I have a 9 year old nephew that I have been thinking about introducing to the game of pool. I'm wondering though, would I need to get him a smaller cue to use? Would the house cues be to long or heavy? Should I stick to teaching him on a barbox or would an 8' not be too big for him?
Does anyone have any other suggestions for teaching a child to play?
Many pool halls have shorter cues, see if yours does. An 18 oz house cue should be OK, they are often shorter than 58", see how it fits. Size of the table does not matter, the height is the issue. The tougher equipment he starts on the better off he will be as he learns.
If you want to get him a cue, McDermott has an excellent line of junior cues, not a lot of money and his own cue will likely make him want to play more. Just have him pick out the design and case with you.
Have him learn the correct rules, especially for etiquette, don't have him play by "easy" rules just because he is young, except of course while teaching him to play or when he moves a few balls because he can't reach over them. There is nothing wrong with having him watch some higher class pro events online to show how people behave at the table and when they are not shooting. One of the thing I really do not like the APA and random bar rules is that they always say "we are not pros so we don't play by pro rules". That is no excuse, we teach our kids in the league the correct rules, and explain the differences they may see. If our 8 and 10 years olds can learn what a push out or 3 foul rule is, or to sit down when you are not shooting, some 40 year old bar players can also.
