pool comprehension

Depends on the player, and possibly which players were dominant as they were improving. I pretty quickly caught onto the need for safety play and a less "gung ho" style of playing pool, as a player named Mike Zimmerman was the top dawg around WA state as I was improving. He was a good 3 cushion player, and was extrmely good at judging half ball hits off the top rail and coming around to get a hook behind a wall of balls.

Even beyond that, I was always a more analytical player, who loved to watch pool and figure out why some things worked, and some things didn't, from a percentage standpoint. Anyone who looks at the game this way understands why Chris Melling is not a dominant player, and SVB is. Percentages.

If I get where you’re coming from I’d say I agree totally: some people just “get it.”

Kind of like Jimi Hendrix ‘learning’ to play guitar from watching Chuck Berry and Elvis on TV. lol Dude was a phenom. And of course there are countless other examples...

Me I’m still trying to break and run on purpose rather than the two times it’s happened accidentally (like from 1986 until now) hehe!

Youth dominate for a few reasons. The game has evolved and elevated, and today's youth are able to watch top level play while they are learning as opposed to modeling themselves after the local shortstop. They also have the unlimited resources that come from no other responsibilities so they can play tournament after tournament against the world's best. They have sharp eyes and loads of energy.

Perhaps most of all it's because they believe they will be great and pool will payoff in some glorious way. This dream propels them. If they get to the absolute top like Filler then they are right. If they stall out in the 2nd tier range the glory never quite comes. After a few years of playing at that level they have to contend with doubts about whether they have it in them, and they grow wise to the reality that is 'pro' pool. This takes some wind out of their sails. They will still compete hard because it's all they know to do, but they have lost their naivete and will never be able to keep up with the next 18 year old that thinks the future belongs to them.

17-21 to be the range when they have enough table time and competitive experience to be dangerous, while still having faced little enough of the adversity to feel optimistic.

Not so long ago or far away ...

evergruven said:

watching these young kids shoot so good is amazing to me
I'd venture many of you all played good coming up, too
personally, I shot at plenty of balls
but didn't really "understand" pool until much later in life
it wasn't until just a few years ago
that I thought about playing safe, with a shot on the table
the speed, the spins, the angles, what balls do when they collide
this stuff just didn't click with me (half a pun)

and there's still a lot of shots I don't get
where to aim on the cue ball, how to hit it, etc.
I think I have improved a lot in a few years
learned a lot, enjoyed the game, met you fine folk:thumbup:
but it really is something to me
to see players get this stuff so early on
obviously there is a physical aspect to pool
but most of it appears to be mental
information so intuitively processed, and acted on
anybody got an mri parked next to their table?
I'd like to see some brain scans ^_^

I also wonder if that's a reason why poolers play games/gamble
sure there's an environmental factor involved
but on some mental level, are pool and other games so different?
of course pool can be controlled more easily
but many variables still have to be considered
I don't play cards either
not sure how significant that connection
or any of this is
but it's all very interesting to think about
to me:grin-square:

what do y'all think?

Click to expand...

I watched two youngsters traveling through place high and win a decent sized tournament and get into some pretty good action. I think they left town with ten grand or a bit more for three days efforts. What was interesting is that these two boys weren't playing young man's style. They had a young man's eyes, energy, and freedom from pains, they had an old man's knowledge.

I suspect other options out there too but Li'l Joe Villalpando's PoolIQ DVD's were an eye opener when I got them. I was half "WOW" and half angry. For seventy bucks he put out information that would have taken years off of my learning curve. I'm watching one of his later DVD's right now, or between trips to the internet. Knowledge like this was learned or given in very small increments fifty years ago.

The youngsters today have access to learning materials and instructors that just wasn't there long ago. They can come at the world with the energy and optimism of youth and the knowledge of many years of experience.

As a side note, they can still slide in and out undiscovered too for all of the claims of cell phone and internet detectives.

Pool will never be the same as it was in several heydays in the past. Then again, it will never be the same as it is today either. If a person wants to learn the game and spend time in a clean safe environment they can. They can compete in tournaments of all levels. While there is no multimillion dollar tour on the horizon, in many ways pool is in the best shape it has been for over thirty years and this solid base is much sounder from a business standpoint than the fairy dreams held up by one man and thin air.

Hu

A local player growing up, Brian McCurly, once told my fifteen year old self, that when

he was my age he shot way better than what he shoots now. I was stricken with a dismal

sense that I would never get better, if people were that much better when young, I have

no chance of becoming the player that I wanted to. Later in life, I got what he meant. He

shot the balls way better, seen the cue ball, and object ball way better, and could make

anything. I too feel like I shot better when younger, but there is no way that guy could

beat me today. What you lose in physical attributes you gain in knowledge of the game.

How many times have you seen a young gun shoot the wrong shot, make it, shoot

another wrong shot, make it and continues to execute a what should be an easy out

with a herculean effort of excessively hard shot after shot? It is to common. And that

is the learning of the game, and we still continue today to get better, even though one

time in our lives we feel that we could of shot any shot at anytime. And we sucked for

that mentality.