Proud of my son for not winning!

hang-the-9

hang-the-9

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
So, it's a bit of a deceptive title.

The Junior State championships are going on right now for the BEF. My son played in 3 so far, MA, NH, CT.

He did not win any of them.

Why am I proud? He came in second in all 3, and he is the youngest in his age group of the kids he played. He is 15 and beat some 17 and 18 yr olds. Got to the finals in all 3 events.

Not only did he come in second in three this year, last year in the 14 and under MA tournament which was the only one they held in the area, he also came in second. And he won when he was 13.

5 state championships, one win, four final appearances. I still feel proud but I wish I cold be happier for him, he really wants to win again.

He has some things to learn, and the biggest thing to teach him is to make him aware he has things to learn. Right now that is why he can't win, he refuses to see the mistakes that cost him the matches and just thinks all those misses or position errors are things that happen once a year instead of almost once a game. If you think there is nothing to fix, you can't fix it LOL. Bert Kinister had a great quote in one of his tapes "if you keep doing what you are doing, you'll keep getting what you are getting". If he wants to win, and you don't, you have to change something. First step is to become aware of that fact.
 
Congrats to him & to you for showing him the sport & supporting him in it.
 
future757 said:
How many states have junior state tournaments? I don't remember any when I was growing up
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There were not many, in our area the only one was the MA event that Roy Pastor organized for a while. Now the BEF has done some work to get areas to run junior tournaments so now there are quite a few. They are used for qualifiers for the junior nationals. I also try to promote the junior events on here along with the BEF rep who I think is Samm Diep, don't know if it's her posting on BEFs behalf though.

The BEF area in the forums has them listed and here http://billiardeducation.org/events/jsc/ http://billiardeducation.org/events/

Roy did all the New England area ones, he arranged the times with the rooms, got trophies for the winners.

There is also a Junior league program he runs out of Ayer, Mass, that uses the USAPL ratings for handicaps. There are maybe a dozen very regular kids that play and another 5-6-7-8 that show up every so often. We get new players but many do not stick around for more than a week or two, don't know if it's the parents not wanting to take them or the kids don't want to take the time to participate and practice. It can be a bit of a higher standard for our junior league, they play by WPA rules that are mostly strictly observed (with a few exceptions the kids and the refs (me and Roy) allow for age appropriate things), and if you can't pocket a few balls at a time, you will likely loose. Many of the new kids have a hard time with making more than one ball at a time, but if they stick with it, they will improve quickly due to the training and bring around better players.

One of the girls that started in our league less than two years ago came in second in the Junior Nationals and went to the Junior World tournament in China.
 
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Congrats!!! I hope he continues to play well and eventually he will figure it all out, especially since he is getting such fine tutoring.

Al
 
future757 said:
How many states have junior state tournaments? I don't remember any when I was growing up
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Speaking for many AZers, when we grew up they were called the Junior Colony Tournaments. We began each tournament with a pledge to King George. :grin:
 
Strong finishes for your son. It will be nice to catch some of the up-and-coming junior stars at the expo.
 
Congrats on all the great finishes.

Maybe record and let him review as many matches and practice as possible. Sometimes we need to "see it to believe it".
It will also give him positive reinforcement seeing himself improve on his weaknesses.

Position play and correct pattern routes can also be discussed and give him that "aha" moment.

Good luck and hopefully many more titles to come!
 
Be it pool or any other part of life there is always an opportunity to learn more.
 
Congrats to your son. Glad to see the younger generation still playing the game of pool.
I just had a great expirence with my son a few weeks back playing in a doubles tourney, its a great feeling to see them happy. Hopefully I get a chance to meet up with you & your son at the expo in a few days. Take care
Jeff
 
pooldawg8 said:
Congrats to your son. Glad to see the younger generation still playing the game of pool.
I just had a great expirence with my son a few weeks back playing in a doubles tourney, its a great feeling to see them happy. Hopefully I get a chance to meet up with you & your son at the expo in a few days. Take care
Jeff
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We'll be there, I'll grab one of the stickers from the 3C booth.
 
IMO the level of play in juniors tournaments has declined over the last dozen years or so because of the lack of prize in it. Most top junior players are used to winning hundreds to thousands in open tournamens and favor such tournaments over junior tournaments for no cash. I don't know what typical prizes are today but I know this was the case a few years ago.
 
hang-the-9 said:
He has some things to learn, and the biggest thing to teach him is to make him aware he has things to learn. Right now that is why he can't win, he refuses to see the mistakes that cost him the matches and just thinks all those misses or position errors are things that happen once a year instead of almost once a game. If you think there is nothing to fix, you can't fix it LOL. Bert Kinister had a great quote in one of his tapes "if you keep doing what you are doing, you'll keep getting what you are getting". If he wants to win, and you don't, you have to change something. First step is to become aware of that fact.
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If your son is not aware of the fact to as why he is screwing up, why do you still allow him to compete with inferior knowledge? Shouldn't you have taught him by now through your game that his "once a year" mistake is actually every game? Are you not capable of running out against him every time? If you're not then that's why he holds that view point.
 
Proud of my son for not winning

CONGRATULATIONS !!! Looks like your son is headed in the right direction.

I would suggest he play some 14.1 Straight Pool. It will help his position play and also improve his pattern play. Speed control drills will also help.


KEEP STROKING ... STRAIGHT !!!
 
Hits 'em Hard said:
If your son is not aware of the fact to as why he is screwing up, why do you still allow him to compete with inferior knowledge? Shouldn't you have taught him by now through your game that his "once a year" mistake is actually every game? Are you not capable of running out against him every time? If you're not then that's why he holds that view point.
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When he loses his stubbornness and really gets sick of losing, he'll ask me for help more. Right now when I try to work on anything with him, he starts arguing right away that he does not need help or that he knows already.

He actually will make a very good pool player, nothing he does is his fault. It's the table, the rails, the opponent not leaving him shots, he feels sick, he's tired, he just can't play today for some reason, etc... Then when he has a good day, that's exactly how I play every day he tells himself, and there goes any type of teaching opening since he's already perfect with all the shots and position and safety he will ever need to know.
 
hang-the-9 said:
When he loses his stubbornness and really gets sick of losing, he'll ask me for help more. Right now when I try to work on anything with him, he starts arguing right away that he does not need help or that he knows already.

He actually will make a very good pool player, nothing he does is his fault. It's the table, the rails, the opponent not leaving him shots, he feels sick, he's tired, he just can't play today for some reason, etc... Then when he has a good day, that's exactly how I play every day he tells himself, and there goes any type of teaching opening since he's already perfect with all the shots and position and safety he will ever need to know.
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Sounds like us all when we were young. Only way to correct that type of attitude is to remove him from that atmosphere. Next time he mentions pool, taking him out to a rolling skating rink. Keep him far enough away from pool that when you do allow him to go back it's been long enough that he forgot how to play. That way he has no choice but to listen.
 
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