Thanks to whoever it was!

[Cane]

Recently someone on here suggested videotaping our own games and watching the tape to give oursleves a "boost" when we needed it. Well, I had a 9-Ball match against a friend that Billie taped, spotting him the break and last two. We edited out his shooting and kept only mine. Included are 7 runouts (none from the break, since he broke all racks), including five 9 ball runouts, one 8 ball runouts and one 6 ball runout. I watched this last night before I went to league and absolutely shot lights out! I went in with so much confidence, after watching how I CAN play, that in 8 games, I won 7 and lost one (the opponent ran out from break... nothing I could do about that). In our ABA league, your opponent gets one point for each ball he makes. In the eight games, I gave up 19 balls to the opposing team, and that includes the 7 the guy that did the Run from Break got. Shotmaking was good, safety play was good and strategy was good. Everything just came together like it did on the tape.

Another thing... I spotted a couple of flaws that I've worked on since. Seeing yourself play is a very revealing thing. You can learn much more about your own game watching your pace, your preshot routine, your shooting routine, etc, than I imagined. I have videotaped myself before, but only during practice and drills, never during a match, and it was a whole different thing to watch! Very educational and one of the best confidence boosters I've ever experienced.

In any case, whoever suggested that, THANKS! Hell, I even looked at the tape twice this afternoon just to see me shooting and running racks like they were just routine! NOW, Watching this tape will be an intregal part of my pre-tournament routine, and when I travel to tournaments, I'll just throw it in the motorhome and watch it before a match. Also, am going to have Billie tape more of my matches. Eventually, I'd like to get this tape up to about an hour long of nothing but good shots and good position play. Just seeing the confidence watching about 15 minutes of it gives, I can't imagine what an hour of it would do!

Later,
Bob

[recoveryjones]

Hi Cane,
It was I who made that post.After watching Kinister, Segal and the monk instructional videos and never seeing them miss is what prompted me to come up with the idea.

I thought why not video tape yourself and edit out every miss and fundamental (eg.head lift etc)flaw.Make a tape of yourself running rack after rack without a miss.I wondered if this could help one to watch themselves shooting this way subliminally.

Instead of thinking I was a quack many posters thought that it was a great idea.Your recent success only goes to validate their statements. Now if I could only get off my(procrastinating) ass and make a tape with my friend who has a video recorder and has been after me to do it for weeks /ccboard/images/graemlins/grin.gifRJ

[Cane]

RJ, It helped me alot. It was one of those nights that I was just ON and the best night to have taped it. As I said, I did spot some flaws I worked on, and will continue to work on. On one follow shot, I took absolutely no warmup strokes. Every other shot I took two and at the same pace. I made the shot, but as someone I greatly respect told me, a great shot with a bad stroke is STILL a bad stroke! Also, in the 7 racks, I dropped my elbow three times, all three times on soft follow shots. I didn't drop until after impact, but still need to cure that. Working on it... probably have shot a couple of hundred soft follows since I first watched the tape, saying "elbow pin, elbow pin" with every stroke! Other than that, I was very pleased with what I saw, and very pleased with the results I had last night after watching it before playing.

Thanks,
Bob

[Popcorn]

I have advocated that for a long time, I got it from Pat Fleming, (Accu Stats). Below is my contribution to that thread. I do it by the way and have for a long time. Try to get even more tape of yourself and be sure there is good sound so you can hear the balls.
http://www.billiardsdigest.com/ccboard/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=ccb&Number=185935&page =&view=&sb=&o=&vc=1

[Cane]

Popcorn,
I actually did two tapes from the original. The first one I just plugged the video into my VCR and recorded that. Watched it and didn't like it that way, so did it again and plugged in the audio and video. You can hear that "Thump, Snap" and it's consistently the same on all the shots except the bunts, finesse and a couple of power strokes I had to use. That really did help, because it told me I was maintaining my stroke speed about the same when I needed to.

Thanks
Bob

[bluey2king]

You have peaked my intrest in viedo!
If I were to look on ebay for a used camara to save some money.
What type of used camera would you suggest? Make and Model I would like to get by without extra lights is it possible to get a good image with indoor lighting?
Thanks
Bluey2King

[Cane]

I have an older model Sharp model VL-E610U that I bought in a Pawn Shop for $100. Works great and I tape in my home pool room with table lights only and get very acceptable images. Eventually, I'll update cameras, but for now, that one works great. The only things, if you buy one used, that I'd insure is that the Battery Charger and the A/V plug is with it so you can plug it into your VCR or DVD Burner and record off of your camera onto tape or DVD. This makes it a lot easier to get still shots or slow motion or even frame by frame.

Later,
Bob

[DickLeonard]

Cane I would never post that online it would create to many Champions. It is one,two and rock, 3,4 and roll. Bill Haley and the comets, shake rattle and roll, get out in the kitchen and rattle the pots and pans. That is it end of story.####

[Cane]

Dick,

Well, as long as these guys stay out of Oklahoma, I guess my slip will be OK! Let me tell you, it made a difference for me... along with some advice you gave me! check your PM's.

Thanks,
Bob

[SpiderMan]

I was at the ACS Nationals last week, and talked with Sid Vicious about your idea (I hadn't read the thread). I've taped myself lots of times, but never thought about editing out the "bad" games. I'm going to try it with the 12 hours of video I took of my team last week.

SpiderMan