Finding the Desire to Play the Game

[Fast Lenny]

Took a 20 year break once the little kids needed the space my Medalist took up. Between hunting, fishing, dog trials, work, kids sports, etc. I just lost interest in getting out to parlors. Some of that behind me now, there's a GC1 where the Medalist once sat. Loving it more than ever. Once COVID settles a bit more I'll find some games outside the house assuming these guys can stay afloat. Prior to COVID I was playing a local place with bar tables and two 9 footers (my choice) and tipped like a fiend just to support the staff a bit.

I traded my player for 5 dozen Goose decoys (They aren't cheap!). Dumb in retrospect!

You'll get there.

Yes covid has put a damper on many people playing pool amongst other things. Lots of places especially pool rooms not going to make it sadly.

 

[Fast Lenny]

BET HIGHER!

A lot going on now and nothing in the pool world is the same. No big tournaments...less action.

Set some personal goals like a new high run or learning a new game. I understand things get in the way.

Might be time to develop a new hobby or an old one you used to enjoy. Getting outdoors, if you can is always good for the soul.

I am thinking about breaking my 14.1 high run. I workout and hike a little bit so have something healthy to do.

 

[Fast Lenny]

You have a table at home? If I didn’t my own table, then my desire to play pool would have fizzled up 11 years ago when my second daughter was born. Have to say my table was the best purchase I’ve made in my life. It has helped me stay sane over the years while raising 4 kids.

Yes I have a Brunswick Metro. Its an 8 footer with generous pockets so it doesn't really challenge me too much so perhaps part of my disinterest.

 

[Fast Lenny]

A big upheaval in life and a big change in life responsibilities. I have not hit a ball in a while but I still mess around on here some because I like it.

Yeah maybe too much work and not enough play. Life is all about balance. Gotta find it.

 

[Fast Lenny]

Lenny, that's why my Palmer Model M from the 2nd catalog is so pristine... After marriage, a child to raise, a small biz to run, it just got placed in a closet...for decades! I'd almost forgotten about pool until one day on Jury duty and being told to get away from the courthouse during lunch to avoid influence attempts, I took a walk downtown...and wandered into a place with a sign saying "Billiards".

I was retired then...so Cindy & I drug our old cues out of the closet...couldn't make a ball after such a long absence. With the attention that Palmer got, I quickly learned it needed to go back in the closet and I needed another cue to begin learning how to play again. But..the fun returned.

It's no crime to take a break. Might even be healthy to do so.

Personal problems...they can be huge at times. Please keep in mind that they also can fade into the past as days and weeks go by. If needed, maybe consider some help on those. Please don't fall into a hole, okay? Things can..and do..get better. You never know what and/or who might be just around the corner.

Hope you are doing well buddy. I am hanging in there. I think I just need to find balance. I have an addictive personality so whatever I do I immerse myself in it. I might just need to get another cue and just get to it.

 

[Fast Lenny]

I've been there too. Took years off for family and work. It was less because I didn't have the desire, but more that I hated the way I played because I couldn't play as often and sustain my usual level of play. It was genuinely unenjoyable. I recently got a table at home and was glued to it for the first 4 months. Now, I don't play as much, but enough to stay in stroke and enjoy it at a level I'm comfortable with.

I also sort of fell out of love with the pool scene. I have some of the best friends ever from playing pool. Really great guys. But I feel like pool rooms lost a little bit of the magic (or I just got old) and instead of the usual characters, it's dudes in sweatpants yelling at each other.

I am with you on this. Things have changed for sure. Poolrooms dying off and not the same characters.

 

[Fast Lenny]

You could always invest in yourself and take a trip to my dojo and train pool for three days.

I'm not making light of your situation. When you are overextended in life it can feel like you don't have energy to put into the game. I raised a family and worked a corporate job while competing as well so I get this. Even with some time you can just feel empty in your tank.

But I've learned a lot of that is because it feels hopeless. Just an hour a day. What are you going to do with that? Here's the heck of it. As long as you answer that question "There is nothing I can do with the level of time and energy I have" then you won't feel like doing anything with it. And while part of you might say "But it's TRUE, there's just nothing I can do", the price to pay for believing that is being unmotivated and losing the joy for a lifelong passion, and then letting that loss make the rest of life's battles feel slightly more meaningless and fruitless (see, I've been there).

Suppose you invested yourself and trained with me for three days, had a great vacation (like a marriage retreat to save your relationship with pool), and you learned to play this game in a level you couldn't before. You take a break and come home with a new way of seeing the table, new skills, and new things to work on that will allow you to play beautiful pool. You might just find that your passion has always been there and just took a spark from you. There might be nothing wrong with your racecar, you might just be stuck in the mud and once there is some open road ahead you might enjoy hitting the gas and feeling the wind in your hair.

I'm not saying it's easy. That trip would take time and money. And there would certainly still be days when you're feeling tuckered out after work and just don't have anything left in the tank. But the goal wouldn't be to play pool full time anyway. It would be to sustain a relationship with the game in your life. It's about balance.

No, you can't prioritize pool over family or work. But you also can't neglect yourself entirely. Because when you don't take care of yourself and live the life you're supposed to you don't exactly thrive as a father or employee. My best friend used to do this. For years he'd give up on pool and just say 'screw it, I can't do what I want with the game with the wife and kids so I'll just be miserable and focus on providing'. The results were always the same, he'd get horribly depressed and after 2-4 months of grinding with nothing to charge his batteries he'd be unpleasant and there would always be a family crisis. Finally he has learned to be more assertive about what he needs for himself with his wife and with himself. He is now doing better at business, as a dad, and he's having fun playing pool too.

So whether you bootcamp with me, go to a pro event, join a league, or whatever, I'd say you need to invest into your game and realize it's not selfish or lavish. It's your job to look out for the family but you are part of your family and you can't do much good if you're in trouble yourself. There's a reason they say to secure your own oxygen mask before helping others.

I appreciate the offer. I have some top pros who are close friends of mine that I could do something like that with but I have not been in competitive mode in several years so we usually just hang out and do stuff outside of pool. Never much of a league or tournament guy, I did enjoy playing for some coin here and there. Definitely all about balance. Going to figure that out. Thanks!

 

[Fast Lenny]

Look, sports fan...

Maybe you've come to the realization that pool really isn't that important or that great?

Imo, it is a hobby, a distraction to absorb your thoughts from the realities of being a grown-up.

Pool will be there when you feel like knocking some balls off the table.

Pool hall philosopher said to me once, 'when you are on your deathbed, you won't wish for another day at the pool room, you'll wish for another day with your loved ones'.

Tell you what helps me: to make up my own games, unique rules, than playing conventional ones. More fun. I will make up a fantasy league: a schedule between 32 countries with divisions, play a round robin ...then playoffs, etc. Sounds a bit ‘dumb’ but I start to get right into it and often can’t wait to hit the table.

Yes certainly pool is the bottom on the priority list. Family first always.

 

[Fast Lenny]

Your experience is not uncommon.

I've played pool since 1969. I completed my collegiate studies in 1980. In the early part of my career, I lived on Long Island and drove in to Manhattan to my job. Most nights, I stopped at the Golden Q in Queens, NY on my drive home., One day, in about 1986, I came to the realization that this habit was not serving me well in my career, and I decided to discontinue going to the pool hall after work. Though I occasionally played pool in the daytime, I pretty much gave up pool for about seven years. In those seven years, my career took off, and once this had happened, I was able to return to the game, and the years 1994-2004 were definitely the years in which I played the game most seriously.

One's priorities can and often do change in life, and no matter how much you love pool, you may need or choose to deprioritize it temporarily, or even permanently. Unless pool is your career, if you are not inclined to pay many attentions to pool, that's perfectly OK. Live your life and if pool will again have a place in it, great. If not, it's also great.

That certainly makes alot of sense. Priorities for sure. I lived in NY an hour north of NYC for 27 years. Not sure if you knew a room called Classic Cue in Middletown, I worked there for awhile back in early 2000's. Also played a bit at Dave Pinkston's room Gallery Billiards in Newburgh, some decent players there.

 

[Fast Lenny]

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:​

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; ​

A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; ​

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; ​

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; ​

A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; ​

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; ​

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. ​

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ​

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Merry Christmas Everyone!​

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Merry Christmas and God Bless.

 

[Lawnboy77]

I have been working out a few times a week so that is a healthy thing but not sure if I can call it a hobby, haha.

Oh heck yeah, that’s fantastic! There really is nothing better for all-around good health than exercise. If you are lucky enough to be able to include the wife in that activity than that’s a double bonus.

 

[34YearsOfPlayin]

I took about a 10 year break. Well I only played about 3 times a year. It was the best thing for my game. When I came back I was a lot better than before. I didn't forget a thing. So don't worry too much about not practicing. but I hope you are able to get to the pool hall soon.

 

[9ball5032]

9 year break (2004-2013). After I started playing again I lost 25 pounds in 6 months without even trying. Pool probably saved me from a heart attack.

 

[Black-Balled]

My son and I share cars as our common interest. That is awesome you are able to play pool with yours.

I got to hang with them at the pool room once and they were great peeps. So glad to have had that opportunity.

 

[book collector]

For the past few years I have not had the desire to play the game. Depression, personal problems, raising children, and working on business. Time is not always the issue as I have a table at home I could certainly devote a solid hour or so to it daily if not more with this covid situation but it just collects dust. Sold my playing cue because I was not playing. Once in awhile I will play at my friend Pete's house and Steve Glenn will stop by and play alittle too. Somewhere along the line my passion for the game just died off. I haven't spent much time on this forum either which I used to enjoy too. It seems most of you are all still here. I used to really love the game and want to find that desire to really play again. Anyone else have this happen and what changed it for you?

If you are like most of us , it will happen 3 more times in your life.
You will go for a while , {my first was 7 years} where pool is not even on the radar, then something will happen and you will start playing again, usually you spend more time learning how to play better and it becomes fun again. Then you get tired of all the creeps and take another hiatus , Rinse and repeat Then the last time you realize you have gotten old and it hurts to play, or you can't see, or a million other things and you quit for good.
I saw less future in lifting weights than pool, being in excellent shape is a great thing, but to me lifting weights was just looking for problems with knees and back in the future for most people. If I were your age, I would take my kids hiking and camping, and teach them survival , they will probably need it, if things don't change drastically.

 

[Cuebuddy]

Merry Christmas and God Bless.

Lenny you made a great impact on the game in many ways. The live streams that you worked so hard on were always great to watch. I enjoyed the events you worked in Oregon and more recently Wyoming. You have excellent knowledge of all games and are a fine commentator.

The folks that are into the game have all gone through tough times and that is part of life. The game is just one of the anchors that help some of us to have a break now and then. Thanks again for everything you have done for pool in the past and for checking in with all your friends here on AZ.

 

[philly]

I got to hang with them at the pool room once and they were great peeps. So glad to have had that opportunity.

We should do it again.
You're not that far away.
Well, once this horsecrap passes anyhow.

 

[Black-Balled]

We should do it again.
You're not that far away.
Well, once this horsecrap passes anyhow.

Yeah, we could do top hat in Baltimore. On the north side of the city and about 1/2mi off highway.

Maybe Lenny can come too, just to keep this thread on topic!

 

[philly]

Yeah, we could do top hat in Baltimore. On the north side of the city and about 1/2mi off highway.

Maybe Lenny can come too, just to keep this thread on topic!

Still using the milk dud by the way.
Plays just like my Triangles.
Is it my imagination or do the milk duds last longer than the Triangles, and the Triangle last years?

 

[Black-Balled]

Still using the milk dud by the way.
Plays just like my Triangles.
Is it my imagination or do the milk duds last longer than the Triangles, and the Triangle last years?

Never really thought about longevity, but I do have a couple on that have been on for years.