HAVE you ever wondered what it must be like coaching the greatest players who have ever played?
How can you improve someone who’s already head and shoulders above the rest?
Well, legendary snooker coach Chris Henry was tasked with exactly that when Scottish icon Stephen Hendry called for his services in 2007.
Henry has worked with the greatest players who have ever stepped up to the baize, having offered his advice to seven-time world champions Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan in the past along with John Higgins and Mark Williams to name a few.
Henry is widely regarded as the number one snooker coach in the world with an expertise in neuroscience to help with players’ mental development.
He has transformed the performances of several top players who have either lost their way in the game or just struggling to hit peak form.
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For young players starting out in snooker, they are always told you must cue straight and keep your eyes on the aiming point on the object ball.
But Henry has debunked this theory with an interesting insight into some of the greatest players who have ever lived.
Speaking on Stephen Hendry’s Cue Tips YouTube channel, the snooker icon posed the question about cueing stance to the legendary coach.
Crucible legend Hendry admitted he doesn’t know where he looks when preparing a shot on the table.
To which his former coach replied: “Why wouldn’t you know where you’re striking the ball? It’s because you don’t see with your eyes.
“You’re seeing with a part of your brain called the visual cortex. It’s proven now that when you’re a golfer hitting the ball, you don’t see the strike. Your brain actually blinks.
“You (Hendry) look at the cue ball, Ronnie O’Sullivan looks at the cue ball, John Higgins looks at the cue ball.
“I would say the greatest players in history are actually cue ball players, but it’s been determined that you should look at the object ball the moment you strike.
“It’s not the case.
“Although there is Steve Davis: object ball, John Parrot: object ball; there’s no right or wrong way, is there?”
Henry coached Hendry for five years between 2007 and 2012.
By then the Scottish great had already won everything in the sport, but was beginning to lose his edge.
Henry noticed his client had an unusual style which went against the core teachings you learn when first picking up a cue.
He insists it was never an issue though.
The coach said: “You never addressed the cue ball when you wanted to strike in the middle.
“You were addressing with a trace of left because you have a natural left to right mechanic.
“So you weren’t actually striking the cue ball at the same place you address it. Ronnie O’Sullivan was the same, John Higgins was the same and Mark Williams also left to right.
“This game is not about cueing straight, it’s about striking where intended.”
Henry even helped transform the performances of former world number ones Mark Selby and Mark Allen with his bizarre tactics.
He continued: “I think the coach has to be very flexible. You must understand different things like mechanics and visuals.
“The two for this game are technical mechanics and the visual cortex. The goal is to co-ordinate them two.
“Where you are looking is your visual cortex. It’s where you are pointing you’re cue.
Stephen Hendry career achievements
Seven-time World Snooker Champion
Youngest-ever winner of World Championship
Six-time Masters Champion
Five-time UK Championship winner
18 Triple Crown tournament wins
36 ranking titles
Nine seasons as World No1
Awarded MBE in 1994
Two-time BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year
“Mark Selby in 2020 became visibly and mechanically uncoordinated. He wasn’t aiming where he thought he was aiming.
“The moment you put your cue to your chin, you begin to micro-aiming. That’s where aiming starts.
“You’re seeing with your brain and through repetition, you create habitual visuals and you can actually start seeing incorrectly.
“It gets to a point where you think you’re aiming to pot a ball, but you’re not.
“It all sounds complicated but it’s actually very easy.
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“Recently I got a phone call from Mark Allen. He said: ‘there’s just some shots I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong’.
“We started this process around two months ago and literally he’s aiming to miss. When I talk about aiming, I mean when you are striking that ball, where is it pointing?”
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