SVB success outside of America

sjm said:
Yes, very well said! Americans have, far too often, shied away from participating in the premier overseas events in recent years, and as Jay Helfert has so often noted, this has reduced their competitive pedigrees.

In contrast, Shane has played the full international schedule for most of his career, and that's praiseworthy indeed.
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Shane is probably the only American player who can truly financially AFFORD to play in ANY overseas tourney he wants.
Skyler and the other top Americans just don't have the funds (sponsors) SVB does to travel the world monthly.
It's simple economics. Travelling the world and playing in tournaments isn't cheap.
 
sjm said:
Americans have, far too often, shied away from participating in the premier overseas events in recent years
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I think that's true of most sports. We just don't do a lot of international sports. Tennis, Formula 1, etc. We are pretty underrepresented.
Woodshaft said:
It's simple economics. Travelling the world and playing in tournaments isn't cheap.
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Well, the US and Europe are reasonably close in size and population so there's a bit less need to go to another country. Couple that with the distance to those countries and the economics are not enticing.
 
King T said:
Well what I mean is that all of the guys from the other countries still have guys that can push them every day and many are good friends that have played each other for year whereas none of the guys you mentioned, Bergman, Dechaine, Woodward, Immonen, Appleton or Souquet can play close to Shane anymore and its been years since they could.
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Point well taken.

What I'm saying is that during Shane's formative years, all those guys were in their primes and, thanks to the fact that he was inclined to compete and gamble regularly in both the US and overseas with the world's best players, Shane's competitive pedigree developed as fully and as quickly as almost any player in pool history. That's why, as I noted in another post in this thread, Shane has generally been counted among the top three players in the world for fifteen consecutive years now.

You're right, of course, that of late he hasn't had as many players in the US to keep him sharp during practice, but he's a finished product, not a developmental one. Also, we now live in an age where most of the top internationals are showing up to most of the big US-based events more than they ever have.

I think that Shane's being pushed and tested more than he has ever been.
 
Shane is all we've got. The pressure on him must be enormous. They call him Captain America but the problem is that he doesn't have any other Avengers to assemble. GIVE THE POOR BASTARD A BREAK since it's basically him against the world.
 
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dnschmidt said:
Shane is all we've got. The pressure on him must be enormous. They call him Captain America but the problem is that he doesn't have any other Avengers to assemble. GIVE THE POOR BASTARD A BREAK since it's basically him against the world.
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He might have a hawkeye and an antman...

Jaden
 
raphcleary said:
yep, I HATE to say it, but it's getting sad at this point. you can only support the U.S. for so long, the king is dead (USA) long live the king! 😔
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that final was very well played from both, no shame in losing that. within a few months he's gone undefeated to two big time MR tournament finals, and winning one. he is leading the moneyboard rankings, he's the world champion.. so i would say he's in a good place with his game right now.
 
skogstokig said:
that final was very well played from both, no shame in losing that. within a few months he's gone undefeated to two big time MR tournament finals, and winning one. he is leading the moneyboard rankings, he's the world champion.. so i would say he's in a good place with his game right now.
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Agreed. At some point people have to give Shane his due. Great, great player.
 
Shane will be traveling to the P I in September to participate in a Sharks event. I'd love to see him get in one of those street games while he is there. That would be fun to watch.
 
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