Artistic Pool Players: Staging a revolt?

POVPOOL

POVPOOL

POV Pool
Silver Member
Hi All,
We've recently done some investigation into a recent development with the Artistic Billiard Community and it's governing body, the WPA-APD. 18 top world artistic players have threatened to boycott any future events sanctioned by the WPA-APD unless some changes are made.

At POV Pool we are committed to promoting all areas of pool. With that said, we chose to take it upon ourselves to bring light to this situation with the APD in hopes that it brings betterment this situation that is brewing.

Please feel free to read the article in its entirety HERE.

Please Keep Loving Pool - POV Pool Media
 
God knows why they joined WPA in the first place.

I hope they go it alone. They'd stand a better chance of making things move forward in the sport.
 
"The final category addressed is the general changes that the Player’s Board would like to see with the WPA-APD. These changes include financial records to be opened up for players to see, Tom Rossman no longer being an influential part of the process, no religious material at events, board elections opened up to players and finally, the player’s voice to be heard, instead of silence through the code of conduct. "


What's this all about?
 
For those interested, here are the cliff notes:

( the primary) Artistic pool promoter, Tom Rossman, has allegedly been running some janky events and the actual artistic pool players are fed up. They want him out, and they want changes, or they won't play.

Furthermore if any one player is singled out for punishment because of their objections, as an act of solidarity they will all assume the same punishment...




Commentary:

Oh snap.

"...theyre talkin impeachment up on the hill sir..."
 
POVPOOL said:
Hi All,
We've recently done some investigation into a recent development with the Artistic Billiard Community and it's governing body, the WPA-APD. 18 top world artistic players have threatened to boycott any future events sanctioned by the WPA-APD unless some changes are made.

At POV Pool we are committed to promoting all areas of pool. With that said, we chose to take it upon ourselves to bring light to this situation with the APD in hopes that it brings betterment this situation that is brewing.

Please feel free to read the article in its entirety HERE.

Please Keep Loving Pool - POV Pool Media
Click to expand...

Aren't those 18 players pretty much every trick shot masters on the surface/that everyone know of on the trick shot world?

Not super familiar with the trick shot circle, but if these players pretty much represents the whole dominating trick shot society, either in ranking/reputation/skill or performance.

Why don't they just quit the crap association and build a new one with people that they know and knows them and knows what should be done.

If they all left, doubt the governing body can have any effect on them anyway, since competition without all these elites would probably resulted in almost no audience..

They could've went straight to the sponsors and set up some invitational and it might work much better! :grin-square:

Too many governing bodies were just full of useless people that were not aiming for the goods of the sport, but instead their personal interest. Same goes for pool. :(
 
If there is one thing I hate, it's pool trick shots. If they're two things I hate it's pool trick shots and the people who do them.
 
Artistic Pool Players? Really? They're trick shot performers. It's like calling a janitor a custodial engineer.

There's nothing wrong with being these things in life so why not call it what it is instead of trying to create some aura about it using a more interesting name. It's like guys that have little peckers driving monster trucks, over compensation.
 
Colonel said:
Artistic Pool Players? Really? They're trick shot performers. It's like calling a janitor a custodial engineer.

There's nothing wrong with being these things in life so why not call it what it is instead of trying to create some aura about it using a more interesting name. It's like guys that have little peckers driving monster trucks, over compensation.
Click to expand...

false.

First date convo:
"What do you do for fun?"
"Oh, I do artistic billiards... It's when you... Hey... Wait... Where are you going?"
 
Instead of quality 9 Ball on TV, All that I ever see is trick shots on espn with what's his names brother and some other guy. I can't change the channel fast enough.
 
I live in Atlanta and watched the championships. The players have valid grievances. I watched Florian arrive and be asked to compete immediately, with no practice time. I watched less than stellar performers there at these Championships. We'll see what happens, but I'm with them.
 
Say what you want about the artistic billiard players, but the fact is that these are real players, real people with sponsors and expenses that have an equal amount of drive and aspiration to become world champions, to innovate and to entertain the public. I also believe that many of them have an altruistic desire to push cue-sports to the front lines of mainstream media in a professional manner.

Many of these individuals started out and/or continue to forge their careers as competitive pool players. (Mike Massey, Stefano Palinga, Tom Rossman, Bucktooth and more...). In fact, I would venture to guess that, there are a large number of you pool-players out there who were starving for lessons and information in the 80's and 90's, have watched and/or taken lessons from Dr Cue's, 'Kicking and Banking' videos. Whether you like it or not, the foundations for pool by the artistic players are deeply rooted in cuesports. You don't have to like them but I believe they do deserve respect.
---------------------------
Almost 2 decades ago, Mike Massey and Stefano Palinga were at the International Challenge of Champions warming up next to Earl on another table. They were watching Earl and Mike said, "Hey Earl, you got a mighty fine stroke there, you should think about learning some of these shots and entering one of our trick-shot competitions."

To which Earl replied, "Are you kidding me? I'd have to spend years practicing to do what you guys can. What you do... that takes special skill and dedication, Man! I guess I'll stick to 9 ball, but I appreciate the compliment."

Other notable names in artistic billiards that date back to the 20's: Frank Tiberski, Willie Smith, Joe Davis, Jim Marino, Willie Mosconi...
 
My idea of a trick shot is where all the skill is in the setup and almost player can make the shot.
Artistic (skill shots) take lots of practice and not every player can do them.
 
Trick shot videos probably generate 10 times more views than all the standard game videos combined on youtube, facebook etc.

For all the people who want pool to be more popular, perhaps they should consider game formats where artistic shots are rewarded.

Colin
 
Need the whole story.........

Tom Rossman has never ran a "Janky" event. The players involved in the letter to the WPA have their own opinion. It is neither bad nor good, but to bad mouth one of the founding fathers of Artistic Pool is pretty low. Please do not judge knowing only a very small piece of the story. This is a sport that takes skill and concentration, and it is the bridge between three cushion and regular pool. There are Trick Shots and skill shots........the set up shots granted are easier but the harder shots in each discipline are incredibly difficult. The top 16 players in this sport maybe more can play 8 ball and 9 ball very well. In fact most of us came from a pool background before even shooting a Trick Shot. You really need to temper your remarks you haven't been there.
 
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Colin Colenso said:
Trick shot videos probably generate 10 times more views than all the standard game videos combined on youtube, facebook etc.

For all the people who want pool to be more popular, perhaps they should consider game formats where artistic shots are rewarded.

Colin
Click to expand...

Colin to be fair if you remove Florian from that equation I doubt the gulf is that wide.. But there are tons of single shot trickshots that get good numbers.. And if you take Efren out of the search results pool takes a hit like trickshots with Florian LOL..

The one thing I will say is if you want to be a world champion in a cue discipline this is the one for you... Think there were 30 players vying for the 2014 World Championship....
 
Absolutely true! Jack White, for decades, probably made more money shooting trick shots than anyone before or since him. He was also a highly skilled player and gambler. Since I took over Jack's tour, I've been making a nice living doing it for the past 20 years. The "purists" out there can say what they like, but young people devour trick shots, whether they are set up shots or stroke shots. People love to learn...and to be truthful, when you quit learning...you quit learning! My shows are a mixture of trick shots, instruction, history, challenge matches, equipment information and etiquette, with a few jokes thrown in. I never fail to get a few laughs, or entertain my audience. If there is a real living to be made in pool, it is connected with artistic billiards. People have paid to be entertained around the world for 1000's of years. They will always continue to do so. There's plenty of business out there...one just needs the right attitude and motivation to succeed.

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com

michigankid said:
This is a sport that takes skill and concentration, and it is the bridge between three cushion and regular pool. There are Trick Shots and skill shots........the set up shots granted are easier but the harder shots in each discipline are incredibly difficult. The top 16 players in this sport maybe more can play 8 ball and 9 ball very well. In fact most of us came from a pool background before even shooting a Trick Shot. You really need to temper your remarks you haven't been there.
Click to expand...
 
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POVPOOL said:
Hi All,
We've recently done some investigation into a recent development with the Artistic Billiard Community and it's governing body, the WPA-APD. 18 top world artistic players have threatened to boycott any future events sanctioned by the WPA-APD unless some changes are made.

At POV Pool we are committed to promoting all areas of pool. With that said, we chose to take it upon ourselves to bring light to this situation with the APD in hopes that it brings betterment this situation that is brewing.

Please feel free to read the article in its entirety HERE.

Please Keep Loving Pool - POV Pool Media
Click to expand...



What began as thirteen players who wanted change, has now become an eighteen player coalition, with a small board to represent everyone. Nick Nikolaidis was elected as intern President by his fellow rebels, with Andy Segal nominated as intern Vice President of the ‘Player’s Union’. Like any union dispute, when demands are not met or even compromised there is a strike. These rebelling players are now on strike

Aren't these guys independent contractors ? Looked all over to see how many events there are and only saw 1 , how many events annually ?They are playing for a prize fund , not a salary. Isn't there only like 30 players total ? Wow , from 13 to 18 , i guess those extra 5 will put them over the top . I wonder if Tom Rossman can make it financially without these few tournaments he promotes ?

Hey , what if Charlie Williams and Johnny Archer went up to Kevin Trudeau at the inception of the IBT and told him that they didn't any of his books being available in the area where IBT events were being held and that he should have nothing to do with running the IBT.

It seems the top performers think they are pulling the wagon and the the payout structure changed and the promoter not involved. Wanting the top performers to be paid more is understandable but that doesn't sound like a union , maybe they should hire agents and strike out on their own holding exhibitions as a group or three . The Segal guy being the top monet earner i'd bet is the instigator for lack of better term.

At POV Pool we are committed to promoting all areas of pool. With that said, we chose to take it upon ourselves to bring light to this situation with the APD in hopes that it brings betterment this situation that is brewing.

Not trying to mock you Daniel but aren't you essentially POV pool , just wondering why the plural ?
 
From what I have heard over the years, Segal has been divisive from the start, and has wanted to take control over all aspects of trick shooting. Some of the previous players no longer compete because of his actions.
 
Cardigan Kid said:
"The final category addressed is the general changes that the Player’s Board would like to see with the WPA-APD. These changes include financial records to be opened up for players to see, Tom Rossman no longer being an influential part of the process, no religious material at events, board elections opened up to players and finally, the player’s voice to be heard, instead of silence through the code of conduct. "


What's this all about?
Click to expand...


These guys live in a dying town on the plains and the commercial district is full of empty store fronts , a guy opened a grocery store and hired them , now they want him to open his books so they can see what he makes .
 
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