You can add Germany and Holland to that list of Euro countries that sponsor pool players.
Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com
Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com
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- Thread starter marek
- Start date
That’s good to know....haven’t been to a trade show for a while...out of touch.
It's not just the way the kids learn and play, it's the fact that to support the kids playing and learning takes a lot of extra money. It's not an investment or even a break even thing like most other sports. A parent that spends $500 on hockey equipment, spend time at the rink, driving to events can watch someone decent progress through standard skill levels, possibly get a free college ride, make 500,000 + in the NHL.
For a parent of a junior pool player, you plunk down $5-10,000 a year for travel and tournament entries basically as a recreational thing. All those kids that went to the Atlantic Cup, Jr Worlds and the Jr Nationals had to put up most of their own money for it. US won't get any better in world pool standings till there is more support and a light at the end of the tunnel.
I talked to Ernesto about his son Oscar 4-5 years ago, and talked about my son really liking pool, he said "I will give you advice, take up golf" LOL.
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America is unorganized in training!
Dr. Roy Pastor was a Guest on the Pool Podcasts Podcast on 11-29- 2018. He is a Certified Master Instructor, certified by the PBIA,PBA, and is deeply involved in the Billiard Education Foundation. He also does Video training for our Youth, and even College Students. Tom Rossman,Earl Munson, and Dr. Pastor are all involved, but American is far behind! In China, students are recognized and trained at an early age, and get 7-8 hours of training, six days a week, in addition to regular classes. They review tapes on Sundays! They get training from Certified,Accredited, Trained, Master Instructors, working from structured programs, not Hustlers or Playing Pros! Joey Tate is in this program, and he was the one that just went Hill/Hill. April Larson, Michelle Jiang,Tiana Jiang( Nation 14-and under Champ), Eric Roberts, and others are Stars, but America is very far behind. Thorsten Hohmann was sponsored by the Army, and received Accredited training at an early age.
Joey Tate is in a program in China? Please explain.
Instruction by video over the internet, not China.
i know about toastie and that the german army supported him, but i didn't know about the others. curious about the sources. is it a scholarship programme? is it just the pros? how much money do they get?
There are legions of kids in the US doing gymnastics, swimming, skiing, and other sports that parents sink tons of money into, and many of them pay even less than pool. Some of them - granted, a very small number - go on to full-time olympic or professional training while being home-schooled, or go to school in small academies with other kids in training. They are supported by foundations, parents, and sponsors. It seems like half the people in the Olympics from other countries train in camps like this in the US.
Why is there nothing comparable in pool to support, say, a dozen top kids? Part of it is that there's no pool in the Olympics. But I also think part of the problem is that pool is a "low class" activity played in bars by lower and middle class people from the rural middle of the country. There just aren't the money and connections that skiers and those other sports have.
Not sure why we are even doing this. Having juniors here just compete against different regions within the US would make more sense. If this was any other sport and the competive balance was this out of whack I think they would pull the plug on it.
The reason I asked earlier about current pros coming through the amateur ranks is because I would guess there are a ton of youngsters out there who can play that have never even heard of some of these opportunities.
I would imagine that there are more home tables in this country than any other. How many US kids grow up with a table in their rec room? My 9 year old can regularly run 3-4 balls and she doesn't take anything seriously.
No, my post was confusing. Joey Tate is a student of Dr. Pastor, in the BEF, and he said that the BCA recently took over the BEF. April Larson,, Michelle Jiang and her Sister Tiana, Eric Roberts and others are under the tutelage of Dr. Pastor. Michelle Jiang is a Ph.d student at M.I.T., and is the current BCAPL Women's Under 18 8-Ball Champion and 9-Ball Champion. Her Sister, Tiana is the 14-and under Women's Champion. Dr. Pastor teaches students at Harvard, Boston University, Univ. of Mass., and Northeastern University. He said that they can go to www.BCA-Pool.com, with a link under Instruction, which will reveal a link, leading to Learn Pool and Find an Instructor. It will allow you to sign up for lessons through the PBIA and the BCA. Sorry for the confusion.
