help you elevate your pool game. Many of these training aids have been developed by some of my fellow instructors and can be very effective in helping players enhance their skills. From training balls to visual aids to guides for different aiming systems, these tools are all designed to address different parts of your game. I make use of several of these during my workshops and classes.

Today I am going to talk about the one tool I personally consider to be the one training tool I believe is the one that every serious player should be using in their training. In fact, it’s the one tool I use with nearly every student I work with. It’s the use of video technology to analyze stroke mechanics and identify any problems that might be hindering your development.

When I first began teaching pool, I used a camcorder and tripod attached to a portable TV. It was bulky, heavy, and took quite some time to set up. And I used dry-erase markers to draw lines and marks on the TV screen. After a few years of that, I found a computer program with a telestrator that gave me the ability to use a small webcam in a much more compact and convenient recording system. Today, nearly everyone has a cell phone capable of doing self-recording. (I still prefer my laptop simply because the larger screen  makes it easier to see more detail in the video.)

The point is, video analysis is now available to pretty much everybody. So why is this such an important training tool? We believe everything that happens behind the cue ball (what the shooter is doing) determines what happens on the table. And when we’re down on a shot, we simply can’t see what we’re doing. If there are problems with our set-up or delivery, video allows us to identify them and understand what corrective measures need to be taken.

The key to using video analysis is to set up the camera at the correct angle to capture what is important. You don’t need to see what the balls are doing on the table. That is nothing more than geometry and physics. You need to focus on how you move during the stroke, so the shooter needs to be in the center of the camera frame. The angles that offer the best feedback are directly from the side to see your arm movement, and directly behind your cue stick to watch how your cue moves.

It’s also important to know what to look for in your video. In class, I always immediately sit down with each student to review the video together. By doing this, we can both see and discuss any specific issues that might need to be addressed. I recommend you have a professional video analysis done to learn what to look for in your own videos.

Once you understand what you are doing behind the cue ball, you will gain a much better understanding of what is happening on the table. Remember, you don’t know what you

don’t know.

If you have a subject you would like to see covered in future columns, send your suggestions to shjennings@hotmai.com

Until next time,

Steve Jennings

ACS/PBIA/SPF Level 4 Master instructor