Learning to Learn
Why is it that some players are better than others? Is is natural ability? Is it the will to win? Is it dedication and hard work? Is it brainpower? Or is it just luck (see previous article)?
My best answer to that question is dedication.
Pure and simple, improving your game takes dedication. You have to put in the time and effort if you want to get better. Time alone won't do you much good if it’s not time sell spent. Knocking balls around without purpose is a dead end. Fun maybe, but a dead end as far as improvement goes. But just as important as dedication is the ability to learn. You have to cultivate your feedback system in order to learn efficiently. Efficiently meaning making the most of your time. There are many ways to gain knowledge about our sport. You can read books, ask questions, take some lessons, talk to better players, watch videos or maybe figure it all out yourself.
Many people (most) just play their game and don't pay too much attention to what happens. Doing that is just squandering a marvelous opportunity to learn. There are so many ways to get valuable information while playing or competing. You must pay attention to what is going on around you. On what angle does the cue ball leave the object ball for a certain type of contact? How far does the cue ball travel compared to what you wanted it to? For every shot you should be paying attention to what happens to the object balls as well as the cue ball. Pay attention to what happens when your shooting. Pay attention when your opponent is shooting. Pay attention when anybody is shooting.
When you play a shot, you should have some concept of where the cue ball is going. If it doesn’t go where you expect you should be remembering where it does go for the next time you have a similar shot. If you learn what happens to the cue ball on various shots, eventually you will be able to predict where the cue ball is going. Once that is in place you can modify the cue ball’s behaviour with spins; left, right, top and bottom. eventually you will be in control of the cue ball, as opposed to the converse.
That’s the feedback system pure and simple. Watching and observing is an easy way to boost your pool knowledge.