We get it, already. The U.S. economy no longer supports pool halls as a viable business, and consumer tastes have drifted more towards multimedia /internet /gaming. And given the U.S.'s burdensome laws governing business/private clubs, it's impossible to support small private billiard clubs such as they have in Europe, because local municipalities want $25,000 for a liquor license so local government can get their taste of that sweet, sweet pie. So, those non-existent private clubs cannot operate as feeder systems for talent, the way they do in Europe.
Thee's a lot of structural reasons why American players are no longer as good as those from other companies. Most of them have nothing to do with anything under the player's control. There's no reason to keep rubbing it in with thinly veiled "just wondering" posts...
The US economy no longer supports pool rooms as a viable business? Strange then that there are so many pool rooms open and new ones being opened weekly.
Impossible to support private clubs? That's a pretty general statement that is simply not true at all.
Liquor licenses? You do understand that a private club doesn't need a liquor license since a private club does not sell liquor. Surely you understand the concept of BYOB.
There are, in fact, many private clubs in the USA which have pool tables, some of them formed expressly for pool playing, with dues-paying members.
What we don't have in the USA is private clubs that are structured like sports clubs in Europe/Germany with the focus on pool as a sport. I posted about this 15 years ago with details on how the clubs in Germany are structured with team levels from city to national.
So the bottom line, in my opinion, is that other countries produce better players on average at the higher levels is because they treat pool as a sport and train accordingly.
What we don't know however is what percentage of the population plays competitively and whether the USA has a larger amount of above average players but simply doesn't produce enough elite players.
I do agree that the American pool industry and the sport of pool in America could benefit greatly from a different structure. I would love to see it more like Germany. I miss competing in the German leagues and playing 14.1, 9 and 8 ball in sets. I miss having to compete in the club to maintain my place on the first team.
