Have I been sleeping? This new wave of straight shooters...

[Low500]

Hmm. I would put Sky on the same level as those guys. I think it is close enough to be a pick 'em in most any format. Guys like Steyer, Thorpe, etc. may be a level below, but I think Sky has improved over the last couple of years to the point that he can play with anyone.
I am not so convinced that we don't have more strong young players, I just don't know that they are seriously pursuing pool. Maybe if the .gov supplemented them like many countries do, it would increase. Remember the teenager that steamrolled Earl on the 10 ft. table? Imagine if that kid had been playing 6-8 hours of pool all day everyday. No telling how good he would be. I bet there are tons more in a country the size of the US...

The teenager who steamrolled Earl on that 10 footer is the son of one of the best, innovative, and probably the MOST trashed and maligned instructor, in the USA.
The teenager's father/instructor was beaten up on so badly and ridiculed here so often that he left this website in disgust.
Such is the case with this game here in the USA where the "wise ole birds" still wallow in the past about Johnston City, Mosconi, "Fast Eddie", and how many marks Titanic Thompson pushed over.
There is hope, however. Those "wise ole birds" are dying out, one after another. And the youth could care less.
So if they (the youth) catch a gear like those Asians have done, and learn the game the right way through correct, disciplined, training, I believe the USA can produce top action players also.
Those, however, who continue to live in the past are condemned to repeat it.
:thumbup2:

 

[Avathar]

There is no governmental funding for billiards here in Germany, but the overall attitude to sport on the amateur level is more competitive.
We hardly have any tourneys or leagues using handicaps, thus, if you want to win anything, you must step up your game.

The whole league system is club based and many pool hall owners support the clubs by discounts in green fees. Thus in my club I pay only 20€/month and can play basically everyday "somehow" (Monday is closed, Tue and Sat is training with our coach, where we practice drills, Wed and Sat we have 5hs free green each day,Thu we organize a local tourney which costs an admission fee of 8€, but it is possible to play for free, for the members, if tables are free. Fridays we got 2h and Sundays we either have league matches (4 player teams, 1 match straight pool, 1 8-, 9- and 10 Ball respectively, then a second round with the same setup, each player can only play 2 matches and cannot play the same game twice, races are determined by the league level and at the end of the season you can get promoted to a higher league, if you score 1st or 2nd place in your series)

The problem here is to actually motivate ppl to join clubs and spend time on drills and workout …. but those who join the leagues, usually step up their levels pretty quickly to a certain level. I think we have only about 20000 active pool players organized in those leagues for pool in a country of 80 Mio ppl.
When traveling to the US, I am usually pretty amazed about the high level of the average Joe and the amount of pool playing chicks over there, but there are not many who actually really seem to even ty to get better, even within the leagues ….
At least ppl look at me, as if seeing a grey faced alien, when I put down a bunch of drills rather than only playing

I would think that you should have a much more good pool of players in the US than we have in the total of Europe, if the mentality was different, to be honest

 

[Cameron Smith]

Per previous discussions, Kaçi doesn’t have a snooker background. He has been interviewed by a few of us on this subject. He grew up as a pool player and never played snooker until the Albanian Federation asked him to compete a year ago.

Does Josh Filler have a background in snooker?

So snooker isn’t the key.

Freddie

Kaçi may not have a background in snooker but what impresses me about him is that he is so solid over the shot. Almost no body movement whatsoever on the shot where a lot of pros still lift their heads and twitch from time to time. I think this has a lot to do with his success and consistency.