It finally happened.......

KRJ

KRJ

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Ok, so most of you know I'm a baseball guy. So my son grew up playing baseball and karate. That is all he liked and was very good at both. Didn't want to play pool, (too slow he said) no basketball, nothing else but those two sports (and video games of course)

Oh, now and again he'd play a game of 8 ball with me. But, his senior year in HS, more and more of his friends were hanging at our house as "junior" has a full video gaming room in the basement. And they must walk by the pool room to get to the video gaming room.

Well, eventually, they starting playing pool more and more. Didn't think anything of it. Then off to college last august. We hung out and shot a little pool at the University pool room. He didn't like the house cues, so I brought him my old Schmelke the following weekend (he wanted his bike) so mom and I had another road trip :)

Well, he shoots trap and skeet on the club team at school. Some of those guys shoot pool. So, now he's been playing more and more pool. Heck, 2 and 3 times a week he's at the pool room. He texts me all the time with rule questions and such.

Two nights ago I get a text from him that he's looking at cues and wants to buy a Lucasi. Sent me the text with the photo of the cue. Are you kidding me? After 18 years, he now want's his own cue. WOW. Would have bet against this one every day and twice on Sunday.

I tell him it's a nice cue, but gently push him to look at Schmelke. He wants to spend no more than $200. He finds a McDermott that really looks nice and might pull the trigger on that one. He rented a cue locker at school ($7 per semester) to store his (my Schmelke) and he wants more Magic Chalk as his buddies like it too. I said I will send them all of them chalk, NO CHARGE, plus some gloves and anything else they need.

So, I grew up in a pool room, watching some old and famous road warriors when I was just a kid, Dad was best friends with Freddy the Beard, joining and starting pool leagues later on in life, becoming a pool instructor over a decade ago, having a few hall of famer pool players camp out in my house, sponsor a few clinics with numerous pro's from Varner to Archer, etc., and selling chalk and tips across the globe, then wait 18 years and bam, he falls right into my elaborate trap to make him like pool. Nothing to it folks, you just need to bait the trap just "so" to make it all come together ;) LOL



 
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Congratulations on the birth of your new pool Big baby boy is 18 and just discovered pool beautiful. The fun your going to have.
 
ChicagoRJ said:
Ok, so most of you know I'm a baseball guy. My son grew up playing baseball and karate. That is all he liked and was very good at both. Didn't want to play pool, (too slow he said) no basketball, nothing else but those two sports (and video games of course)

Oh, now and again he'd play a game of 8 ball with me. But, his senior year in HS, more and more of his friends we hanging at our house as "junior" has a full gaming room in the basement. And they must walk by the pool room to get to the video gaming room.

Well, eventually, they starting playing pool more and more. Didn't think anything of it. Then off to college last august. We hung out and shot a little pool at the University pool room. He didn't like the house cues, so I brought him my old Schmelke the follow weekend ( he wanted his bike) so mom and I had another road trip :)

Well, he shoots trap and skeet on the club team at school. Some of those guys shoot pool. So, now he's been playing more and more pool. Heck, 2 and 3 times a week he's at the pool room. He texts me all the time with rule questions and such.

Two nights ago I get a text from him that he's looking at cues and wants to buy a Lucasi. Sent me the text with the photo of the cue. Are you kidding me? After 18 years, he now want's his own cue. WOW. Would have bet against this one every day and twice on Sunday.

I tell him it's a nice cue, but gently push him to look at Schmelke. He wants to spend no more than $200. He finds a McDermott that really looks nice and might pull the trigger on that one. He rented a cue locker at school ($7 per semester) to store his (my Schmelke) and he wants more Magic Chalk as his buddies like it too. I said I will send them all of them chalk, NO CHARGE, plus some gloves and anything else they need.

So, I grew up in a pool room, watching some old and famous road warriors when I was just a kid, Dad was best friends with Freddy the Beard, joining and starting pool leagues later on in life, becoming a pool instructor over a decade ago, having a few hall of famer pool players camp out in my house, sponsor a few clinics with numerous pro's from Varner to Archer, etc., and selling chalk and tips across the globe, then wait 18 years and bam, he falls right into my elaborate trap to make him like pool. Nothing to it folks, you just need to bait the trap just "so" to make it all come together ;) LOL



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Funny how that works. We had Ernesto here to our poolroom in NC to work on our tables when he was in the area for the US Open, around 2000. At that time, his son Oscar who was like 15 or 16, was helping Ernesto with CA poolroom jobs along with his other son. When I asked Ernesto, he said neither of them were that interested in pool. Fast forward to now and Oscar is a top American and Mosconi Cup player. Go figure?
 
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very cool...Congrats!

My oldest daughter never took to pool but got a scholarship in Volleyball. My step daughter is the artsy type.... painting, piano, etc...

Unfortunately no pool playing kids for me....
 
Good for you and him RJ! Now you'll have one more thing to enjoy as he moves forward in life. It's almost surprising how they come around with the right parenting and sometimes just letting them figure it out on their own!
My hat's off to ya!
 
Quesports said:
Good for you and him RJ! Now you'll have one more thing to enjoy as he moves forward in life. It's almost surprising how they come around with the right parenting and sometimes just letting them figure it out on their own!
My hat's off to ya!
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Thanks Dan. Not to mention how many boxes of chalk this kid has packed over the last 3 years ;) Literally tens of thousands, and finally gets to enjoy it himself, lol
 
Happy

Happy for you Happy for your son and Happy for all of us who love Pool to hear
guys in that age group also loving Pool.
 
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ChicagoRJ said:
Ok, so most of you know I'm a baseball guy. So my son grew up playing baseball and karate. That is all he liked and was very good at both. Didn't want to play pool, (too slow he said) no basketball, nothing else but those two sports (and video games of course)

Oh, now and again he'd play a game of 8 ball with me. But, his senior year in HS, more and more of his friends were hanging at our house as "junior" has a full video gaming room in the basement. And they must walk by the pool room to get to the video gaming room.

Well, eventually, they starting playing pool more and more. Didn't think anything of it. Then off to college last august. We hung out and shot a little pool at the University pool room. He didn't like the house cues, so I brought him my old Schmelke the following weekend (he wanted his bike) so mom and I had another road trip :)

Well, he shoots trap and skeet on the club team at school. Some of those guys shoot pool. So, now he's been playing more and more pool. Heck, 2 and 3 times a week he's at the pool room. He texts me all the time with rule questions and such.

Two nights ago I get a text from him that he's looking at cues and wants to buy a Lucasi. Sent me the text with the photo of the cue. Are you kidding me? After 18 years, he now want's his own cue. WOW. Would have bet against this one every day and twice on Sunday.

I tell him it's a nice cue, but gently push him to look at Schmelke. He wants to spend no more than $200. He finds a McDermott that really looks nice and might pull the trigger on that one. He rented a cue locker at school ($7 per semester) to store his (my Schmelke) and he wants more Magic Chalk as his buddies like it too. I said I will send them all of them chalk, NO CHARGE, plus some gloves and anything else they need.

So, I grew up in a pool room, watching some old and famous road warriors when I was just a kid, Dad was best friends with Freddy the Beard, joining and starting pool leagues later on in life, becoming a pool instructor over a decade ago, having a few hall of famer pool players camp out in my house, sponsor a few clinics with numerous pro's from Varner to Archer, etc., and selling chalk and tips across the globe, then wait 18 years and bam, he falls right into my elaborate trap to make him like pool. Nothing to it folks, you just need to bait the trap just "so" to make it all come together ;) LOL



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As a contrast to your story, I'll share mine. My son basically grew up in our family owned poolroom next door to our residence, which we opened when he was 7. By 13/14 he was very good - playing in the junior nationals 3 years in a row. At that time, he could run 30-40 balls in straight pool and could occasionally string 2-3 consecutive break & runs in 9-ball. He suffered a devastating loss his last year at the junior nationals, at age 14, blowing a big lead. He pretty much gave up the game completely shortly after that. I think he felt the pressure of what he perceived as my high expectations for him - which was probably true, although I tried as hard as I could to hide it. That was roughly 15 years ago - he is now 29.

He was an excellent student through high school, graduated from college, is very active politically, and has made a career on his own as a musician - nearly as tough a gig as being a pro pool player. He's played the violin since he was 5 and he's extremely talented at it. Although he lives a few hours away, we support him and attend his gigs whenever we can. Even when he is at home visiting, he will not come next door to shoot any pool. When I ask him if he's played at all, he says maybe once in a while on a bar table when he's doing a gig.

I often wonder if he'd continued his pool, how good he might have become, as he was still improving at a rapid pace when he quit. Apparently he just never had the passion for it that I did and that I still have at age 61. I've come to accept that. I also sometimes wonder how good a player I could have become if I'd grown up in a poolroom like ours, as opposed to being self taught, playing only on a home table my entire childhood until I left for college at 18. It's kind of sad to me that he can't enjoy playing this great game even occasionally, at least that I'm aware of. Perhaps one day he'll come back to it, as I know how much enjoyment he got out of it, or so I thought.
 
I have a Schmelke that I ordered last year. If you haven't purchased anything yet, I can send it to you. My gift and a chance at paying it forward. It's an R040 and here is the pic: LINK
 
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Good stuff RJ. If you dont mind me asking where is your son going to school? I think your in Chicago right? I'm down by SIUe, edwardsville in southern IL. They have a nice room.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
TEAM SLO said:
I have a Schmelke that I ordered last year. If you haven't purchased anything yet, I can send it to you. My gift and a chance at paying it forward. It's an R040 and here is the pic: LINK
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Appreciate the offer SLO. But, I prefer you pay it forward with someone that will need it, maybe help out a junior who just got into pool, and would like a great new cue :) I'm sure they will love it :thumbup:

I got my "pay it forward" Wednesday night. My wife went to pick up my son from school and they got home about 9pm... within 5 minutes of being home he wants to shoot pool :thumbup: Played till almost midnight. I was dead tired on Thursday but that was fine by me :)
 
ChicagoRJ said:
Appreciate the offer SLO. But, I prefer you pay it forward with someone that will need it, maybe help out a junior who just got into pool, and would like a great new cue :) I'm sure they will love it :thumbup:

I got my "pay it forward" Wednesday night. My wife went to pick up my son from school and they got home about 9pm... within 5 minutes of being home he wants to shoot pool :thumbup: Played till almost midnight. I was dead tired on Thursday but that was fine by me :)
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Nice, happy for you two. I know from experience with hanging out with my son all the time playing what a great feeling it must be for you, happy that others get to feel the same way.

I have been spending 2-3 days a week with my son for about 10 years now playing pool, it makes for a pretty close bond and also keeps him away from possible bad influences. Despite what people say about pool players, if you find the right place to play in and hang out with the right people, your kids will be raised properly with respect, confidence and patience.
 
ChicagoRJ said:
Appreciate the offer SLO. But, I prefer you pay it forward with someone that will need it, maybe help out a junior who just got into pool, and would like a great new cue :) I'm sure they will love it :thumbup:

I got my "pay it forward" Wednesday night. My wife went to pick up my son from school and they got home about 9pm... within 5 minutes of being home he wants to shoot pool :thumbup: Played till almost midnight. I was dead tired on Thursday but that was fine by me :)
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Well this cue is now taken, another member has spoken up in a PM. Cue will be going onto another deserving junior.
 
hang-the-9 said:
Nice, happy for you two. I know from experience with hanging out with my son all the time playing what a great feeling it must be for you, happy that others get to feel the same way.

I have been spending 2-3 days a week with my son for about 10 years now playing pool, it makes for a pretty close bond and also keeps him away from possible bad influences. Despite what people say about pool players, if you find the right place to play in and hang out with the right people, your kids will be raised properly with respect, confidence and patience.
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Yep, I agree :) Mom was even watching us play, she never watched me play before, but I think she was just happy having her son home she wanted to hang out with us :)

He's digging my OB Sneaky Pete cue. I told him he can have it, I have a few other cues I have... and they all have OB shafts, so no biggie to me :) We'll see if he sticks with the OB or wants to spend some of his own cash on a cue :)
 
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