I see two options, neither one which is that good.
First of let's be clear about the make up of our team. We have one great player in the twilight of his career. A second player who is a Euro convert? Two more players who are journeyman pros. And a Bank Pool specialist. Kind of a patchwork team representing us.
Now let's look at the Euro side. Five high level professional pool players who make this their full time job. And they take their job seriously, working hard on their game to continuously improve. Their collective goal is to be among the best players in the world, and they are!
When you look at it realistically, you can see it's kind a mismatch isn't it.
Option A) Get a full time mental coach for the players on Team USA so at least they can have their heads on straight when it comes to playing in a high stress environment. I can attest to the fact that pool players are coachable and can be taught to play at their highest level. Even if only for one specific event.
Option B) Start all over with a completely new team. I'd like to take a group of five or six promising young players (18-23 years old) and spend a year developing them and their game to prepare themselves for the MC. We do have talent here. I've seen it. But they need some good coaching and instruction to be world class players.
I would100% guarantee that given the chance a completely new team would fare far better than what we've been seeing the last few years. They won't dog it is all I've got to say. There is a way to get past all that.
Can you imagine taking a group of college kids and beating the Russians at Ice Hockey? It could be done in Pool too!
If the powers that be would fund it (maybe to the tune of 100K) I would take on that role for one year of my life. We all know that's never going to happen though, so it is only my little pipe dream.
