Dress
vagabond said:
american pool talent wasting away.....
- Thread starter vapoolplayer
- Start date
I am around kids on a daily basis...i am a teacher. I am also around pool on a daily basis. The draw to pool is very small amongst the youth and there is very little that the pool community can do. Kids are gonna play football, baseball, basketball, track and cheerleading before pool no matter what. Those games are a lot more fun to kids. These are team games and promote commradare and such. Also, it makes kids popular amongst their peers (especially the girls.) I was a successful baseball player and a successful pool player throughout middle and high school years. No one gave a crap that I was a standout on the pool table but the girls sure liked it when i went 4-4 with 2 dingers. You will be hard pressed to find anyone who loves pool more than myself, but if you asked me to give one up, baseball or pool, i would put up my cue in a second. I have already set pool aside quite a bit for baseball. I am the head coach of my high school team and i find it to be more fun than pool. The kids easily feel the same. There isnt enough marketing genius on the earth to overcome the draw to any of the major sports, including golf. Pool is and will continue to be simply a small hobby amongst our youth as a whole. Nothing on this earth is going to get kids to play pool when they can get their glory playing football, baseball, or basketball. To the majority of kids in our country, pool is something that you play once in while when you have nothing better to do. Some kids excel at it and love the game but that percentage is very small. Seldom do you see athletes take up pool seriously until later on in life. I believe that the pool community wants to make pool something that it will never be, a major sport. I think we need stop focusing on making pool a major sport and instead focus on improving pool on a small level. If we waste all of our time and efforts on a lost cause, pool could lose what tradition and draw it has already. To be quite honest, if i went to the pool room each night and all the tables were taken up by teens, i would quit playing altogether. I think it is great when young people take up pool, but pool isnt for everyone. Before we try to get all these young people involved, we need to clean up pool. Pool has a negative conotation and rightly so, sad but true. I really wouldnt want my son or daughter hanging out at the pool rooms that I have frequented, (there has been a ton of them.) Pool rooms are filled with vile...drugs, gambling, sex, and the like. If anyone tries to tell you otherwise, then they are in denial. Take a look at the DCC, one of the biggest pool tourneys in the world. I have only missed one year and I will tell you that this is no place for a young person. Clean up pool first...then try to attract kids. Just because your local pool room is "clean and family oriented", doesnt mean that the majority of them are.
Im sure that I will catch some flack for this post, but this is my honest opinon from someone who knows both sides of the fence...the world of kids (being an educator) and the world of pool (a player and a lover of the game.) Sometimes, people need to be told the truth...and sometimes the truth hurts.
Im sure that I will catch some flack for this post, but this is my honest opinon from someone who knows both sides of the fence...the world of kids (being an educator) and the world of pool (a player and a lover of the game.) Sometimes, people need to be told the truth...and sometimes the truth hurts.
bomber said:
You'll catch no flack from me, Bomber. I don't agree with you on a couple of points, but, on the whole, I found your post to be insightful and logical, and I admire you for saying something that needed to be said.
A comparison between pool and bowling is fairly common on the forum. Two second tier sports, but, somehow, at least where I come from, every high school has an association with bowling. In fact, my high school had bowling intramurals, a junior varsity bowling team, and a varsity bowling team.
Pool has as many players as bowling, and on the surface, it might seem that schools should have pool intramurals and pool teams. Of course, the problem is that while most youngsters bowl, they don't play pool, and it's for the reasons you cited. That's why Zim's posts in this thread really hit home with me. Unless we take the necessary steps to get youngsters more involved in pool, our game will be stuck in neutral.
Still, as you say, parents won't want their kids invovled in pool unless it improves its image.
Bomber- Great post! The truth may hurt most people, but reality will kick in. I agree with the post, but not with every statement. We do need to clean our sport up ALOT if we want it to become a family or youth environment. I do strongly believe that the youth can't play pool if there's no where to play. We need more youth oriented pool rooms, no smoking, over 21 seperate room (if any) or something like that, tournaments and leagues for youth ONLY, no adults except for maybe a non-playing Captain/Coach!
Zim
Zim
Zims Rack said:
Well, I just met one of the co-owners Saturday night, so I haven't established any kind of relationship yet. But I like your idea very much.
Scott Lee knows these guys, as they own other rooms in Fargo and Sioux Falls, and I know he's doing some teaching seminars there soon. Not sure how kids will fit into that.
During the SB game yesterday, I had a friend over and we were playing some pool and watching the game. His cell phone rang and his 16 year old son was at a friend's house and had a question for us about the rules of the 9-ball game they were playing.
This kid is very good at basketball, btw, and will probably get a scholarship because of it. I thought it good that he's playing pool, too. NOTE: He's an A student, too, so he's got his priorities straight and deserves some time for pool (unlike some young illiterates who delude themselves about their future happiness--hint hint)Jeff Livingston
Jeff- Sounds like things could take a turn for the good, if people are pro-active. It appears you already have atleast 2 youth interested in the cueing arts!chefjeff said:Well, I just met one of the co-owners Saturday night, so I haven't established any kind of relationship yet. But I like your idea very much.
Scott Lee knows these guys, as they own other rooms in Fargo and Sioux Falls, and I know he's doing some teaching seminars there soon. Not sure how kids will fit into that.
During the SB game yesterday, I had a friend over and we were playing some pool and watching the game. His cell phone rang and his 16 year old son was at a friend's house and had a question for us about the rules of the 9-ball game they were playing.
Jeff Livingston
Keep us posted and good luck!
Zim