Introduction
The key to success is hard work and self-belief. This ethos is a crucial preparation for the gruelling seventeen days at the Crucible for the World Championship. With Ronnie O’Sullivan tipped to win his eighth world title this year, the field of candidates to beat him looked slim. Yet this cauldron of snooker is well-known for creating surprises, and so when it came to the quarter-final match between Stuart Bingham and Ronnie O’Sullivan, few were expecting the result.
Ronnie had been firing on all cylinders until this point. He had already beaten Jackson Page 10-1 and Ryan Day 13-7 previously, so the writing looked like it was on the wall for this match. Yet when Ronnie gets rattled, this snooker genius seems to unravel before your eyes. Stuart just had to play his natural game, and the events on the table worked in his favour. O’Sullivan always goes into the blame game mode when he loses—this time, taking it out on the brilliant female referee Desislava Bozhilova. The respotted black and the audience walking in on the other table during the final session caused him to see red, trying to bully the referee with his gestures and comments. Fair play to Desislava; she handled the situation well, but it caused Ronnie to lash out in his post-match interview, saying that referees had got it in for him.
The Winning Line
Any match against Ronnie is the ultimate challenge. Yet Stuart Bingham, probably the nicest guy you could meet, went into this match pumped and focused. He had already beaten O’Sullivan 13-9 in the quarters of the 2015 World Championship on his way to winning the title that year. So, this was a good marker for the groundwork and practice regime going into this match. So, who was fuelling Ronnie’s desire behind the scenes? Beavering away in the background is a confident Nic Barrow. A former professional who these days spends his days helping players at his snooker clinic in Milton Keynes.
Nic is a brilliant coach, not just me saying it. Ask anyone on the snooker circuit, and you will get the same glowing report. He is one of the few coaches who understands how to dismantle and carefully combine a mindset with a transformed player. He comes from the same coaching stock as Chris Henry, Barry Stark and Terry Griffiths. Determined men who want to help, transform results and make a difference. He has been working with Ronnie O’Sullivan. A player with whom he has worked with before.
The Deconstruct
Nic is about solving cue action killers—a sighting, vision centre, or angle recognition issue. He gets his students to cue off a weighted, magnetic, metal plate, the CAT (Cue Action Trainer) with their eyes closed to use their sensory skills to find the middle of the cue ball. This works in tandem with cue action, straightness, flatness and smoothness. His techniques work, and his snooker gym, as he calls it, allows frustrated amateurs and professionals to beat their highest break. Nic deconstructs the game and shows the player how to revitalise and reform. His passion is to crack the secrets of the game, lose your frustration and get the enjoyment you seek. His goal and aim is to offer the best customer service in lesson experience and improvement per pound spent. A former professional who got his love for snooker from watching John Spencer and Ray Reardon battling it out on television in the late 1970s.
Nic gets goosebumps when his regime pays dividends. He has turned a hobby into a business. He sees it as therapeutic and much removed from his other passions, one of which is motor racing. His ultimate dream was fulfilled when he bought a black Aston Martin. Nicknamed ‘The Wheel’ during his playing days, Barrow admits that he has only ever had one 147 break. Yet his skills are now well-placed as an excellent coach. Yet on this occasion, Stuart Bingham sealed a 13-10 victory against Ronnie O’Sullivan. A coach who believes that this list of faults impedes a player’s performance.
- Having no pre-shot plan (and not committing 100% to the line of aim & cue ball height/speed).
- Thinking that cueing up is for aiming (when it is for feel, and checking the cue is moving straight!).
- Cueing up much less than pro’s – but not realizing it!
- Rushing the backswing (which pulls the cue offline).
- Not realizing they need to stay down and properly watch the object ball to the pocket/cushion (this is where all the self-diagnosis and learning happens, and building the habit of staying down gives a time buffer to ensure we don’t move BEFORE we play the shot).
- Thinking that, even though pros need to apply the last point mentioned above, that it does not apply to them… and wondering why they never improve in their game!
