2014 mosconi cup team...

Jaden

Jaden

"no buds chill"
Silver Member
I just wanted to say that I love what Mark Wilson is doing with the mosconi cup team this year.

I just happened to have gone down to oncue billiards yesterday to get some practice in and found that the mosconi cup team was coming to offer a clinic and to do a mock competition against the locals.

I guess they are doing this at several venues between now and the cup and I think this is great for creating team work, getting them to gel as a team and to get them in the right mindset for this year's mosconi cup.

Go USA!!!!

Jaden

p.s. I had worked 89 hours this past week and had played for 9 hours so I couldn't stay to see how it turned out, but the team didn't have to like playing the So Cal locals at all, and I'm sure it was a good sparring session for them.
 
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Shows what a little initiative can do doesn't it Jaden.

Its not that it was that hard to dream of and that the past Captains couldn't have thought of it first.
 
Blue Hog ridr said:
Shows what a little initiative can do doesn't it Jaden.

Its not that it was that hard to dream of and that the past Captains couldn't have thought of it first.
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Well, apparently Mark Wilson has military contacts.
That in and of itself makes it VERY easy to make "military arrangements."
I don't think past captains would have bothered to go through the logistics of
obtaining formal permission to just MEET with the SEALS.

I'm not taking anything away from Mr. Wilson.
He is taking the correct initiative for sure, and using the resources he has.
At the very least in my opinion, Mr. Wilson makes a great captain
because he has been around a long time and knows the right people.

At the same time however, let's not take anything away from past MC captains.
Again, they worked with what they had.

Remember too, there were "team-based" activities initiated in the past.
I remember reading somewhere that there were dinners and athletic events for Team U.S.A to participate in.
And if my memory serves me well, there were one or two players—who shall remain nameless here—
who decided NOT to participate in these "team- and rapport-building activities."

This is just food for thought and quite frankly, a bit of discourse that strives to be fair to ALL involved.
 
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Don't forget that the past captains didn't even know who was going to be on the teams
until shortly before the events start, in the past.
 
itsfroze said:
Don't forget that the past captains didn't even know who was going to be on the teams
until shortly before the events start, in the past.
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How true, itsfroze.

Mr. Wilson has that advantage.
I think people need to realize that.
That is a HUGE piece of information to have; knowing who your players will be.
One can mold a better "player culture," which in turn, creates better cohesiveness.

Again, credit goes out to him, on account that he is taking advantage of that and trying to create some good things.
 
Jaden said:
I just wanted to say that I love what Mark Wilson is doing with the mosconi cup team this year.

I just happened to have gone down to oncue billiards yesterday to get some practice in and found that the mosconi cup team was coming to offer a clinic and to do a mock competition against the locals.

I guess they are doing this at several venues between now and the cup and I think this is great for creating team work, getting them to gel as a team and to get them in the right mindset for this year's mosconi cup.

Go USA!!!!

Jaden

p.s. I had worked 89 hours this past week and had played for 9 hours so I couldn't stay to see how it turned out, but the team didn't have to like playing the So Cal locals at all, and I'm sure it was a good sparring session for them.
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You should choose the 5 best players and he hasn't done that.hope he ant the captain again
 
America has been putting out their "best" 5 players for the last several years now and it hasn't been working out too well.
 
Best event of the year. Shouldn't be, but the world championships in pool are so badly organised and promoted that the Mosconi Cup is number 1. As a European, I'd rather see a USA victory this year than another crushing defeat by Europe as the game needs these things to be close most years regardless of who wins.

Whether or not the best team has been picked or not - I dunno but there are five players there who can beat the best of Europe on the day if they bring it, play well and get the rolls. I can't speak for any of those players but, in general, team players who perform well under (team match) pressure and know how to play scotch doubles can be better picks than slightly superior singles players.
 
Mark Wilson has already made a lasting contribution by improving the process of preparing for the Mosconi.

He established his own criteria for selection early and applied them to the best of his ability. Though the AZB forum is all about debate, it is, ultimately, of little import whether he chose the same eight some of us would have chosen. In March, he told eight guys that he believes can succeed together that they are the finalists to be among the final five and gave them ample time to prepare themselves. I deeply hope that future captains will adopt this same approach.

Mark is taking this assignment more seriously than any captain ever has, and his no-nonsense approach to preparing his team should point the way for the future. Matchroom made a wonderful choice when they appointed Mark as captain of Team USA.
 
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poolpimp13 said:
You should choose the 5 best players...
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You should only choose the 5 best players IF you don't care how the USA is represented to the rest of the world, and IF you don't care how a team member might affect the morale of the rest of the team and have an impact on their performances, and IF you don't care whether or not the players give their best effort, or just show up for the paycheck and only give half an effort. But if you do care about any of these things, then you can't just pick the 5 best singles players. You would have to pick the five best players from among those that you know will be good teammates, will give their best effort to win, and won't embarrass the USA in the process.

And as others have said, the 5 best players haven't been able to pull off a win in a long time anyway, sometimes not even putting up even a half decent showing. The commonly referred to "definition of insanity" in popular culture is doing the same things over and over again but expecting different results. Maybe, just maybe, it is time to try something new, and maybe, just maybe, it will get better results. We will get to find out soon enough. But even if the scores don't improve, it would be hard to argue that the effort being given by the players, the team morale, and how well the USA is represented almost certainly will.
 
sjm said:
Mark is taking this assignment more seriously than any captain ever has, and his no-nonsense approach to preparing his team should point the way for the future.
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I couldn't agree more. We can debate to no end who the top eight and ultimately the top five should be, but what we can't debate is that Mark Wilson has brought about some changes in the selection procedure and the training procedure that are leaps and bounds of forward progress in how to do things. No other captain has even come remotely close to putting in the amount of thought, effort, and work that Mark Wilson has in preparing their team to perform their very best.

I don't perfectly agree with every last one of his top eight selections and mine would be a little different (and it is not like there is any eight who would get a consensus approval), but I sure do agree with everything else he is doing and it is top notch. Even the charity work is a nice touch and helps to eliminate any "it's all about me" mentality that is detrimental to a team event as well as the obvious where it helps to paint pool in a good light to the public. He has my support in all that he is doing as the improvements are far outweighing any shortcomings by a mile.
 
What it comes down to is we still don't know who will be the final 5. We know the final 8, but not the final 5. What ever 5 it will be, they will have heart. They will be as ready as they can be. Still 6 months to get ready. Ill still be rooting for them, and will be whooping and hollering every match the YOURAPEEIN'S get their asses kicked!
 
Hmmm.....we raised over $1800 for the CalDiego paralyzed veterans. The players sacrificed their time and effort over 2 grueling days to support those who sacrificed far more for their country.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk
 
Williebetmore said:
Hmmm.....we raised over $1800 for the CalDiego paralyzed veterans. The players sacrificed their time and effort over 2 grueling days to support those who sacrificed far more for their country.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk
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WOW ! so verrry cool :cool:
Do you have a schedule of the places you will be playing on tour ? If not perhaps let us know of a few stops in advance ?
Hope Team USA gets out my way,..... :)
 
Forget about the Mosconi Cup for a moment. What Mark Wilson and Don have achieved this weekend is nothing short of phenomenal. Over $2 Grand by the time all the money is in - that alone is a major contribution to a very worthy cause.

It also focused the team and they all felt better human being after the experience.

The other thing was the marvellous response that happened at On Cue Biliiards with a full house for the Coaching Clinics and The Challenge Match.

These things also add value to the Mosconi Cup Squad.

There is plenty more in store as the Squad reassemble at the BCA Trade Show in Louisville.next month.

This was the MC Squad Roadshow at On Cue and they will be available for a limited number of date if you want your club to benefit by watching and supporting Team USA..
 
Poolplaya9 said:
I couldn't agree more. We can debate to no end who the top eight and ultimately the top five should be, but what we can't debate is that Mark Wilson has brought about some changes in the selection procedure and the training procedure that are leaps and bounds of forward progress in how to do things. No other captain has even come remotely close to putting in the amount of thought, effort, and work that Mark Wilson has in preparing their team to perform their very best.
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Exactly right.

Two absolutely huge advantages of early selection are that Mark's chosen eight players can a) practice and get comfortable with the "Mosconi break shot" in which the nine ball is on the foot spot and b) get used to playing with the shot clock. These are huge challenges and you can bet your last dollar that team members are working on developing these skills.
 
pro9dg said:
Forget about the Mosconi Cup for a moment. What Mark Wilson and Don have achieved this weekend is nothing short of phenomenal. Over $2 Grand by the time all the money is in - that alone is a major contribution to a very worthy cause.

It also focused the team and they all felt better human being after the experience.

The other thing was the marvellous response that happened at On Cue Biliiards with a full house for the Coaching Clinics and The Challenge Match.

These things also add value to the Mosconi Cup Squad.

There is plenty more in store as the Squad reassemble at the BCA Trade Show in Louisville.next month.

This was the MC Squad Roadshow at On Cue and they will be available for a limited number of date if you want your club to benefit by watching and supporting Team USA..
Click to expand...

Well said. Congrats to Mark, Don, and all eight players on this worthy accomplishment and thanks for representing pool so well.
 
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