Is it possible they are just held back?
If they were forced to play against
Shane, Shaw, Dennis, etc. every single
tournament they played in could they
not improve as a group?
When the majority of players in
womans only tournaments are
in the 600's they don't have to work
that hard.
Shane didn't show up to his first pro
tournaments and crush the fields. Nor
Shaw or Darren. Top snooker players
who have played a little 9 ball don't
come here and destroy fields.
If they were forced to raise their level
of play could they do it?
Their are a couple women players who
are rated higher than players on this
years mosconi cup team. Are they
just outliers?
I think there is a bit more to it. Are there any women who exclusively play other women? My understanding is that most play in leagues and regional events in between women’s tournaments. So removing those women’s tournaments wouldn’t make a huge difference I don’t think.
I think we have seen a gradual increase in the standard of women’s competition and now in Asia there are quite a few women who play at solid pro standard according to Fargo.
I’m not sure that removing women’s competition would have necessarily made it go quicker since, there have always been fewer women playing pool and without the leagues and tournaments, there would likely be even fewer. And irrespective of whether they are playing in womens competition or open, new female players will still likely aspire to the standard of those that came before them. Those would be the benchmarks that they aspire to which would gradually increase. But due to a lower participation across the board it would be a slower increase in my opinion.
I think the other issue is, and I’m guessing here, it seems like women on average come to the game relatively late. Most of the male pros seem to be starting around 10-12 and I realize that many female pros start early too, it seems like there are more players that start at 18-19 or older.
So my belief is that progress would have been slower if womens leagues and tournaments never existed or were removed. Fewer players means less progress.
Finally, I also believe that Siming Chen and Reanne Evans are playing with way more pressure on them in open events than male players of the same skill level.
If Chen made the Semi-Final of the US Open it would be a momentous, historical feat. But for a male player, it would be a nice personal accomplishment. Same with Evans, when she plays in Qschool she is playing to make history. Far worse players than her have qualified for the main tour. There have been guys on the main tour who didn’t win a frame all season and meanwhile Evans lost on the hill to a former world champion earlier this month.