John there are always exceptions but the window of being able to do this for most of us is closed by the time we hit 30.... Pool really is a young mans game and the older pros that we see playing world class speed were doing it at very young ages and managed to not fall off a whole lot over the decades....
I was not attempting to knock you or Neil and I definitely wasn't trying to compare you guys with the average league players around here who I constantly have telling me "the only difference between those guys and me is I have a job and can't play 8hours a day every day".....
I'm in my 40s now and the biggest hurdle for me would be my physical conditioning and my ability to concentrate and hold up for a full week of a tournament.... I might be able to shoot in the low 900s for a match or 2 after 2 years of hard dedication but I don't think I could keep up that level for the duration.....
Maybe 2 years of pool focus coupled with a vigorous health and fitness regime... That might buy me a season or 2 in the sun.. I still don't like the odds...
Pool is becoming a young mans game again... All you have to do is go to one of the big tournaments and look at the firepower we have from the 30 and under crowd.... Hell Alex is getting long in the tooth at 35..... Youth is wasted on the young.....
I don't think any of the pros are gods... I know a whole lot of them so there is no illusion there.... Here is what I think you need... Talent, Desire, Drive, Focus, Strong work ethics, Stamina, Good eyesight, and Health.... Even if you have those things you will also have to have pro speed players around you to match up and learn from or you must be seasoned in tournament play against them.....
So lets say no local pros... How many years will that add if you stay home except for lets say Derby, Tunica, CSI Vegas events, Us Open 9Ball and the 2 turning stones? A lifetime??? Most of the pros are playing and matching up with other pros almost daily... 2 years of buckled down practice won't hold up to that type of forging under the high heat... At least not in my opinion.....
So I will have to add a change of address to my list of things I need todo to get ready for the show in 2 years... Others will be miles ahead of me in the same time period if I don't =)
Chris
It's all good I know where you are coming from which is why in my first reply in this thread I qualified it by saying if I could physically handle it. I can't physically handle it, playing for a couple hours intensely kills my back. Playing all day incapacitates me for days.
However I feel that I, or you, certainly Neil, Gerry Williams, Stan for example could shoot consistently at a low pro level with two years of really dedicated training based on where we are starting from. Ok it might take me a little longer since I am not as good as you guys are now.
Tonight I was at the pool room when I read your initial post. I was playing a decent enough guy but I decided to try and turn on the juice and see how many mistakes I would make in the games we played, we were playing nine ball. In the first game I missed makeable shots 7 times, I was chuckling at this.
Then for the next ten games I either ran out or played safe then ran out. I was playing two guys winner stays on the table and other than breaking dry a few times they had NO CHANCE and were practically bowing to me as I left. I hit a real nice gear and played above my head for 45 minutes. Point being that if I can do this while barely playing, with a bad back, and in casual play, what could I do with some serious dedication?
I just don't see how anyone who isn't mentally and physically unable would not get a lot better if they had the freedom to pursue it and the desire/discipline to work at it.
I think that a lot of people simply have the wrong idea about all this. They think that pool players are born and not made. I have to say it's a pretty freaking cruel joke from nature or god or whatever to condemn someone to a life of playing pool for their supper given that historically it has never been either a very glamourous nor a lucrative profession, even in its heyday.
I think that pool has a VERY LOW barrier to entry. The hardest part is finding the time and who has time? Low income kids whose parents don't have them singed up to every activity under the sun have time. Who gets encouraged if they show interest and some respect for the game? Kids do. Who wants to see kids master an adult game? Adults do. So it's only natural that a lot of kids start pool in their teens and progress rapidly and become the shortstops and road players and pros. A lot of people who didn't have the time to pursue pool as a carreer, out of circumstance, fortune and some good sense, tend to live their pool dreams vicariously through those kids that they can "groom" for pool greatness.
The reason you don't see a lot of adults taking up pool later in life and investing the time to get to world class is the same reason adults don't do the same for a lot of things, they simply don't have the time. But there is no physical or mental reason why they can't if they want to.
Ok, there actually IS a physical reason. The brain produces a chemical called myelin that coats neurons and acts as a sort of fiber optic shield for the electricity that passes through the brain when doing stuff. Younger people produce more myelin and the more a person practices deeply the stronger and thicker the myelin coating is meaning that the electricity flows faster. Thus, if for example one has to look at the table and figure out the right pattern then for someone whose myelin is already built up strongly from doing that type of thinking they will snap to the right pattern and go to the execution stage very very quickly. But if one has a "slower" brain because of less myelin then they probably will not see the right pattern as clearly and might have a touch of doubt in the execution phase. That's the theory anyway.
So THAT is put out there as reason why it's much harder to get to world class if starting later in life. But it's only harder, not impossible.
