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How do billiard players keep themselves in a good shape?

25-03-2011

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© © Guillaume Loiseau
Dick Jaspers, who won the supercup last year, is doing physical training almost every day.

SCHILTIGHEIM - Does a player in the top of three cushion need a daily training to keep himself fit and mentally strong to be able to focus at the billiard in hard matches? Dick Jaspers and Jérémy Bury are extreme adepts of the theory that a professional billiard player must apply a strict training schedule. We asked the eight players in the final stages of the Agipi Masters how they think about training sessions like running and other sports.

Dick Jaspers (1.78 tall, 74 kilogram) left this morning at eight the hotel in Schiltigheim for a training in the football stadium. He planned to run ten laps at the track, at least he only did seven. ,,I suffered after some laps, there were some blisters on my feet,'' he told later. Jaspers is a fanatic athlete, totally living for his sport. At least five times a week he puts on his running shoes or dives into the swimming pool. ,,Even on a day that I must play billiard, I like to sport, because a training of half an hour, gives me so much extra oxygen'', he says. Jaspers tries to run twice a week and to swim three times a week.

Marco Zanetti (1.80 tall, 98 kilo) normaly is only training at the billiard table. ,,Yes, of course I know the Latin phrase: 'Mens sana in corporere sano', well translated 'a healthy mind in a healthy body'. But I have my child at home, if my wife is going out for something, I can't go for a running training or do another sport. I use my hours to train at the billiard table.'' He realizes himself that he would like to lose some weight with his nearly one hundred kilo's. ,,But if you take the example of Raymond Ceulemans, then weight is not so important to play billiards at the highest level. I know what Dick Jaspers is doing, but I also know that there are some excellent players who never do any sport.''

Eddy Merckx (1.68, 68 kilo's) also is one of the players who doesn't train outside the billiard. He thinks the only thing that's important is that he feels fit enough when he's playing. ,,I have lost nearly forty kilo's of weight between 1999 and 2000 by following an extreme diet. I dropped to sixty, now it has turned to 68 and it makes me feel good. But I stay on that weight watching my food, not by running or other sports.'' The Belgian thinksthat it's not necessary to be able to run a marathon, for playing a strong match in the three-cushion. ,,It's different from person to person. Your head must be empty, that's important. Some people need to do a lot of sport, not me. The only thing I do is take the bike and do some cycling with the family when we are in summer days in our apartment in Nieuwpoort.''

Frédéric Caudron (1.73, 82 kg) joined a table tennis club a few weeks ago, where he wants to train twice a week. ,,I would like to play tennis, but that's bad for the arms.'' Caudron is not really an athlete who wants to go outside. ,,I hate lonely sports as walking, swimming and cycling. I love to sport in company, whth friends or in a team. You can ask me to play basketball or football and I will like it. However I used to be a good runner when I was young and I was playing football, especially at the long distance. Training of course is good for a billiard player. We are too often behind the computer, we have to be careful that it's not going to be an addiction.''
 
Filipos Kasidokostas (1.89, 85 kg) assures he lives a healthy life, but he doen't practice other sports than billiards. ,,I don't visit nightclubs no more, I'm often at home and I'm having a sleep for seven or eight hours. I planned to do more in the future, but now my mind is clear, although occasionally I feel more than an ordinary stress. The gymnastic school could be an option, but one must take care for training with weights. It could be bad for your muscles. Your upper arm should not develop too much, then your feeling will disappear. Semih Sayginer, for example, is training weights to get strong muscles to make big shots in his demonstrations.''

Jéréemy Bury (1.72, 65 kg) had a knee operation last year and was forced to have some rest for several months. ,,Now I'm back in training, using sports like walking to keep myself fit and sometimes I go out cycling. And if we are with two, I like to play squash. I think it's very important for us to do lot of intensive exercise.''
 
Javier Palazón (1.77, 80 kg) goes out jogging three times a week. ,,I love many other sports, like cycling, basketball and athletic, but for doing all those things, I don't have time. I just play billiards,'' says the former world champion at junior level. Besides running he follows mental trainings. ,,I have a personal psychological trainer, who teaches me to get mental toughness.''
 
Sung Won Choi (1.79, 72 kg) does his training most of the time on a running machine, he says. He also visits a gymnastic school to train with weights to get stronger arms. ,,And I do a lot of mental training, meditation, to keep my concentration during the matches.''

 

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