This week my 147 Academy travelled to Stockholm in Sweden to hold a four day Junior Snooker Developmental Training Camp on behalf of the Swedish Billiards & Snooker Association.
Six promising junior players were selected to avail of this Coaching and Training in the snookerhallen Snooker Club in Stockholm. The Players were 13year-old Viktor Mahred, 18year-old Max Nettleton, 14year-old Robin Göransson, 11year-old Walter Laikre, 15year-old Nils Ritenius Manjer and 13year-old Linus Blenckner.
Training Structure
All the players practiced various routines against each other in Technical, Control and Scoring routines to improve their games with Concentration, Cue Ball Control, Break Building, Long Potting, Tactical and Safety drills. Each player received a CD with all the videos of their playing techniques plus a new training program and mind fitness booklet to study at home.
Very Impressed
I was very impressed with the talent of the young Swedish players like 11 year old Walter Laikre and 13 year old Viktor Mahred who I believe can really develop into good players on the International scene while current International players Max Nettleton and Nils Ritenius Manjer showed me how much they have improved since the European Championships in Israel in March.
14-year-old Robin Göransson and 13-year-old Linus Blenckner are the new juniors in the sport but they showed fantastic commitment and skills during the camp and they were really pushing the others by the end of the training camp.
Mental Game
I worked on developing good fundamentals in their techniques but also on the Mental side of the game as I believe this is a crucial area if they want to improve more by putting in place steps in achieving a better Mental state during practice and in their tournaments.
Challenge Winners
During the Camp I held scoring challenges with everyone playing against each other in various areas of the game and on Day 1 the winners were Max Nettleton when he won the Techniques Challenge, Nils Ritenius Manjer won the Control Challenge, Max Nettleton won the Scoring Challenge while Nils Ritenius Manjer won the Match-Play Challenge.
Day 2 winners were Max Nettleton winning the Techniques Challenge, Viktor Mahred won the Long Potting Challenge, Nils Ritenius Manjer won the Control Challenge, Max Nettleton & Viktor Mahred won the Scoring Challenge and Nils Ritenius Manjer won the Match-Play Challenge.
Day 3 winners were Max Nettleton winning the Techniques Challenge, Nils Ritenius Manjer won the Control Challenge, Max Nettleton won the Scoring Challenge and Nils Ritenius Manjer won the Match-Play Challenge.
Day 4 saw Nils Ritenius Manjer winnning the Techniques Challenge and the Match-Play Challenge to end the camp on a high with a stunning display. All the players improved their tactical games througout the camp.
Training Plan
Each player was coached on improving their technique, shot selection and a new training structure was designed to motivate the players to train better with targets and goals to achieve. The players practiced from 10am – 6pm each day and I worked on getting each player into the correct Approach, Address Position, Stance, Cue Action using my Alignment Laser, 360 Cue, Blade Cue and EBSA Coaching Balls.
Thank You
I would like to thank Andy Nettleton and Jonas Fahlander for ensuring everything went perfect during the camp, I would also like to thank all the players in making it a great success. It was a pleasure training all the players as their commitment was superb and I really hope it helps to build up their confidence to train better and improve more in the future.
Finally thank you to the Swedish Billiards & Snooker Association for inviting me to Sweden and to the Snookerhalen Snooker Club for hosting the camp and I look forward to holding another Coaching Camp for the Swedish Association in the near future.
