SightRight - What is it?

It’s something that we’ve been hearing from commentators in recent years quite a fair amount, particularly from the perspective of players such as Williams, Bingham and Gould; but what exactly is ‘SightRight’ and how is it different to conventional methods of practice?

Inventor of SightRight, Stephen Feeney has coached players as early as Terry Griffiths and Stephen Hendry in the late 90s/early 00s but it seems that in the past few years he has been making more headway and gaining more recognition for the coaching techniques that he provides to his students. This was most noticeable during WSC 2018 where you could see World Champion Mark Williams close his eyes on some of his shots – and then pot them!

Feeney also coaches using his techniques in Darts and Golf, as well as Snooker. It mainly aims at using ‘sighting and alignment routines’ to significantly increase a player’s accuracy when it comes to competing in these particular sports.

Where players are likely to focus on their cue action as an area of improvement, SightRight looks at enhancing your perspective of potting angles as well as your sighting behind each shot. This, in turn will lead to improved potting accuracy as well as break building. That’s not to say that SightRight doesn’t look at aspects of your game such as cue action and stance. There’s just more of a focus on lining up the shot with your eyes as opposed to your body.

Snooker is a game which relies heavily on precision and accuracy which is where the methods of something like SightRight would prove to be useful in a players training. However, the methods of SightRight were not warmly received during its early years. Surprisingly enough, one of the players who thought there was no merit to these techniques was Williams!

However, after the success of players like Bingham and Williams, Feeney has been seeing an increase in his clientele. A lot of seasoned players who have the fundamentals locked in may look at SightRight and various other methods to see if it sparks a surge in their game or improve their consistency. These players may even look at it as a motivator to practice and revitalise their hunger for the game. And the testimonials on his website speak for themselves regarding his effectiveness.

What do you think about SightRight? Do you think it has its merits or something that doesn’t add much to a player’s game?

What are Snooker Balls made from?

Historically, snooker/billiards balls would be fashioned out of wood. Yes, wood. But this was in the games infancy. To be honest, snooker wasn’t officially invented yet. Understandably, wood carved billiards balls were not up to scratch and wouldn’t survive the frequent impact that occurs in a cue sport. So what followed?

Following the usage of wooden (and sometimes clay) billiard balls the successor material that would then be used for a significant period of time was ivory. Ivory is a tough substance that can be compared to tooth enamel. Contextually speaking, in the world of snooker ball manufacturing, elephant tusks were used for production.

Consequently, this soon became a problem in the 1800s because elephants were being used by the thousands to sustain ivory ball production thus, facing extinction. There were also additional problems faced with ivory balls including inconsistent weights and density which would cause kicks and unreliable play. There were also tendencies for balls for change shape during the course of play due to the material. Additionally, these materials made it harder to replicate the kind of cue ball control we see today.

American inventor John Wesley Hyatt came up with Celluloid which is a synthetic plastic which offered a more flexible, tough material. Celluloid is often used in the filming world. However, the problem with this was that Celluloid contained flammable and combustible elements which would occasionally lead to snooker/billiards balls exploding on impact. Yes, you read that correctly.

This led to the development of various types of plastic and it was in the 1950s where Phenolic Resin took the throne of snooker and billiard ball production. It’s effectively a synthetic compound which can be moulded and hardened to form the shape of a snooker ball. It’s also used to produce numerous home and electrical appliances. This type of resin is also scratch and chip resistant proving useful in a cue sport.

When it comes to actually manufacturing snooker balls, the heated resin is poured into a pre-coloured mould (sometimes injected in the mould to avoid bubbles). Once solidified and polished, balls which are similar in weight are grouped together then sent off to the final production stages. And that’s it!

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How do sponsorships work?

Snooker is a pretty classy sport which is displayed by the ‘uniform’ that players are required to wear during tournaments. On these uniforms it’s very easy to see a number of logos presented on their waistcoats. These relate to the sponsorship arrangements players have with these companies and are effectively like a business transaction. I mean, who can forget Judd Trump and Burger King. Name a more iconic duo; I’ll wait.

Effectively, players are approached by these companies – in the context of snooker, these are most likely betting companies – and they offer players benefits such as paying for travel, tournament fees, and sometimes providing free products or equipment. In exchange, players must proudly display the company’s logos on their clothes for all to see. Since a lot of events are televised, this is a huge advertising stint which these companies are backing on to boost their commercial growth.

For those in the upper echelon, it’s quite easy to get approached for sponsorships deals. Generally, the players that are frequently in televised (major) events or constantly in the snooker headlines will have a larger selection of opportunities to choose from. Having sponsorship/brand deals can help relieve some of the financial pressures associated with the sport. Click here to read more about the costs of being a snooker player. However, not all are fortunate or in the position to have sponsorship deals come to them.

A lot of young players/those starting out tend to look for sponsorship opportunities and they are the ones approaching various companies as opposed to the other way round. Although, like stated earlier, it is very much like a business transaction in how these deals are completed.

No business is just going to offer sponsorship and money without getting something in return. The player requesting sponsorship will need to be able to add some kind of value to the business which will improve their position commercially. For example, if the player has a large social media following or has a steadily increasing TV presence, it would be useful for the business to stick their logo on this player.

It’s not just the players that can benefit from sponsorships. Most events in World Snooker also do business with various companies to sponsor tournaments. A significant number of tournaments will have a sponsoring tournament pre-fixed to the name of the event. Examples include the Dafabet Masters, Betway UK Championship, Kaspersky Riga Masters, Coral Cup series and who could forget the legendary, former ‘Embassy World Championship’ where a commentator would be struck down by Thor himself if he did not mention the word Embassy when saying the World Championship.

It’s pretty much a win-win for those involved in a brand deal as players are aided in the financial costs of snooker while World Snooker are able to put the money they get from these deals into allocating a higher prize fund for that selected tournament. Then of course, there’s the advertising for the businesses involved. But what I think is done well with snooker is that these ‘plugs’ are not obnoxious in the way social media brand deals are done where they are ‘in your face’. I mean, how much Fit Tea can one person possibly want?

Technique Tips - How to Pot a Ball

This is mainly for those who are new to the game or even those who play snooker leisurely but need some reinforcement of what fundamentals they should incorporate into their potting technique. This will include tips from all over as well as some insight provided by professional players.

• Identify the line of the shot (potting angle) and walk into the shot

This is one of Ronnie O’Sullivan’s top tips which can be found on YouTube where once you have assessed the shot you want to make – take a couple steps back and walk into the shot. This makes it easier to get your feet and body into a stable position where you can focus on your bridge and cuing

• Go for accuracy and not power

I would avoid going for the Judd Trump-esque kinds of shots; particularly when starting out. If you try to hit the cue ball too hard, you’ll often cue across the white and miss your pot by a long way. Instead, focus on delivering a solid cue action using the further tips below and work on getting your pots closer to the pocket. You’ll be amazed at what a difference it can make. Once you’ve got the hang of that then by all means, scroll that power bar right up!

The following tips mainly apply to when your hand is on the table and about to take the shot. Getting these things in your cue action right (as early as possible) will have a huge impact on your potting success. So let’s see what we should keep an eye on.

• Maintain a stable bridge

The bridge refers to the position your opposing hand takes that your cue rests on. There are a few common positions that players use and there is no wrong position when it comes to this. The main staple is using a bridge position that allows you to comfortably deliver the cue in a straight line as consistently as possible

• Deliver your cuing arm as straight as possible

One of the main reasons you are probably missing pots and don’t know the reason for this is because you are not actually hitting the cue ball where you are intending. This occurs when you cue across the white ball and do not hit it directly in the centre (or where you were planning to) which in turns affects the outcome of the shot

Something Steve Davis used to do before practicing is just stroke the cue ball up and down the table. And he would make sure the cue ball would return to him in a straight line. When he was able to do this, he knew that he was delivering his cue arm as straight as possible. You can practice this using the baulk line to ensure you are not putting unintentional side when you strike the cue ball.

• Keep still

Keeping your head, bridge and body as still as possible will reduce the chance of an improper cue action. Steve Davis is the perfect example of a player to watch when it comes to technique. Even once he played the shot he would keep his head down and still until the ball went into the pocket.

• Try to maintain a consistent pre-shot routine

When playing a shot, you tend to feather the ball a few times before you take the shot to ensure you are striking the cue ball where you want to and in a straight action. This is similar to how golfers like Shaun Murphy attempt practice swings before their actual shot. If you watch Mark Selby, he has the same pre-shot routine for every shot where he lines the cue up and takes two large backswings before he takes his shot. He does this for every shot whether going for a pot or a safety and this is why his safety play is so high-tier.

• Practice

The difficult thing about snooker and making a pot is remembering to implement all of these tips into every single shot. Due to the lengthy nature of snooker, it can become very easy to forget these fundamentals and just hit the cue ball out of frustration, especially after not potting a ball in a long while. But, as with everything, the more you keep practising, the more second-nature these techniques will become.

• Have fun!

No explanation necessary

There are definitely a lot more things that you can do to improve your game but this was mainly for those (including myself) who have difficulty even when it comes to potting a single ball in snooker. There’s a lot of advice out there on the internet and YouTube (I recommend Barry Stark’s videos) in which you can pick up little things that you can take into your next session. Hopefully you were able to pick up some things here!

Snooker is a difficult game; but don’t knock it until you’ve given it a solid attempt. You’ll find yourself having a fun time even if you miss most of your shots. I wouldn’t go into this game expecting to be able to pot everything just by emulating what you see on TV. But the great thing about snooker is that there’s always room for improvement; even at the highest level. Technically speaking, no one is the perfect snooker player. But snooker is a game with a steep learning curve where players (professional and casual) can elevate to new heights with even the minutest of changes.