Last week, the director of our very competitive team 9-ball league saw fit to raise Jude from an A+ to an Open.
I cannot adequately stress how much of an achievement this is. I've been thinking about it, and I'm quite confident I've never seen anyone raise his level of play so much in his mid-30s. I've definitely never seen someone actually be raised to an Open so "late" in pool-life, but even more than that, I've never seen someone's game exhibit such a different level of play (again, at that age).
Jumps like these are usually reserved for teenagers and people in their early 20s.
He has had to deal with some silly comments from fellow league players ("Oh, you wanna gamble at that spot?"), but the simple fact is, he was raised because he was terrorizing people at the A+. And most people have been very supportive, from what I've seen.
I have no idea what Jude has done to raise his game so definitively. He plays with better players when he can, but not really all that much. He spends at least one night (and maybe even two nights) per week playing on poorly-kept 7-footers, against much weaker competition. But something has clearly clicked, and he's seeing the game so much differently. And he's definitely never taken a formal lesson in the last 10 years, if ever.
I say this quite seriously - he should serve as a huge inspiration to other players who feel like they may be too "old" (in pool terms), or who feel like they don't have world-class talent. Jude is talented, but he'll be the first one to tell you he's not Mika-talented. And look what he's done with what he has...
Jude was a B+ not very long ago at all. Many part-time players, like him, would have been happy enough with that, but he put in the time and most importantly the effort. Again, I have no idea how he did it, but I really wanted to publicly congratulate him. It's quite a feat.
- Steve
P.S., Jude is going to reply to this thread and say that he's lucky there are good players in the room for him to learn from, blah blah blah... but the fact is, there are 60 regulars in our room who watch the same players and didn't achieve Open status. So don't let him fool ya
.
I cannot adequately stress how much of an achievement this is. I've been thinking about it, and I'm quite confident I've never seen anyone raise his level of play so much in his mid-30s. I've definitely never seen someone actually be raised to an Open so "late" in pool-life, but even more than that, I've never seen someone's game exhibit such a different level of play (again, at that age).
Jumps like these are usually reserved for teenagers and people in their early 20s.
He has had to deal with some silly comments from fellow league players ("Oh, you wanna gamble at that spot?"), but the simple fact is, he was raised because he was terrorizing people at the A+. And most people have been very supportive, from what I've seen.
I have no idea what Jude has done to raise his game so definitively. He plays with better players when he can, but not really all that much. He spends at least one night (and maybe even two nights) per week playing on poorly-kept 7-footers, against much weaker competition. But something has clearly clicked, and he's seeing the game so much differently. And he's definitely never taken a formal lesson in the last 10 years, if ever.
I say this quite seriously - he should serve as a huge inspiration to other players who feel like they may be too "old" (in pool terms), or who feel like they don't have world-class talent. Jude is talented, but he'll be the first one to tell you he's not Mika-talented. And look what he's done with what he has...
Jude was a B+ not very long ago at all. Many part-time players, like him, would have been happy enough with that, but he put in the time and most importantly the effort. Again, I have no idea how he did it, but I really wanted to publicly congratulate him. It's quite a feat.
- Steve
P.S., Jude is going to reply to this thread and say that he's lucky there are good players in the room for him to learn from, blah blah blah... but the fact is, there are 60 regulars in our room who watch the same players and didn't achieve Open status. So don't let him fool ya
.
Seriously, congratulations Jude! 
