Stephen Hendry hails ‘sponge’ Ronnie O’Sullivan: ‘A lot of it goes over my head’
Phil Haigh Tuesday 8 Aug 2023 3:50 pm
Ronnie O’Sullivan has been labelled ‘a massive snooker geek’ (Picture: PA)
Ronnie O’Sullivan’s sponge-like qualities have been hailed by his fellow seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry, who admitted he has struggled to be coached over his career.
O’Sullivan and Hendry are widely considered the two greatest snooker players of all-time, sharing the record for most Crucible titles and with the Scot (36) only behind the Englishman (39) on the all-time list of ranking title wins.
They have had very different careers, though, with Hendry’s seven Crucible crowns coming between 1990-99, while the Rocket’s have spanned 2001-22 and he still remains in contention to add more to his CV.
There are also plenty of differences in their games, with Hendry noting that he succeeded when doing everything his natural, instinctive way and felt that some coaching may have cost him later in his career, while O’Sullivan soaked up positive aspects for his game.
Speaking to Michael Holt about coaching and technique on his Cue Tips channel, Hendry said: ‘I couldn’t tell you one thing technically. I’ve had four coaches in my career and each time it’s like, “do I really understand that?” A lot of it goes over my head.
‘I sometimes think, would I have been alright without…I had my first coach Frank Callan because I didn’t think my long game was good enough to compete with the likes of Steve [Davis]. I could pot balls obviously, but [couldn’t] consistently rely on my long game.
‘So he brought a pause into my backswing, but I don’t know whether…I got deceleration at the end of my career, I call it the yips, and I don’t know if that came from the pause.
‘[O’Sullivan] He’s like a sponge, he takes things in from everywhere.’
Holt, a ranking event winner who now works as a snooker coach, said one of O’Sullivan’s great traits is his ability to learn from others, but only take what is a positive to his own game and ignore anything that could hamper him.
‘Ronnie’s a massive snooker geek, he knows everything. He’s like a robot,’ said the Hitman.
‘What he’s amazing at is disregarding the stuff that he’s not interested in and trusting what he believes in and then he just goes out there and plays, which is a talent in itself.
‘Ultimately that’s why he’s played for so long because he knows everything about his game.
‘I think that’s where the next level might come from, players will be more aware of what they do and how they do it. Disregard the myths.’
It is interesting that Hendry appears to believe that coaching might actually have damaged his game.
Anyway … Ronnie, it seems, has decided to share his experience and, whilst he’s not coaching, he has been working with a huge team on “The Rocket Method”…
The Rocket Method™ will be the premium online snooker training program, taught by the greatest player of all time, Ronnie O’Sullivan.
With our course, you’ll be set to truly understand and learn snooker.
We have also hired Oscar-nominated filmmaker Gregg Helvey to provide a stunning production quality, so that you can enjoy the learning process.
Despite these immense costs, it was important to us to price the offering so that it remains well within the affordability of the majority of snooker fans.
Thanks.
Alan McManus is strongly involved in this project as well.
Now … in another “cuetips” podcast, Hendry was asked if it’s worth investing yourself in top sports if you don’t have an exceptional talent and his answer was quite short and clear: NO.
I agree but that doesn’t mean though that you should not invest in an activity or sport you like and enjoy, it’s always good and satisfying to learn and try improving. But also, you have to know and accept your own limitations. I, for instance, know that I wouldn’t benefit from this at all because I’m utterly useless at anything that requires hand-eye coordination, having a poor eyesight and being one of those lefties who were forced into using predominantly their right hand back in the days (1).
Bai Yulu wins in Russia…
Bai Yulu has won the Russian “15-Reds” International Championship, beating home favourite Ivan Kakovskii 4-2 in the final. There were 32 competitors from 10 countries. The event was played in Tyumen, Siberia, from 24-28 August. (source Lewis Pirnie on twitter). Lewis also added: For details, and videos of some matches, see: https://bill4you.ru/en/snooker/tournament/item?id=1587
The above images were shared on Weibo by Ba Yulu herself.
Congratulations Bai Yulu!
Thankfully such practices are rare nowadays. No level of constraint or violence will change your brain wiring. ↩︎
4 thoughts on “About learning, coaching, talent, Ronnie and Bai Yulu”
bit sad that Ronnie put out this weird coaching stuff but not the documentary everybody wants to see. I lost hope that that will ever see the light of day
I’m not sure why the Netflix documentary isn’t out. I will try to find out.
thank you please let me know if you find out anything
Yes, of course coaching can be detrimental. There are players, like Ronnie, who is continually making changes, which can be a motivation. Stephen Hendry was one to try and stick to his own way of playing, which can cause problems over time.
As for Bai Yulu, the Russians were proud of their first International Snooker Tournament, which was very well-organised. The fact that it was won by a woman is very notable: there are not many sports where that would even be conceivable. Although the overall standard wasn’t high she easily beat Deng Haohui, the highest rated U21 in China, and Ivan Kakovskii, the top player from Russia. She showed remarkable technique and composure.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
bit sad that Ronnie put out this weird coaching stuff but not the documentary everybody wants to see. I lost hope that that will ever see the light of day
I’m not sure why the Netflix documentary isn’t out. I will try to find out.
thank you please let me know if you find out anything
Yes, of course coaching can be detrimental. There are players, like Ronnie, who is continually making changes, which can be a motivation. Stephen Hendry was one to try and stick to his own way of playing, which can cause problems over time.
As for Bai Yulu, the Russians were proud of their first International Snooker Tournament, which was very well-organised. The fact that it was won by a woman is very notable: there are not many sports where that would even be conceivable. Although the overall standard wasn’t high she easily beat Deng Haohui, the highest rated U21 in China, and Ivan Kakovskii, the top player from Russia. She showed remarkable technique and composure.