I did a bit of traveling and came upon the realisation that 3 cushion is killing, or has killed carom.
While in Vietnam it was not even mildly hard to find a carom table, but it was near impossible to find a pool or snooker table.
They only seem to play libre in Vietnam, but the level of play I was witness to was incredible. I saw a great amount of players with 100+ averages, and heaps of beginners, and students trying to learn, with heaps of afterschool coaching taking place.
I went to Korea after this, and billiard halls were just as prominent, with maybe 1-2 pool tables per hall for the girls.
They play a game in Korea called 4 ball, which is basicly straight rail with an extra ball.
I also noticed that they only watch 3 cushion, and 3 cushion had a high reputation there, with more focus out on it, and with players learning by watching it.
While in Korea, I went to HEAPS of halls, and saw some great 3 cushion players, but only saw two people with an average over 25 in the free game. They all play 3 cushion shots, and care not where the first ball is going, but only where the cue ball is going. Resulting in every shot being over powered, lots of kissing, and a very slow game with low runs.
There seemed to be no middle ground like there was in Vietnam. There were crap players who couldn't manage runs of 10, and there were near champion 3 cushion players, who 'knew how to make shots' but not how to control the three balls on the table.
My reasoning behind 3 cushion killing carom is that it's simply too hard a transition for a beginner to make without a proper base in the classic games. We are loosing new players as they are not getting any better. They have nowhere to learn.
It is important to view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree -- make sure you understand the fundamental principles, ie the trunk and big branches, before you get into the leaves/details or there is nothing for them to hang on to.
I do not know the situation in America, so I would like to hear everyones thoughts.
While in Vietnam it was not even mildly hard to find a carom table, but it was near impossible to find a pool or snooker table.
They only seem to play libre in Vietnam, but the level of play I was witness to was incredible. I saw a great amount of players with 100+ averages, and heaps of beginners, and students trying to learn, with heaps of afterschool coaching taking place.
I went to Korea after this, and billiard halls were just as prominent, with maybe 1-2 pool tables per hall for the girls.
They play a game in Korea called 4 ball, which is basicly straight rail with an extra ball.
I also noticed that they only watch 3 cushion, and 3 cushion had a high reputation there, with more focus out on it, and with players learning by watching it.
While in Korea, I went to HEAPS of halls, and saw some great 3 cushion players, but only saw two people with an average over 25 in the free game. They all play 3 cushion shots, and care not where the first ball is going, but only where the cue ball is going. Resulting in every shot being over powered, lots of kissing, and a very slow game with low runs.
There seemed to be no middle ground like there was in Vietnam. There were crap players who couldn't manage runs of 10, and there were near champion 3 cushion players, who 'knew how to make shots' but not how to control the three balls on the table.
My reasoning behind 3 cushion killing carom is that it's simply too hard a transition for a beginner to make without a proper base in the classic games. We are loosing new players as they are not getting any better. They have nowhere to learn.
It is important to view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree -- make sure you understand the fundamental principles, ie the trunk and big branches, before you get into the leaves/details or there is nothing for them to hang on to.
I do not know the situation in America, so I would like to hear everyones thoughts.