On the 10th of February 2014 I travelled to the beautiful city of Prague in the Czech Republic to hold a five day snooker training Cue Zone in the Billiard Centrum sports club in the Harfa Galerie Shopping Complex. The Cue Zone was arranged to promote the game and provide players with guidance of how to play better Snooker. Players from the Czech Republic and Slovakia attended the Cue Zone including two of the players who will represent Czech Republic in the 2014 EBSA Under 21 Championships in Romania in a few weeks.
The 14 Players were : Michal Kryštof, Tetřev Boris, Herout Aleš, Makharadze Levan, Salavec Karel, Turak Pavel, Chvátal Jan, Brodecký Petr, Rendla Jakub, Matušič Miro, Kopecký Peter, Privitzer Standa, Kubíček Tomáš, Matějíček Honza attended the cue zone which was organised by Tomas Kejla who himself is an experienced Snooker Coach in the Czech Republic. Tomas was on hand to assist me throughout the five days and said the players were very impressed with the quality and coaching. He believes the players now have the fundamentals plus the correct training programs to move the game on within the Czech Republic and in Slovakia.
Czech Stars of the future
13 year old Aleš Herout, 18 year old Tomáš Kubíček, 10 year old Matějíček Honza and 17 year old Privitzer Standa really impressed me with their talent and ambition and the future is looking good for Czech Snooker with a team of young talented players. During the Cue Zone I worked on developing a solid playing technique in the Stance, Cue Action, Grip, Address Position and I used my various academy training routines to improve the player’s cue ball control. All the players were videoed and received DVD’s of their game to study at home as I feel this is crucial in developing players to improve their technique and game.
All players in the Cue Zone also received a Coaching Profile highlighting the main areas needed to improve within their game, Academy Training Booklets plus Sports Psychology audio to work on their mind fitness. I really enjoyed the Prague Cue Zone and I would like to thank Tomas for organising it and I would also like to thank International Referee Eva Poskočilová for her help in translating my coaching to the players.
Finally I want to wish Aleš and Tomáš good luck in the EBSA Under 21 Championship next month in Romania and It was a big honour to coach again in Prague. I am already looking forward to returning in April to monitor the progress and help develop Snooker more in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia.
