DAY THREE: Three day intensive training with Demetrius Jelatis
Sunday morning came and I was wide awake at 7am. I rolled out of bed and headed to the shower. It was my goal to beat Demetrius to the table on the last day. Unfortunately, as I walked over to the shower, he was already downstairs, “Hey Matt, ready to go?” I hadn’t woken up even close to first. I showered quickly and started shooting balls in with the pocket reducers. I made a note to purchase those when I got back home. The pocket reducers really tightened up my aim and although my shotmaking was a little off, they helped a lot. After removing them, it was easier to aim for particular parts of the pocket rather than just considering it one pocket.
There were lots of warm up drills and going over the content from days one and two. By lunch I was exhausted. At lunch we watched more pros play. The idea was that when I went home, I could watch these videos and know what to look for. I had a different mindset when watching the pro games. I was beginning to look at their play differently. We went over pattern play, end game scenarios, and safety play. Demetrius could tell I was tired, so he decided to work on the mental game a little more.
Demetrius talked about a meditation that he wanted to try out on me. It was an audio file from what I believe was a sports psychologist. It was a cross between hypnotism, mindfulness practice, and meditation. With internal reflection and breathing it was meant to trick your mind into giving you more energy and becoming more focused. I’ve meditated in the past, so I was open to listening to it. After the meditation audio track, I did feel more rested and the rest of the day was easier. Either the meditation successfully tricked me into being less tired or my own brain did, because something worked, and I was able to finish the rest of the day with plenty of energy.
We then worked on pattern play in both eight ball and rotation games. Followed by common mistakes in position play, and how to best choose patterns based off of best position play. There was a lot of work on transitions and we finished our pattern play with more drills.
We then went over major takeaways from the weekend, and he gave me a list of homework. There were diagrams of all of the drills we performed, as well as things to keep in mind when doing drills alone. He also wanted me to continue watching pro pool online and gave me tips for things to study and take away from the videos. I felt comfortable by the end of the discussion that I had enough stuff to work on for at least the next year. We both wanted me leaving there with the tools to continue improving myself long after this weekend ended.
We finished the lessons by playing some Scotch doubles bowlliards. That was a really fun game. The alarm on my phone went off at five pm and it was time for Demetrius to drive me to the airport.
The ten hours of pool on Sunday seemed short. I felt I was starting to get used to the sixteen-hour days of training, but I left Minneapolis with a positive mindset and the knowledge that I have a long road of learning ahead of me. I was excited and looking forward to the struggles and challenges ahead. I thought back on the weekend and I really enjoyed the struggles in the process of learning. I couldn't think of a better start to my billiards journey.
EDIT: Demetrius now has a website. https://mnpoolbootcamp.com/
There were lots of warm up drills and going over the content from days one and two. By lunch I was exhausted. At lunch we watched more pros play. The idea was that when I went home, I could watch these videos and know what to look for. I had a different mindset when watching the pro games. I was beginning to look at their play differently. We went over pattern play, end game scenarios, and safety play. Demetrius could tell I was tired, so he decided to work on the mental game a little more.
Demetrius talked about a meditation that he wanted to try out on me. It was an audio file from what I believe was a sports psychologist. It was a cross between hypnotism, mindfulness practice, and meditation. With internal reflection and breathing it was meant to trick your mind into giving you more energy and becoming more focused. I’ve meditated in the past, so I was open to listening to it. After the meditation audio track, I did feel more rested and the rest of the day was easier. Either the meditation successfully tricked me into being less tired or my own brain did, because something worked, and I was able to finish the rest of the day with plenty of energy.
We then worked on pattern play in both eight ball and rotation games. Followed by common mistakes in position play, and how to best choose patterns based off of best position play. There was a lot of work on transitions and we finished our pattern play with more drills.
We then went over major takeaways from the weekend, and he gave me a list of homework. There were diagrams of all of the drills we performed, as well as things to keep in mind when doing drills alone. He also wanted me to continue watching pro pool online and gave me tips for things to study and take away from the videos. I felt comfortable by the end of the discussion that I had enough stuff to work on for at least the next year. We both wanted me leaving there with the tools to continue improving myself long after this weekend ended.
We finished the lessons by playing some Scotch doubles bowlliards. That was a really fun game. The alarm on my phone went off at five pm and it was time for Demetrius to drive me to the airport.
The ten hours of pool on Sunday seemed short. I felt I was starting to get used to the sixteen-hour days of training, but I left Minneapolis with a positive mindset and the knowledge that I have a long road of learning ahead of me. I was excited and looking forward to the struggles and challenges ahead. I thought back on the weekend and I really enjoyed the struggles in the process of learning. I couldn't think of a better start to my billiards journey.
EDIT: Demetrius now has a website. https://mnpoolbootcamp.com/
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