I wonder if many pros had a crossroads moment and decided to go for it, or it was just sort 'a given' they would be a pro player. A lot of them were A speed at like 19 years old, not a lot of teenagers are sitting there thinking "should I go get my degree in economics or just keep playing pool?"
...if someone's playing A speed at like 25-30 and hasn't gone pro yet, I'd be surprised if they ever do. They could theoretically bridge that gap with like 5 years of hard work but by that age they had to already figure out a way to make a living and will probably just stick with whatever's paying the rent.
It's really discouraging when you hit that moment realizing the gap between pros and strong locals. The local APA champion might win 90% of his matches in league, and probably lose 90% to shane, ralf, mika, johnny, etc. It seems like the better you get, the bigger the gap looks.
...if someone's playing A speed at like 25-30 and hasn't gone pro yet, I'd be surprised if they ever do. They could theoretically bridge that gap with like 5 years of hard work but by that age they had to already figure out a way to make a living and will probably just stick with whatever's paying the rent.
It's really discouraging when you hit that moment realizing the gap between pros and strong locals. The local APA champion might win 90% of his matches in league, and probably lose 90% to shane, ralf, mika, johnny, etc. It seems like the better you get, the bigger the gap looks.