I feel billiards should be a high school sport with good instructors at the high school level.
Yes and no. It should be a high school sport but save the few, if any people, who wish to excel, obtaining instruction is not the key here. In high school, I played, but received no instruction in, any of these: a) baseball and softball, b) volleyball, c) football, d) handball, e) paddleball/racquetball and f) tennis. I have enjoyed each of these sports as an adult, though I am not very skilled at any of them. Enjoyment, not excellence, is the key, meaning exposure to pool is far more important than excellence. People, especially, young people, play games they enjoy.
I feel that there should be a reality show in which 8 instructors are given 4 low level players of equal ability, 2 men and 2 women. They have one week to train their team. You play a match. The winning teams and instructors move on. Each week a team and their instructor are eliminated. Players nationwide will see the players progressing each week. This will encourage players to seek instruction on their own.
I can’t imagine that the exploits of low level players trying to improve would make for good TV, but the problems of alcohol, loud noise and don’t forget profanity and poor sportsmanship in the poolrooms is a legitimate issue, because they cause parents to steer their kids away from poolrooms. It is here were I think Henson hit the nail on the head. Today’s poolrooms are not ideal for aspiring young players, and we need to do something about it.
Henson's original point, of course, is that players need to develop via lessons. Every golf club, public and private in the United States, has at least one golf pro and likely several assistant pros ready to step up and give lessons. Everyone who has played golf a year or longer has likely taken more than one lesson or a series of beginner lessons.
I couldn’t agree less. As most of us here on the forum know from experience, you can develop a love of pool without lessons. Few players take pool lessons and even fewer trace their love of the game to having taking them. Participation alone is enough to develop a love for the game. Awfully few golfers aspire to be top players, but they love the game anyway, and so it is with pool. Most golfers, tennis players and pool players are self-taught, and few of those play at a high level.
In conclusion, I strongly disagree with Henson's premises. Pool's future hangs on participation, not on its players' competence at the table. Henson skillfully observes, however, that the poolrooms are not youth-friendly, and that this can sometimes stand in the way of introducing young players to the game.
