Do you introduce your kids to pool?

If we don't introduce younger players to this wonderful game, the game will eventually cease to exist (theoretically but HIGHLY doubtful) whether or not it's our own kids is immaterial IMO.

I can understand wanting to "protect" them from the seedier elements, but they will encounter that anyway whether it's at the pool hall or not. The best we can do as parents is try to prepare them to make the right choices, not keep them "in the dark".

However, I would like to add, if it was non smoking pool hall I would be more inclined to bring them with me. BUT I do NOT agree with smoking bans ANYWHERE, if you don't like the smoke, go somewhere else! It's not the govt.'s job to tell a business owner how to run his "private" business ( I know I'm off on a tangent) and just for the record I am a NON-SMOKER

It's a GREAT game that can teach so many lessons. Many of which have nothing to do directly with the game itself

I started playing when I was around 5 or 6. My parents had two tables in the house. In our basement we had an old Sears 7' table that was horrid. That was the only table I was allowed to play on until I got to be about 10 or 11. I wasn't allowed to play on the oversized 8' in the "pool room" because my dad didn't want me messing up the cloth.

Ofcourse, my parents loved to hang out at bars, and used to drag me along. I remember being like 13 or 14yo playing on bar tables against drunks with my parents and their friends "stakehorsing" me. Ofcourse it wasn't serious money, like $5-10 a game, but it was fun... But did lead to putting up my own money hustling at Don Carter's in Miami when I was like 15/16yo... Gave that up after pissing a few too many people off (I was a thin skinny kid so I couldn't do much if people wouldn't pay...).

As others mentioned, my biggest issue right now is the smoke in the pool halls for taking my own daughter (she's almost 6). She does really want to play though as she see's mom and dad each having their "league" nights (not the same night tho, we're not leaving the kid home while we play . If I can get my garage clean enough going to have to see about getting a table for it...

Brian

Of course....
one of my favorite things is when my 19 mo son says
"PLAY...BALL..."
and he's talking about the pool table

Pool is very addicting. I know I'm in the minority, but if I had kids I wouldn't introduce them to pool until they graduated high school first. My inability to control "pool" in my high school years cost me entrance into the Air Force Academy (because gambling until midnight was more important than studying... and nothing my dad said/did changed my mind... because I thought I knew everything).

Like I said, I KNOW I'm in the minority here.

It is important to get the whole family involved

My 14 year-old son is not nearly as into it as I was when I was his age, but I did not have PS3 and XBox. My son will play only for money, and only if I give him incredible weight. (Maybe he's hustling ME.)

I think there would be less pool divorces if husbands found a way to get their wives interested.

If you don't have your own table, the problem is finding a pool place that is family friendly. I like the Fox and Hound which, in my area, allows minors in. It is more of a "sports restaurant" than a "bar room." It is not my ideal pool hall, but I don't know that we have any of those in the NO area.

We always had a table at home when my three girls were growing up (40, 38, 36). The 40 yo plays about once a week at bars with her husband and friends...she never gambled...she owns a daycare. The 38 yo played at home, but never played much after she got married...she is an accountant... she doesn't gamble. The 36 yo played a lot at home and a lot from 18-28. She was a waitress or bartender in those days. She gambled and made a good buck at it. Had a courier service, and is now recovering at her home from an auto crash...I call her the wild child. I never forced them to play, if they asked for help, I did. I would say the 36 yo was about a C to C+ player on a bar table. She was a A+ hustler though. Johnnyt

I vote yes, but I am not going to be taking either of mine to the pool hall to watch me play. Not for $$, not for tourney.
Perhaps when they hit mid-late teen, but for now they can saty on the hom table. literally.

I believe in getting kids involved in as many different activities as possible, especially ones that help develop focus, discipline, analytic thinking skills, teamwork, and physical fitness. Pool rates quite highly in 3 of those categories. I don't have kids yet, but I definitely plan on teaching my future children to play pool, along with various other team and individual sports and games.

Once they've put in some serious effort to learn and improve at any given activity, it will be their choice which ones they want to continue with. Pool would be no exception.

-Andrew

Do you introduce your kids to pool?

I introduced my 14 year old daughter to pool when she was 12. At first she didn't have any interest, and then at age 15-16, she has a lot of interest. So I taught her all the basics and spent a couple of hours with her. That following weekend she went over to a friends house and beat the crap out of everyone at pool, including the father LOL. OMG, what have I done?

I want my kids to play for one reason, I think if you can get the skill set to play high level pool, and carry a black belt in a form of martial arts, you would have a very well rounded skill set.

If they get really good and want to play big tourney's and such so be it. But unless somthing changes in the next 10 years or so, they will be doing the above (along with baseball, basketball, maybe some football) and i'll be paying for the golf lessons.

For the record their gear is; Jack Madden jump/breaks and Jack Madden sneaky petes. They play on a 1946 5x10 Brunswick snooker table and have no clue how small the pockets really are.

Oh yea their 7 and 8. (not to interested yet)

As much as I try to promote pool, I rarely had my daughter around it because at least locally it wasnt the place for her. I certainly didnt want her to see the tings I was exposed to being a woman in the pool world. We had many types in the pool room I learned in so definately not the world a child should be exposed to. Outside of that, pool taught in theright environment is great! It has a lot to teach a young person if approached the right way.
my daughter is 19 now and has been playing for a year. She came to me at 18 and said mom I want to learn to play so I can beat you........of course I said yes and i would teach her because better she goes with me to learn the ropes than to go on her own.

The pool rooms here arent what they were when I was in them many hours of each day so I dont worry as much but there is still some cleaning up to do before many parents will allow kids into pool rooms.
Sad but true

Speaking of younger kids and pool... Any of you with tables at home with young kids, do you have them play with regulation sticks or do you have small kids sticks? I remember having this tiny stick as a kid, still have it floating around somewhere I think... Not sure tho if its better for them to learn with a full size cue or not...

Brian

ugotactionTX said:

However, I would like to add, if it was non smoking pool hall I would be more inclined to bring them with me. BUT I do NOT agree with smoking bans ANYWHERE, if you don't like the smoke, go somewhere else! It's not the govt.'s job to tell a business owner how to run his "private" business ( I know I'm off on a tangent) and just for the record I am a NON-SMOKER

Click to expand...

I think your view here is very misguided. Do you think the government shouldn't make car companies put seat belts in thier cars? It's the governments job to maintain infrastructure and protect it's citizens.

In this case, it's setting a regulation to protect the majority of the public from the actions of a minority(smokers). I take great offence to your view that if I don't like smoke I should go elsewhere. Why should I have to go else where because of the harmful actions of a minority?

It's really not that hard for a smoker to take a break and go outside to smoke, then come back and shoot a few racks. Not only would this make a better environment for the patrons, it would make it easier for the hall managment to keep the equipment clean and save them money on cloth replacement.

when my grandson was 3 we started watching pool on tv and the computer.I bought a small pool table for him at age 4, before that he would shoot the balls around on the floor. I try and do very, very, very little instruction when he is shooting.
I try to make it as much fun as possible.

I've got a table in my basement, and can't wait until my 5 year old twins are old enough to play. I already have some short kid-sized cues for them. I think it will be a great family activity for us.

I think that not introducing your kids to pool because there is a seedy, disreputable side to it is akin to never teaching your kids to play a card game because some people out there are degenerate gamblers.

But I wouldn't want them to blow off the more "mainstream" youth activities (youth soccer, little league, school band or whatever) to focus on their pool game.

How early is too early

Hello,

I was stationed at Ft Bragg, NC when my son was born. we had a pool table in our den. When he was 11 months old I cut down a broken pool cue and put the 2' section in his hands and stood him on the pool table and let him walk around hitting the balls in. By the time he was 2 - 3 years old he pulled a milk crate around the table and shot pool. He knew the rules and could even beat some of my friends at pool. It always amazed everyone how he could do it.

When we went to Germany he would go to the post recreation center and play pool or play basketball. He was a great shot but could not dribble at all. Bought him his own basketball and told him to take it with him wherever he went after school was out. He learned to dribble. I also encouraged him to take up Karate at about 8 or 9 to help with self discipline and self control. He also played football in grade school and really seem to enjoy that once I taught him the main trick to football. Hit them harder than they hit you and you will not get hurt.

All in All I think he turned out pretty good, esp for someone who was exposed to pool at the ripe young age of 11 month. BTW, you all know him as Iron Mike Davis.

Both of my sons see me play pool on the home table, but only the 5 year old wants to play. The 8 year old tried it out and when he wasn't able to immediately start making balls he quit and has never tried again really. The 5 year old is a different story. He actually practices at things, from hula hoop to wheelies to pool and the drums on rockband, the 5 year old makes up his mind to learn and he will do it all by himself. I come home all the time now and the cover is off my table and my wife tells me that Austin wanted to play. I watched him fire in 3 balls in row a week ago, including one shot with the ball in the middle of the table and the cueball off of the end rail.

Ted Harris is nearly done making my five year old a 54" cue. I dropped by his shop on the way back from the Cub Scouts camping trip this weekend and saw the cue hanging, ready to be sprayed. Its an old Dufferin ebony house cue. Ted told me he has had the cue for 15 years at least and its probably much older than that. It looks awesome, has a skinnier butt and weighs 19oz. My son is gonna love it.

Kid is all grown up, and has NO DESIRE to learn to play pool.

Throughout my childhood, I was always pretty much allowed to choose whatever I wanted to pursue as hobbies. My parents were immigrants, so the whole idea of non-school activities was somewhat lost on them. I got my start in extra-curriculars relatively late for an American kid, picking up the saxophone at 9 years old. I dabbled in martial arts and theater but those only lasted a few years. I continued to play the sax and picked up high school football and stayed very devoted to those two activies until I graduated.

Now I'm a junior in college and although I don't do any of my old activies anymore, I still draw upon the lessons I learned from them practically everyday. Ultimately, I think it's good (if not essential) for any child to devote a large amount of time to a discipline for these reasons, although what they chose to spend their time on into adulthood is really in their hands.

If I could, I would continue to play football (sadly, the Illinois football team has no need for a 6'0, 180lb linebacker with lineman speed =P), but I knew right away that college would be my start in billiards (the parents didn't keep me from the game, we just couldn't fit a table in the house). If you're one who would keep your child from an activity for any reason, don't forget that WORLD CHAMPION gymnast Nastia Liukin's parents tried to do the same with her and gymnastics. In my opinion, parents should pass on all that they know to their children. If what you know if pool, why not pass it on to the kids?