There was a time when youngsters — especially if they were girls — were not exactly encouraged to hang around pool halls. The game was dying among the younger generation, something read about in at least two pool player magazines.
From Chicago, Tom Van Eck is a semi-retired salesperson and self-proclaimed "Pied Piper of Pool." He has been playing pool since he was 10 and started helping out Chicago-area Boys and Girls Clubs about a year ago after a visit to the Logan Square club, where he spotted three billiard tables in need of repairs.
Not long afterward, he visited the clubs in this community. As in many Chicago-area Boys and Girls Clubs, Van Eck found a lot of the equipment wasn’t in the best condition. Not surprisingly, the billiard tables had fallen into disuse.
Since then, Van Eck has brought in new or repaired equipment for 10 Boys and Girls Clubs. By November 2016, interest in the game had rekindled enough to hold a tournament among the three clubs.
Soon he began scrounging up equipment wherever he could find it. He managed to obtain a top-of-the-line Brunswick Gold Crown table and began holding fundraisers. After raising $3,000 during one of his early efforts, he even encouraged a friend, Adam Koch, a lighting salesman, to become involved. Koch raised another $23,000.
Van Eck even invented the iCue training ball with markings showing novices the ideal impact points. He has been selling it at trade shows and tournaments and giving $2 from the sale of each ball to the Boys and Girls Clubs; he manages a website for the balls at www.icueclinic.com.
Overall, Van Eck sees a bright future for the 500-year-old game whose devotees ranged from Abraham Lincoln to Louis XIV. For one thing, more women and girls are taking up cue sports, he said. "I would say 25 percent of our participants these days are girls."
They have always said to get the youth involved for pool to flourish. Read more about Tom Van Eck's efforts --> Pied Piper of Pool. [Retrieved 20 February 2017]
Tom Van Eck improved the billiards area in several local Boys and Girls Clubs, including Little Village, Valentine, and True Value in Chicago area, as depicted below. Nice table!
From Chicago, Tom Van Eck is a semi-retired salesperson and self-proclaimed "Pied Piper of Pool." He has been playing pool since he was 10 and started helping out Chicago-area Boys and Girls Clubs about a year ago after a visit to the Logan Square club, where he spotted three billiard tables in need of repairs.
Not long afterward, he visited the clubs in this community. As in many Chicago-area Boys and Girls Clubs, Van Eck found a lot of the equipment wasn’t in the best condition. Not surprisingly, the billiard tables had fallen into disuse.
Since then, Van Eck has brought in new or repaired equipment for 10 Boys and Girls Clubs. By November 2016, interest in the game had rekindled enough to hold a tournament among the three clubs.
Soon he began scrounging up equipment wherever he could find it. He managed to obtain a top-of-the-line Brunswick Gold Crown table and began holding fundraisers. After raising $3,000 during one of his early efforts, he even encouraged a friend, Adam Koch, a lighting salesman, to become involved. Koch raised another $23,000.
Van Eck even invented the iCue training ball with markings showing novices the ideal impact points. He has been selling it at trade shows and tournaments and giving $2 from the sale of each ball to the Boys and Girls Clubs; he manages a website for the balls at www.icueclinic.com.
Overall, Van Eck sees a bright future for the 500-year-old game whose devotees ranged from Abraham Lincoln to Louis XIV. For one thing, more women and girls are taking up cue sports, he said. "I would say 25 percent of our participants these days are girls."
They have always said to get the youth involved for pool to flourish. Read more about Tom Van Eck's efforts --> Pied Piper of Pool. [Retrieved 20 February 2017]
Tom Van Eck improved the billiards area in several local Boys and Girls Clubs, including Little Village, Valentine, and True Value in Chicago area, as depicted below. Nice table!
