Kicks

[arnhem44]

Having watched most of the coverage on tv(yes I'm guilty of missing a few frames) the amount of kicks during play seemed an awful lot compared to other years,the frustration showed on the players faces through out,is there anything going to be done to resovle this or is there anything that can be done?

[vincenzolorenzo]

Yeah it did seem as if there was an unusually high amount of kicks at this years championship. Although i think part of the reason for that was the new slo-mo camera that the BBC had cos they were able to show a close up of what actually happens. Which was great for viewers actually. Th only way they'll get rid of it is if they can come up with a different material for cue tips that doesn't require chalk. I don't know if there is any work going on in this area

[velocirafter]

ya I heard that a rubber tip would solve the problem....but it would probably create more problems than it had solved

[celticfc]

I'm not convinced that it's anything to do with the tips/chalk at all.

Lets face it, kicks on a regular basis are a relitively recent occurance in the game (10-15 years..?), the one big thing that has changed in that time are the thinner cloths and the lighter aramith balls. Cue tips and chalk are the same as they've always been.

Having said that there's been studies into a number of possible reasons, such as:

• Cloths

• Balls

• Referee's Gloves

• Temperature/Table Heaters

• Chalk

I personally believe it's the cloths, but who knows...?

[velocirafter]

do people get many kicks playing pool, I never notice them.....maybe its the kicks that keep making me miss

[mickdw]

Im not convinced on it being down to chalk either. Mark allen also got a huge kick straight after getting the white cleaned last week. Possibly some kicks are chalk but not all of them.
I think its a combination of things.
Firstly, some of them are certainly caused by the white being off the surface of the table as it hits the object ball. It makes perfect sense that this would cause the ball to jump on contact or at least deaden the reaction of the ball.
Secondly, static might have something to do with it but there was a fair amount of research done using cloths with earthing fibers woven in but it did not stop kicks. It may have stopped some kicks though so I would like to see the results of this.
and thirdly, chalk is a possibilty as sometimes after a kick you get a very hard mark on the ball at the point of contact.
In many cases, the balls do seem to bond together for a tiny period of time when contact occurs. This can be seen when a kick occurs when a screw shot is being played. On a crew shot, the ball being hit (Not the white) actual jumps up. The only way I see this happening is if the backwad spinning white ball sticks to the other ball and the backspin lifts the object ball into the air
Kick which straighten out the line of a shot are interesting too. These suggest that the balls are sticking together too.

The snooker pros should sponsor a research program.

[arnhem44]

the cloth was definately a factor in the first semi with Allen and Higgins,both players had some dreadfull kicks,there must of been something,was the moisture levels that Steve Davis mentioned the real factor.What are the advatages of the new Aramith balls being lighter and the thinner cloths?,also did anyone notice that when the ball went near the pocket at times it drifted off line as if the table was off level or was that just me and my beer

[Tea Spoon]

Would static electricity be an influencing factor too? That combined with the super thin cloths must surely be a cause.

[celticfc]

Originally Posted by arnhem44

What are the advatages of the new Aramith balls being lighter and the thinner cloths?

It's much easier to work the cueball (i.e. more spin/maneuverability). The downside to this is the whole kick scenario and some dodgy cussion bounces.

[arnhem44]

I know the players are playing around this problem as such but in a game that is demanding such skill to remain in top flight snooker one would think that snookers governing body would be working flat out to erase this problem,it sometimes hands an unfair advantage to the opposeing player or may work in there own favour depending on which way you look at it.After 10 to 15 years it seem that its an accepted part of the game,which is sad really,thats a long time to have such problems,would they ever resort back to older style cloths or even find a happy medium between the two?

[Tea Spoon]

Common sense would suggest so. I can't see going back to the older cloths though especially as so many of today's top players have known little else than what is used today.

[arnhem44]

thats a good point