For some reason, your post brought to mind some memories of T F Whittington. I do miss that guy!
Steve
can u realy compete at 50
- Thread starter one stroke
- Start date
For some reason, your post brought to mind some memories of T F Whittington. I do miss that guy!
Steve
My 2 cents on the subject...
Certainly an interesting question. As a 53 year old player, I have a few thoughts on older players:
1) Time is not your friend. As mentioned, eyes, backs, aches and pains all get progressively worse with age. Pain pills cloud thinking and it becomes much harder to regulate how you feel over longer sessions.
2) Most players who were good when they were younger played many hours (10 e.g.) each day to develop their skills. This is usually not practical either logistically or physically for most older players. Getting in stroke therefore becomes more difficult.
3) Experience counts...up to a point. There is a point where there is parity due to a player's experience, however, time is the eventual winner. As a player ages they need to become increasingly strategic in using their experience advantage. This progression (is it really progress?) would include avoiding marathon sessions where the older player can't go the distance anymore. As well as choosing to compete in 'experience' games, i.e. one-pocket, bank pool, 3 cushion etc.
4) Don't settle for workarounds to problems that are solveable. For example, player refuses to get glasses and compensates by playing more on smaller tables.
5) Vary your practices and play to create a balanced approach. Older players tend to rely more and more on a shot's 'feel'. Drills like the L-drill can enhance your feel for the types of shots you practice.
Certainly an interesting question. As a 53 year old player, I have a few thoughts on older players:
1) Time is not your friend. As mentioned, eyes, backs, aches and pains all get progressively worse with age. Pain pills cloud thinking and it becomes much harder to regulate how you feel over longer sessions.
2) Most players who were good when they were younger played many hours (10 e.g.) each day to develop their skills. This is usually not practical either logistically or physically for most older players. Getting in stroke therefore becomes more difficult.
3) Experience counts...up to a point. There is a point where there is parity due to a player's experience, however, time is the eventual winner. As a player ages they need to become increasingly strategic in using their experience advantage. This progression (is it really progress?) would include avoiding marathon sessions where the older player can't go the distance anymore. As well as choosing to compete in 'experience' games, i.e. one-pocket, bank pool, 3 cushion etc.
4) Don't settle for workarounds to problems that are solveable. For example, player refuses to get glasses and compensates by playing more on smaller tables.
5) Vary your practices and play to create a balanced approach. Older players tend to rely more and more on a shot's 'feel'. Drills like the L-drill can enhance your feel for the types of shots you practice.
Last edited:
I guess a better question would be , is the learning curve over, ya I know many guys at 50 or older who were top players that still play very well now
but can u improve at that this age
I do compete now at a decent level I have dropped about 40#s and I think that helped me beat a top md player in a late match to finish 13-16 in md 9 ball champ at allstar this past year but playing over in the bar box championship, I had to shoot my second match at 11;30 at night had a 6-2 lead and brain just compleatly stopped ,they played several hours after that I would have been toast at that point
I have had a table since Nov I work on some drills and just knock balls around to keep in stroke, after watching some streaming of the md 14-1 championship , I have decided that it might be a game to play at home mabe help my consistency and pattern play
I guess I am looking for a practice regiment that might make me a better player instead of being stuck at the same level
9
but can u improve at that this age
I do compete now at a decent level I have dropped about 40#s and I think that helped me beat a top md player in a late match to finish 13-16 in md 9 ball champ at allstar this past year but playing over in the bar box championship, I had to shoot my second match at 11;30 at night had a 6-2 lead and brain just compleatly stopped ,they played several hours after that I would have been toast at that point
I have had a table since Nov I work on some drills and just knock balls around to keep in stroke, after watching some streaming of the md 14-1 championship , I have decided that it might be a game to play at home mabe help my consistency and pattern play
I guess I am looking for a practice regiment that might make me a better player instead of being stuck at the same level
9
Yes, that's what I thought you were asking. Not whether you can play well after 50 - obviously you can - but can you improve after 50. The examples people are giving - Efren, Irving Crane, etc., - don't mean much since they were world class at very young ages.
With dedication I'm sure you can improve - over on the 14.1 forum, dmgwalsh keeps getting better at age 57 or so - but there's no question that it's more difficult that it would have been at a younger age. I started playing again 18 months ago at age 61 and have tried pretty hard to improve. I have improved some, but not nearly as much as I would have hoped. Maybe if I were more dedicated? I have to admit, practice drills bore me so maybe I'm not a good example.
You're already a good player so that's in your favor. You have the motor skills that are very hard to learn from scratch at age 50, so I bet with sufficient dedication you can get significantly better. After all, 50 is not really old for a game like pool. Think of Willie Hoppe - first world championship at 18, his last at 65, at which point he retired. Good luck!
I'm still pretty good and I'm sixty. I guess it's up to the individual.
when I first got my table, I noticed very little improvement in my practice play , I got a 8 ft so going up or down would not be as dramatic ,
I have always felt any trip to the table is a good one so I at least try to hit some every day I can,
I did however notice some better play out of me even though I dont get to play competitively as much I seemed to have a more reliable stroke game in and game out my last few turneys I had no competitive warm up, yet I seemed more prepared ,had good finishes and knocked off a couple of players better than me, so although I did not think I was improving
the results indicate different
I still have a 8yr old and it does jam me up to get out to local turneys
but I believe with a good practice regiment could get me a game or 2 in a long race, my head has always been a problem but I think thats where the pay off is in my age, I tend not to get upset when I miss easy shots and it does not afect my play the rest of the match like it used 2
so hopefully I am heading to my peak not away from it
onestroke
I'm nearly 59 and I have to really grind to play at the level I did years ago, but after a month or so of 2-3 hours a day I start to really hit 'em. That's for me that is.
I think that ANYONE, man or woman, at any age, who learns all the numbered shots in The Pro Book and their variations, and even more so for the A players and such The Advanced Pro Book, will find significant improvement. Not many have the discipline however. There are a thousand excuses why not to bother. I know. I've used them all
...Tom
I think that ANYONE, man or woman, at any age, who learns all the numbered shots in The Pro Book and their variations, and even more so for the A players and such The Advanced Pro Book, will find significant improvement. Not many have the discipline however. There are a thousand excuses why not to bother. I know. I've used them all
...Tom
Eyesight, endurance, and physical shape comes into play, but I have always been of the belief that if you want something bad enough, you can get there. You just need a strong drive, will power, and ambition.
Efren Reyes and Jose Parica are both in their fifties and still compete. In fact, I think Parica may be pushing 60 right about now.
Mike Sigel is back in the limelight in recent times, and he's in his fifties. Of course, Allen Hopkins still loves to play in tournaments. He came in second place to Ginky at the Ocean State Championship not so long ago. I watched the finals, and it was one of the best finals I'd ever seen. Neither of them missed.
And then there's Spanish Mike Lebron who won the 1988 U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship at the age of 54, defeating Nick Varner in the finals.
Here's a cute shot of Spanish Mike taken at the U.S. Open a few years ago. He actually smiled when I took this picture, rewarding me with a great photo. Usually Spanish Mike has a serious look on his face, but I think he likes me!
JAM,
It's so nice to see you having a little time to post regularly again! You always have unique insights into pooldom as well as a gifted way of writing!
Your comments on Spanish Mike's "smile" made me chuckle. I was walking thru a hotel lobby in Pittsburgh several years back and saw him asleep on a lobby couch. Upright but really slouched to the side, mouth ajar, the obligatory light snore....My dilema was to wake him up so I could say that I met and spoke with him or just let him rest in peace.
Well I mean to tell you....in less than 10 seonds after I got him up out of his slumber, I was asking him if I could take his photo, with me in it.
After I hijacked a passing patron to do the photographing, I thanked Mike for allowing me to do what I just described. He smiled ever so slightly and plopped back down on the couch. I think he was out again in another 10 seconds!From when I first woke him up and until we posed in the photo, he was looking at me the way most people would glare at an IRS agent. He got happy for the "clicking" but I think it was because he knew I would soon be gone and he'd soon be back in la-la land!
Jenny, do you remember how you interrupted Keith during a money game at Valley Forge so you could take the picture with us together! That's when I KNEW you were a good friend!
Not many people would be able to pull that off as seamlessly as you did! Thank you!I once pestered Scott Smith in a funny way and he got me back in a funnier way, but that's another story for another thread.
As to the subject at hand (being competitive over 50), I'm 51 and hopefully, I'll be able to start playing in tournaments soon. I worked since I was 11 and had a full time job and a part time job from the time I was 21 until 2007. With a family, there was not a lot of money or time to travel to pool tournaments, so I mostly played money matches in and around Washington. I was playing the best pool I ever played just prior to fracturing my back, the surgery, the subsequent infection and another surgery. For just about 14 months, I never hit a ball, which is by far the longest break I ever had since I started pool at 11. I've been hitting at about 90-95% of what I was at my peak but I'm confident that the rest of it will also come back with some more table time. I'm blessed enough to have a 9ft Brunswick in my basement so it's up to me to put the time in now if I want to seriously be competitive.
Bottom line is whether I ever win any tournaments or not, I'm almost at the point in my life where I can finally get on the road and actually enter and play in tournaments. Just being out there and competing is going to be loads of fun. Anything above and beyond that is going to be even more fun!
Rich,
For some reason, I always thought you were in your early 40's! (Not that I'm hitting on you, cause I'm NOT!
) But I didn't know you were in the "geezer" club with me and so many others here! Congrats!And also, the post you wrote that had that part I quoted was a really good one. Lots of good points you made.
Even though I'm not a World Pool Champion, I don't regret any of the time I spent with my kids as they were growing up! Those were the greatest times of my entire life, being a full time daddy!
Now I got to hit the tournament trail soon cause "grand-daddying" can't be too far away!
of course you can compete at a high level past 50, here are a few examples:
Efren Reyes (55) and Jose Parica (60ish) still winning pro events.
Irving Crane won the 1972 World 14.1 Championship at 59.
Johnny Ervolino ran 334 balls at 65 years of age.
Onofrio Lauri ran 260 balls in his 70's.
Walter Lindrum was still the best english billiards player in the world well into his 60's.
Bob Vanover still plays world class pool in his 70's.
Efren Reyes (55) and Jose Parica (60ish) still winning pro events.
Irving Crane won the 1972 World 14.1 Championship at 59.
Johnny Ervolino ran 334 balls at 65 years of age.
Onofrio Lauri ran 260 balls in his 70's.
Walter Lindrum was still the best english billiards player in the world well into his 60's.
Bob Vanover still plays world class pool in his 70's.
I couldn't make out the middle name, was that The Falcon or The Cobra.
That was a pretty big dude you knocked out.
Every time I see a fight like that I'm like a retired Greyhound dog when he see's a rabbit...he still wants to chase. I see a ring and I still want to get in it and fight at 70 yo...but thank God I have some brains left that weren't knocked out of me. Not many mind you. WTG on the knockout. I bet that felt good. Johnnyt
My father in law after moving in with me at age 68 has got 2 balls better in the last 2 years. He now has my table to play on all he wants and follows me around to the tournaments.
i'm turning 51 in a couple of weeks, played most of my life and still play a couple / few hours daily trying to get ready for some tournaments again
i'm fortunate enough to have my table in the living room a 1971 8 foot Fischer with 4 inch pockets and also play alot on my friends Olhausen 8 footer with 3 7/8" pockets, both tables keep you honest
i'm fortunate enough to have my table in the living room a 1971 8 foot Fischer with 4 inch pockets and also play alot on my friends Olhausen 8 footer with 3 7/8" pockets, both tables keep you honest
This thread has been great for me to read. I only picked the game last year, and while I'm not 50 yet, it's only a very short time yet for me. Nice to know that so many folks keep playing at high levels for so long.
(Of course many of the locals I know are past the 50-year mark, and if I only get to be as good as them I'll consider that an accomplishment. I have no sense of scope to know exactly how "good" they are compared to you folks, but we have some folks here who shoot quite well, over 50.)
Thanks for the thread, OP!
(Of course many of the locals I know are past the 50-year mark, and if I only get to be as good as them I'll consider that an accomplishment. I have no sense of scope to know exactly how "good" they are compared to you folks, but we have some folks here who shoot quite well, over 50.)
Thanks for the thread, OP!
ok if u had to pick a game for improvment would that be 14-1
onestroke
onestroke
Hey Joey It was a good nite I was the Cobra then . He was supposed to be light heavy but came in at 190 . I was 174. Hope your well I wanted to make the Gem but couldn't raise the funds. Got to hear your commentary though. Good Job.
Glory days Johnnyt ...it still feels good. Thanks