If you want to get better at the pool, then the best thing to do is practice more. There is always more to learn in this pool game no matter how professional you are. 

Now and then, everyone needs adjustments in the game.  You might have become perfect in ball stroke and get precise follow and draw, but at any point of view, your game can go wrong if you are not very careful. That is why like said before pool game also needs rigorous practice like any other best bar game.

However, most beginner pool players play wrong as they practice the wrong way. This is because the beginner pool players most of the time do not follow the fundamentals and they directly try to practice advanced concepts like draw shots, combo shots, powerful breaks, cue ball spin tricks, run-out patterns, and ore.

To become a professional pool player one must practice game strategies and technical shots especially in the beginner stage.

Getting better at the pool game begins with constant practice of basic pool mechanics and techniques. Choosing the right pool cue is important as well! If you are looking for the best of the best, you may read this article from Poets Billiards.

Once you master the basics, you are sure to become a better player. The most common mistake that many novice pool players make is holding the cue very tightly. Naturally they beginners believe that harder they grip the cue, the more accurate their shot will be. 

However, it is not the right approach, the player should practice using loose and a light grip instead of a harder or tighter grip.  If the player holds the cue too tightly, then it raises the end of the cue when they shoot.

The tight grip makes the end of the cue go parallel on the backswing, which makes it even tougher to shoot an accurate and straight shot. A tight grip also enhances the probability of jumping the cue ball off the table accidentally.

That is why it important to hold the pool sticks enough tight to pick the cue up off the table. Hold the cue lightly, reposing on your fingers and it shouldn’t touch your palm and your pinky should stay free. 

You can get better at pool game if you follow these simple 10 tips on how to get better at pool game.

1. Not just a pool game, but every sport where you use a ball needs balance.  It is crucial to make sure that your shooting posture is strong and natural.  You should have an accurate posture so that you can combat a push on your shooting side.
2. As a player, you should know that your stroke should be smooth and it should be like a regular motion with a beginning, middle, and end.  Also, make sure not to rush your stroke, and don’t clog it off.
3. One of the important aspects of a pool game is to aim correctly. You can find different aiming systems all around you, but it is clear that learning the point of contact and shot line is important.  The Shot line is the line that you aim your cue to make the shot, and the point of contact is where you have to strike the ball to make it. The best thing to do is to place the cue over the object ball that helps you know where to strike.
4.  Raise the stakes with little gambling, it helps you learn to handle the pressure better way. This is a bit crazy, but it helps you play the game more carefully and cheerfully.
5. The best technique to learn spot play is to try hard to do whatever is easy and whenever it is possible.
6. Use the Ghost Ball technique, in this method, you should try to aim where your cue ball in the place where it should be to make your object ball in. This method helps you imagine the “Ghost Ball” and helps you decide where to shoot.
7. The structured practice is valuable than just the theoretical hitting of balls.  Try to practice straight pool or 9-ball, or some drills.
8. If you want to send an object ball with the rail through speed, then raise your cue a bit to avoid twitching the ball in the pocket jaws, and it also removes throw.
9. You should always play with better competitors, don’t waste your time playing with the players who are worse than you.
10. When you hold the cue, avoid holding it in your fingertips; also don’t strangle the cue by holding it tight.

I love playing Tennis and running. I always wore my Asics Gel-Resolution 7 during Tennis or running sessions. It already accumulated hundreds of hours of usage and it is still looking pretty tough. My shoes are very reliable and it is so comfortable. Sure, it has lots of wear and tear and I can probably replace it but I won’t!

The Asics is my fave shoes ever! I will just need to repair to avoid looking bad. It has tears and some holes in it but I think I can DIY fix it.

I had a hard time choosing a glue to repair it. I read a lot of forums, Reddit and other social media to find what’s the best glue to fix it. Luckily, I found the Shoe Goo! They said it is one of the most popular glues in the market today. But of course, I didn’t know that before!

 

In fact, it’s one of the best glue for shoes according to Defendyoushoes.com. That website is the one who actually helped me to choose the Shoe Goo among others.

The Shoe Goo is very cheap, it only cost me $6 on Amazon. So, I ordered one right away and waiting for it to be shipped! Thankfully, I have confidence now to repair my broken favorite shoes. 3 days later, it arrived on my doorsteps! I quickly opened it, read the instructions and tried to repair my shoes.

After applying a small amount of it in every tear and hole, I let it dry and leave the house to attend some meeting. After approximately 4 hours, I checked my shoes and yes, ShoeGoo fixed my shoes! Yeahhhh!! I can’t wait to use it again but I’m gonna use it lightly for a while. I still need to observe if the holes will be back again.

Luckily, during my very light Tennis session (light running and playing for half an hour) the glue holds the tears/holes together and I didn’t notice any damages.

But the test is not yet finished, I need to test my shoes while playing Tennis and running. I will not go easy this time and will play a single match with my friend.

So what’s the result? After playing for more than an hour, the repaired parts are still intact. So I can say that Shoe Goo is definitely durable and reliable glue.

So that’s it, choosing the Shoe Goo is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. If you have broken shoes and do not want to pay for a professional service, then the Shoe Goo is the way to go. Applying it is fast and easy, plus, it is very affordable. It’s widely available and you can also find it on eBay or Amazon. Buy it and I am sure that you will not regret choosing it.

 

 

This is a guest post by my friend Pierre, the owner of Sportystation.com and they also reviewed tennis racquets that suited for beginners.

Past and present, Head rackets have been leading the field of tennis technology. From the modern-day champions like Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic and Olympic gold medalist Andy Murray to the legends like Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi, Head rackets are the preferred choice of nearly one-third of the top 100 players worldwide.

Head offer a range of rackets to suit all playing styles and budgets. All their rackets are built around cutting-edge technology to help hone your game and let you release your full potential on court. There are rackets in the range suitable for beginners, amateurs and juniors right up to semi-professional and professional players.

Some of the choices include:

Extreme. The weapon of choice for Richard Gasquet, the Extreme range provides huge power and spin. The Pro 2.0 is the perfect choice for someone looking to play an extremely aggressive game, while the MP 2.0 combines balance and weighting to maximise swing speed.

Instinct. As used by Maria Sharapova, the Instinct range focuses on providing massive spin, by use of an innovative 16/19 string pattern. The MP provides power, while the Instinct 5 emphasises maneuverability and aerodynamics.

Microgel Challenge. A range designed with recreational tennis in mind, the Microgel is a good choice for those looking for a little more comfort in their game and for better handling. One of the stand-out choices for beginners looking for a challenge.

Star. The Star series features the most ground-breaking technologies Head have to offer. Extending from Three Star to Seven Star, all feature d30 tech- the string properties change from flexible to defensive upon impact. Five, Six and Seven Star also include Multizone Grip for the best possible performance.

Junior Tour. This range leaves out none of the technical elements so crucial to standard rackets. Perfect for juniors with high aspirations, the series features the Speed Revolt which, at full size, makes it an ideal transition racket, and the Instinct Jr, a junior version of the racket favoured by Tomas Berdych.

Most Head tennis rackets incorporate Head Innegra Technology, the lightest fiber in the world, which maximises precision hitting by reducing vibrations by up to 17%. Others utilise YouTek, which combines d30 and Teflon elements to produce some of the most adaptable rackets on the market.

Conclusion

Whichever racket you choose, there can be no doubt that Head offers a superior experience on court: perfect for when you are playing to win! Have fun playing tennis!

When you work on a creative team, some issues are universal. Situations like these:

“Our co-workers wanted us to turn around a big project in a matter of days, and now they’re upset that the quality isn’t what they imagined.”

“People stand over our shoulders while we write/design/edit. Why don’t they just trust us to do our jobs?”

“When we get together to dream up new ideas, it’s a waste of time. Nothing good ever comes from it.”

“Why does everyone we work with want us to just copy what is already popular?”

There is so much feedback coming from every direction. Who are we supposed to listen to? Sound familiar? If you are a part of a creative team and you haven’t experienced at least one of these situations, then you are on the most magnificent team in the world.  Or…you are oblivious. Or…one of these issues is just around the corner.

When we are creating Calcustar – The Best Graphing Calculator Guide, we faced these issues. As we were struggling with some of these circumstances on our team, we realized that before a creative team can even begin to tackle issues such as these, the team has to go waaaaaaaay back. Back to the basics.

If you were to build a house, a roller coaster, or a towering skyscraper, you wouldn’t start construction without laying your foundation first, would you? If you did, your structure would be unsteady and unpredictable.

Maybe even dangerous. Now, think about your ministry or your team. If you want to build it into something sturdy, you’ve got to get your foundation in place first. You can’t answer questions like these >>>Why don’t they just trust us? Why are our good ideas failing? Who should we listen to?>>> if you don’t have a solid foundation.

From our experience, we believe these are the foundational elements of a healthy creative team:

Don’t read them from top to bottom. Instead, view them as building blocks. Each block relies on the one beneath it to hold it up.

You can’t worry about your PROCESS until your RELATIONSHIPS are in check. And you can’t worry about your RELATIONSHIPS until you are clear on your PURPOSE.

In this post, we’ll focus on the first foundational element of creating a healthy creative team: PURPOSE.

If I asked you your team’s purpose, what would you say? Would you say ,”We’re designers.” Or maybe, “I’m here to write.” Or perhaps, “I make videos, simple as that.”Well, it’s not “simple as that.” That might be what you do.

But your PURPOSE is why you do what you do. To break it down, let’s dissect the evolution of creative projects. We can break every project down to three parts.

#1: There’s a NEED. An example of a need could be, “We don’t have enough volunteers on Wednesday nights to help lead our youth group.”

#2: The IDEA. An example of an IDEA for the NEED listed above might be a funny promo video to play on the weekend that gets adults to sign up to volunteer.

#3: The EXECUTION. And, the example of the EXECUTION would be to gather the people to star in your video, shoot it, and then edit it. To find your purpose, you need to know at what point in the process you and your team are supposed to come in. Are you supposed to pinpoint the NEEDS, meaning you come in at Step 1?

Are you the one tasked with generating the IDEAS, meaning you enter the process at Step 2? Or do you come in at Step 3 and EXECUTE ?For example, are you the one that needs to look around on Wednesday night and see that you NEED more adults to be mentors for your youth group?

Are you the one that needs to notice that people aren’t using the recycling bins like they should be? Or that you have a lot of new people at your church and they don’t know how to join a small group? Is it your responsibility to figure out the NEEDS? Or, do you come in at Step 2? Does the youth pastor come to you and say, “Hey, we need more volunteers,” and then you figure out how to get the word out? Do you generate the IDEA?

Or are both Step 1, the NEED, and Step 2, the IDEA, the responsibility of the youth pastor or the missions coordinator, etc, and your purpose is to come in and hear the NEED and the IDEA and then do Step 3, EXECUTE, and actually make the final product?

(For our team, most of the time, we’re Step 2 and Step 3. The leaders of the other teams come to us and tell us what their NEEDS are. Then we come up with the concept, or the IDEA for the project. And then we EXECUTE and bring that IDEA to life. It’s not always that cut and dry, but for the most part, we enter at Step 2.)

So what are you?  Step 1, 2, or 3? I know, I know. It sounds simple. However, any blurriness here will cause heartache and botched projects.If you incorrectly believe that your team is supposed to begin at Step 1 and find the NEEDS, you are going to waste a massive amount of time creating unneeded videos and websites.

Or if another team wrongly believes that they are supposed to generate IDEAS, they will write scripts and dream up concepts. Then you get to have an awkward conversation and explain to them why their hard work will be thrown in the trash.

You would imagine that after one problem or one miscommunication that a team would figure this out and clarify. However, this is a cycle that can happen again and again. Especially in an organization that is growing or changing, which a lot of creative ministries are these days.

Avoid the messiness and be sure you can answer the question of where you come in. Do you find the needs, come up with the ideas, and/or execute those ideas? If you can figure that out, you’ll know the first foundational element of building a healthy creative team; your PURPOSE.

No matter what you believe to be true about your PURPOSE, talk about it with your leader to make sure you’re on the right page. And then, talk about it with everyone that you work with!  They all need to know your PURPOSE.

In future posts we’ll continue the conversation and talk about the other two building blocks for great ideas and a healthy creative team; RELATIONSHIPS and PROCESS.

So, what is your or your team’s PURPOSE? Are you supposed to find the NEEDS? Dream up the IDEA? Or EXECUTE? Portions of this post were inspired by the breakout session, “Great Ideas and Healthy Environments” hosted by Beth and the LifeChurch.tv Creative Director, Kevin Ely, at this year’s Echo Conference.

I’ve given some thought to the future–a future where zombies will inevitably overrun the general population. With that future in mind, I’ve often asked myself the question, “sniper rifle or sawed-off shotgun?”

A Sniper Rifle is a specialist weapon, the proper use of which requires skill and dedicated training. The Shotgun is more of a general purpose solution, able to be effectively utilized by more people and requires less instruction.

Now, let’s apply this principle to design. (No, it’s not a stretch…it makes complete sense, I promise.) I’ve known many types of designers who range in skill, style and focus. But, generally, there are two types I encounter the most: the specialist and the generalist.

The specialist has an established skill or style that they are known for, whereas the generalist could be viewed as a jack-of-all-trades.

Disclaimer: In the next couple of paragraphs, I don’t want anyone to think that I favor one type over the other. Or that one is right and one is wrong–neither is right nor wrong. They’re just different, and I fully believe there are times when each are better suited for certain projects or tasks.

In other words, when used correctly, the sniper rifle and the sawed-off shotgun will both effectively mow down the persistent undead.

Since we have that established, let’s talk about the differences:

Much like a trained sniper, the specialist has spent much more time harnessing their creative energy toward a specific skill set, which is, hopefully, aligned with their passion(s). This will show itself as a huge strength when a project arises that

• a) centers around their passion and calls for their particular skill, or
• b) in a collaborative environment where their skill and passion is needed as a contribution and an important piece to a larger puzzle.

Potential drawback:

The specialist could begin feeling neglected or used when they are sought after time and time again for their particular skill. Also, in choosing the sniper rifle, you have to find some good high ground with a low risk of ambush. Alternatively, the generalist–who I’m sure has a propensity for buck shot–has spread his or her energy over a wider range of skills.

This does not necessarily mean that the generalist has trouble finding a skill or skills that they are passionate about. It may mean that they enjoy several different types of art or that their passions fall across multiple disciplines.

The generalist will thrive in a creative environment where

• a) he or she has the freedom to use their many skills across a wide range of projects that engage their passions, or
• b) on a team that doesn’t have specialists that can focus on certain areas.

Potential drawback:

The generalist could begin to feel like they aren’t a master of any one particular skill and that there is always a specialist–or sniper–who could better fill a certain role or more effectively put down an approaching zombie horde.So, whether you are a trained sniper or if you are a generalist who happens love the sound of a pump-action, there is always a need for your skill(s) and creativity.

 

Every future parent wishes to have a perfect stroller for their kids. If you are one of them, you should know the best stroller available in the market. With multiple brands and models of strollers available, it might be hard for you to determine a high quality one. To end your worries, why not depend on Stokke stroller?

Stokke is one of the leading brands of baby strollers preferred by parents. This company is dedicated in producing high-quality chairs and products for your baby. Its modern, streamlined and innovative styles are equipped with special features, effectively best for providing you a higher level of satisfaction.

Since Stokke is the world’s best stroller distributor, their strollers are not only attractive, but functional as well. Every Stokke baby stroller can also be customized for best usages. With this, your baby can rest in various positions such as facing out, facing in and sitting up. What makes this stroller the number one brand in the market?

This stroller provides good protection to your kids through its right height and size. It also protects the baby from head to toe. As compared to others, its adjustment seat provides protection and free movement. Another best thing about this unit is its easy maintenance. If you opt to maintain its durable feature, lubrication is not required.

Its chassis also holds technical solutions, and is therefore easy to maintain. When it comes to its textile, it can be easily washed through following accurate procedures.

The Stokke baby stroller is also available in various colors that can meet your needs and preferences. Its back wheels can be folded and does not get punctured easily. The brake system of this unit is also simple and both wheels can be managed through a single brake. Depending on your preferences, you can adjust its seat for best comfort.

Its flexible seat with a protection seat insert provides great convenience and relaxation to the baby. With this unit, you can carry the stroller anywhere you want. If you want to go out for a walk or to have bonding with your family and kids, it would be easy for you to bring it.

This Stokke stroller also gives good ventilation due to its hood fabric. By merely examining the entire features of this stroller, you can say that it is not just an ordinary type. If you opt to have this unit for your baby, make sure that you depend on reliable suppliers only.

This stroller is ideal for babies up to two years old with 45 pounds weight. If you are new to this stroller, you may think that it costs high. This stroller is not too expensive though it has a comprehensive features and functions.

If you are fond of visiting online shops, you may view its different price ranges. Buying cheap Stokke stroller is easy, but make sure that you choose only a reliable store. If you want to get an affordable yet effective stroller, try this one and see how it works!