Pro Pool Workout
#3
In the last column, I shared four underlying principles that determine how well a player’s game will hold up under competitive pressure. I listed these principles as simplicity, gravity, alignment, and rhythm and asserted that the strength of your game is determined, in a large part, by how well your fundamentals conform with these principles.
The concept of simplicity can be seen through two different perspectives, simplicity of number, and simplicity of sequence. In this column, let’s choose one section of a standard shot process and examine it through the lens of simplicity of number. The section I would like to look at is called the standing address. It starts from the moment you move into position behind the cue ball and includes how you arrange your body to the shot line and how you prepare to get down on the shot.
The standing address begins at the instant you commit yourself to the shot. In other words, you have already accomplished several mental things, such as examining the table, visualizing options, deciding what to do, and visualizing your chosen action. Even though this mental activity may have taken place while you were standing behind the shot, it is not part of the standing address. The standing address starts with a committed shot in mind.
Simplicity of number is easy to understand when we apply it to the movement of the feet. At some point, in every shot, you must move your feet into position to support your stance. Less developed players often can be spotted by the number of foot movements taken to accomplish this. Sometimes they even look like they are bowling, with a two or three step entry into the shot.
Advanced players have simplified this process. Some professionals, such as Buddy Hall, rarely move either foot to get down on the shot, but simply bend at the waist. Their feet were planted on the shot line when they walked up to it. There are other professionals, such as Jim Rempe, that step into the shot with their leading foot, and then adjust by moving the rear foot and sometimes even the leading foot again. Most of these players have long limbs and need to do this to arrange their body parts to the table. Most of the top players in the world, however, step into the shot with a small step of the leading foot, without moving the trailing foot at all! Their trailing foot has been anchored to the shot line.
Here another way of looking at it. Imagine you are standing on line and have completely visualized your chosen shot and prepared yourself to get down on it. At some point, in some manner, you give yourself the command to GO. How many foot movements does it take you to get down and position your body on the shot?
If it’s more than one or two, you sure must be tall! Otherwise your entry to the shot is not conforming with the basic principle of simplicity. You will greatly strengthen your game if your refine this process and get rid of the excess and unproductive steps.
When a process does not conform with the basic principle of simplicity of number, there is usually a problem with sequence. You are not doing the proper thing at the proper time and are compensating by adding extra steps. In the next column, we’ll take a look at the standing address through the lens of simplicity of sequence.