Last week my 147academy had the honour of training the best of the best Polishsnooker players in the beautiful city of Warsaw in Poland. Two of the players who attended were Mateusz Baranjowski and Patryk Maslowski will represent Poland in next week’s IBSF World Snooker Championship in India. They were joined by Kasper Filipiak, Karol Lelek, Kamil Zubrzycki, Pawel Rogoza, Marcin Nitschke, Krzysztof Wróbel, Michal Zielinski and Jarek Kowalski plus new and up and coming juniors Maciej Kusak, Daniel Holoyda, Michal Kotiuk, Felix Vidler and lady players Anna Szczepanska, Aleksandra Wojtecka and Malgorzata Sikorska.
The standard of training was some of the best I have ever coached within a team training camp as the players put on a fantastic display. The camp was organised by the Polish Billiards & Snooker Association and it was held in the 147break klub bilardowo snookerowy in Warsaw. Day one, the players made twenty breaks over 100, five breaks over 90 and sixteen breaks over 70 on my academy Break-Building routines. Three of the players made four centuries with Marcin Nitschke making 128, 124, 136 and 101. Krzysztof Wróbel making 122, 113, 110 and 101 but it was Kamil Zubrzycki who won the academy Challenge by a few points with breaks of 130 on the X Break, 104 Thailand Break, 135 Shovel Break, 124 Army Break, 82 Ireland Break and 88 on the Y Break.
CLICK TO WATCH THE HENDRY BREAK – Kasper Filipiak
CLICK TO WATCH THE DOHERTY BREAK – Mateusz Baranjowski
CLICK TO WATCH LONG POTTING – Karol Lelek
On day two the players trained on my academy pro routines and again the team performed excellent with eleven breaks over 100, eight breaks over 90 and thirteen breaks over 70. Two of the players made three centuries with Mateusz Baranjowski making 107, 138 and 139 but it was Kasper Filipiak who won the challenge with 132 break on the Max Break, 134 Day Break, 137 Hendry Break, 99 Ding Break, 98 Selby Break, 91 on the Carter Break. Day three I worked on the player’s match-play with various mini games to work on the tactical side of the game as I feel this is a crucial area in improving their game even more. I also had a long potting challenge which was won by Karol Lelek and Pawel Rogoza who were both tied for first place. Kasper Filipiak won the winning break challenge and also the cue ball control challenge. Day four was about recording the players and analysing the videos by working on their playing technique plus outlining a new training program that will be used by all the national team players. All the players received a DVD with their videos of their techniques and best breaks along with Sports Psychology audio to work on their mind fitness plus the new training program.
The other three days were focused on training the new batch of juniors plus lady players on my academy routines to improve their cue ball control, scoring and long potting. I worked with the players on improving their Cue Action, scoring and on their safety game with mini games.Local EBSA Coach Mateusz Nowak was on hand to assist me throughout the camp and he is doing a great job in developing the juniors in Poland and I would like to thank him for his help.
CLICK TO WATCH JUNIOR – Maciej Kusak
CLICK TO WATCH JUNIOR – Daniel Holoyda
During the camp a TV crew came in to record a piece for the national sports channel. They interviewed me about my coaching in Poland and Marcin Nitschke about his upcoming event with leading pro players Neil Robertson and Judd Trump that will be held in Poland on the 15th of November which is great for the profile of the game in Poland.
The overall performance was very impressive by all the players and it is a great honour for me to have this role to train and coach the National Polish team. Each player will be monitored during each training camp to maximise their training to improve their game even more. I would like to thank Mariusz Sikorski Vice Chairman of the Polish Billiards & Snooker Association for inviting me to Poland and I am very excited about developing the players over the next season as it was my pleasure training them again and I look forward to my next camp in December.
