There have been quite a few discussions on here about how pool players from the Philippines and China rank consistently in the Top 10 worldwide, in men and women's categories.
Both of those countries remind me of pool being played as it was in the U.S. a couple decades ago, with the exception that China has a population of 1.3 billion compared to the U.S. population of roughly 311 million. Pool has been on the decline in the U.S. for many years, while it has rapidly increased in popularity in China and other Asian countries that are a little less developed than the U.S.
Kids in America are more interested in video games, smart phones, and girlfriends than they are in pool. In China (and Taiwan), the government promotes sports (including pool) to show that they are on par with players of every nationality. Players who win events not only win money from the tournaments, they get rewards from their governments.
If you do the math, it isn’t hard to realize that in a dozen years the Chinese will dominate the pool world. It is based upon numbers only. For every 10 good players we have, they have a thousand. Break it down further and for every pro-level player we have, they will have hundreds. They will take over pool in the same way they have taken over gymnastics, diving, etc…through government-sponsored training camps and sheer numbers. When you train players from an early age, like Tiger Woods was in golf, and you provide professional coaches, you have to expect that they will come up the ranks faster and play better than players who learned on their own and who don’t receive stipends and encouragement from the government.
Players in the Philippines aren’t as fortunate as the Chinese, but percentage-wise there are a lot more people playing pool, more often, than there are in the U.S. and they play with equipment that is way inferior to what more developed countries have. When you can run a table with a concrete bed, worn out cloth, in a pool hall with no air condition, using a crooked stick, then you have to expect them to play better than people who learn to play under perfect conditions.
Also, pool in those countries is very popular and they have lots of sponsors willing to put up money for events. In the U.S., you will get more people watching Beavis and Butthead reruns than you will get watching the U.S. Open. American pool has a long way to go if they are going to be able to produce players that will be capable of competing with the up-and-coming Chinese flood of world-class players.
Both of those countries remind me of pool being played as it was in the U.S. a couple decades ago, with the exception that China has a population of 1.3 billion compared to the U.S. population of roughly 311 million. Pool has been on the decline in the U.S. for many years, while it has rapidly increased in popularity in China and other Asian countries that are a little less developed than the U.S.
Kids in America are more interested in video games, smart phones, and girlfriends than they are in pool. In China (and Taiwan), the government promotes sports (including pool) to show that they are on par with players of every nationality. Players who win events not only win money from the tournaments, they get rewards from their governments.
If you do the math, it isn’t hard to realize that in a dozen years the Chinese will dominate the pool world. It is based upon numbers only. For every 10 good players we have, they have a thousand. Break it down further and for every pro-level player we have, they will have hundreds. They will take over pool in the same way they have taken over gymnastics, diving, etc…through government-sponsored training camps and sheer numbers. When you train players from an early age, like Tiger Woods was in golf, and you provide professional coaches, you have to expect that they will come up the ranks faster and play better than players who learned on their own and who don’t receive stipends and encouragement from the government.
Players in the Philippines aren’t as fortunate as the Chinese, but percentage-wise there are a lot more people playing pool, more often, than there are in the U.S. and they play with equipment that is way inferior to what more developed countries have. When you can run a table with a concrete bed, worn out cloth, in a pool hall with no air condition, using a crooked stick, then you have to expect them to play better than people who learn to play under perfect conditions.
Also, pool in those countries is very popular and they have lots of sponsors willing to put up money for events. In the U.S., you will get more people watching Beavis and Butthead reruns than you will get watching the U.S. Open. American pool has a long way to go if they are going to be able to produce players that will be capable of competing with the up-and-coming Chinese flood of world-class players.
