Banging Balls -vs- Drills - pg 4

Start making your practice time count with this drill from Pro Skill Drills, volume 1 Walking The Line: This drill is perfect for warming up, testing your mid table shot making skills, getting the feel or the roll of the table before a match and discovering any shot making and position playing weaknesses.

This drill can be attempted at two different playing skill levels. Level 1 has a degree of difficulty designed for beginner to mid-skill level players

1. Start with Ball In Hand from any position on the table. 2. Make any ball, in any order, in any pocket of your choosing. 3. Avoid the cue ball from contacting any of the other balls on any of the shots. No Combination Shots. 4. If you miss or make contact with any other ball, reset that missed shot and try it up to three times, if you keep missing it. Finally, if you missed it for the 3rd time, stop the drill and repeat shooting that specific shot until you successfully make the ball 100 times. Then reset the entire line and start the drill over.

Level 2 has a degree of difficulty designed for advanced to pro level players

1. Start with Ball In Hand from one end of the table. 2. Shoot and pocket the first ball on the rail. Continue to make position to pocket the next ball in a pocket of your choice. Be sure, however, to make each ball in successive order up the line.

Continue following steps 3 and 4 above for the balance of the drill

13 6

9 1

11 5 8

3 12 2 10 4

15 7 14

C

Finally, I believe that the first step to making it to the winner’s circle is to have the skill building material and knowledge that only Pro Skill Drills offers. Fact is, if you can do these drills 7 out of 10 times, you’ll be good enough to beat 70% of the players you meet. To help you get started, all Sneaky Pete Mafia members can log into TheDrillInstructor.us and order any of the Pro Skill Drills books or DVD using the Coupon Code SPM007 and receive a solid $5 discount from each item you order. GET YOURS TODAY!

By Suzanne Smith

In American billiards, Johnny Archer is a living legend. With a multitude of accomplishments in nearly all disciplines of the game, there is very little that I can add to the story of his legend. That is the reason I accepted this assignment: not only would I have to listen to my heart, but I would also have to find a story that defines Johnny Archer, not as the Scorpion, but as the man who is making his way through this life, as we all do. I hope you enjoy the read as much as I enjoyed the interview.

Johnny Archer was born to George Archer and Mary Lee Hester November 12, 1968, in Waycross, Georgia. One of five children, Johnny had two brothers and two sisters. His father was a hardworking man, an auto mechanic. He didn’t recall what his mother did for a living. Their lives changed forever, when at the age of 6 years old, Johnny’s mother passed away from breast cancer.

As a youth growing up in the south, there were many opportunities for Johnny to get into trouble, but Johnny had a different idea and began playing pool at 12 years old. He is grateful for his mentor Chester Flynt. Johnny told me that Chester, “kept me out of trouble, kept my nose forward.” When not playing, Johnny watched the older players, whom he idolized: Buddy Hall, Nick Varner, and Mike Sigel were mentioned.

Photo credit- WPBL

Photo credit- Suzanne Smith

Johnny decided to make his professional debut at the ripe age

of 17 years. He would play straight pool for practice, but his true love was for rotation, especially 9 ball. To this day, he has won more titles in 9 ball than any other discipline. His performance throughout the ‘90s resulted in being named the Billiards Digest Player of the Decade.

During that period, he won two WPA World 9 Ball Championships, in 1992 and 1997, and the US Open 9 Ball Championship in 1999. Not only did Johnny perform exceptionally well in singles, he has been a Mosconi Cup team member for a record, 16 years, since the events inception in 1994. (Earl Strickland is in second with 13 years.) Of those, the USA won the Cup in 94, 96, 97, 98, 99, 01, 03, 04, 05, 06, and 09, with Johnny being a critical part of those teams in every year that he had participated.

This last year 2012, Johnny did not lose a single match that he played, however, Team Europe edged out the win 11-9 to retain the coveted Mosconi Cup. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that Johnny would have been named team MVP if the USA won. When speaking of the MVP award, Johnny spoke softly and graciously, “It would be an amazing honor, but it would mean that the USA had won, and that is what the Mosconi Cup is all about. It is the team, not the individual, that wins...”

In 2001, Johnny’s life would change forever again because of a woman, this time it was young Melanie Wynne. Melanie was the niece of Brass Tap Billiards owner in Raleigh, North Carolina. Johnny was competing at a memorial tournament there and Melanie held him up at the door for the $10 spectator’s entry fee. Johnny told her he was one of the players competing and she let him through, but Johnny lingered longer as the attraction was immediate and all-consuming. They made arrangements for their first date, dinner at Vincents Italian Cafe and a movie. Johnny and Melanie were married in 2002 and welcomed Johnny Jr. into the world in 2004 and little miss Mary LeeAnne made the family complete a few years later. Johnny, Melanie, and the kids make their home in Acworth, GA.

In Johnny’s words: “Melanie and the kids completed my life. I used to always be out on my own, no one to be accountable to or for. If I wanted to get up and play golf or eat a McDonald’s cheeseburger, that is what I would do. I was like a dog chasing his tail, same thing different day. Now, everything matters. When I do make a serious decision, I choose what is best for all of us.”