Teaching young kids to play

2

219Dave

Pool is my therapy
Silver Member
I have a home table, and 5.5 year old twins. How early do you guys think you can start teaching kids to play? They show interest in the game already. We play our own version of eight ball where I let them roll the object balls in the pocket with their hands, and I play with my cue. It obviously isn't teaching them technique or anything, but they are learning the rules, I make them call their shots, etc. I have short kids' cues for them, but they have to stand on a stool to shoot.

Any thoughts on this? How young is too young?
 
my youngest turns 5 in April, oldest just turned 12...youngest likes to play already and I encourage it, but I think some of the interest is from his older brother and sister playing it as well. If you raise enough interest in the sport, they'll want to play and you could definitely start showing them some of the ropes.
 
kids

I had a table and 18 month old grandson / cry to get on the table to roll the balls / so I sold it. Everytime he came in all he would say is ball..
 
I made my 4 yr old a short/light cue to use and although he just lays the cue on the rail and shoots/pokes at the balls he really has fun doing it and he's even making simple cut shots with some regularity now. He started out just poking the balls into the holes and when he got to the point where he was doing that fairly easily most of the time he started using the cue ball to poke at the other balls and in no time at all he started making shots more and more. Last night he made 4 shots in a row that were all 1/4 to 1/2 ball cuts while his 12 yr old cousin was watching and all the 12 yr old could say was "How the heck does he do that?" :smile:
 
Thats a bit harsh...

I'mdoingit said:
I had a table and 18 month old grandson / cry to get on the table to roll the balls / so I sold it. Everytime he came in all he would say is ball..
Click to expand...

But, at least you can hit balls in quiet now....:p:p:p:grin-square: LOL

P.S. How much does a grandson bring these days :grin-square:
 
Never to young.....

Well, Id draw the line if they were trashing the equipment... Other than that let um roll... My kids are 7-8, I bought them jumb breaks at 5 and just had them use the jump stick half. I let them take ball in hand on every shot, (did, the older one is hitting um pretty good). We now play pill pool, they like that, its like a little game of war...Theres nothing wrong with exposure. The problem i fight with is when do I pick the game their going to focus on. (I.E. pool, golf, baseball ect.) my oldest kid is (well not to brag) a STUD...He can do pertty much anything good.
 
Rempe Balls are the ticket!

I started my Grandson at 2 years rolling balls on my 9'er now he is 4 and shooting in balls!
I had a rempe training cue ball which has marks on it to indicate center etc.
My grandson was shooting and miscuing and told me he wanted his lucky cue ball!
I now get it!
I told him before to aim at the dot on cue ball and the ball will go in!
I would line up object ball close to pocket and if he hit center mark
object ball will go in pocket!
I think I got a thing going on now as he stopped miscuing and is pocketing ballls as well as getting a straight stroke!

Thanks Bob Maidhof of Drexeline for the baby cue and yes Rempe training balls are great aid!:thumbup:
 
Here's one I posted about 8 months ago.

I have two girls, age 7 and 10. Even though we have always had a nice table in the basement, I could not for the life of me get them interested in playing pool. They would knock balls around with me for a minute or two but they would get quickly discouraged and stop. And then it happened...

We came up with a game where I play normal 8 ball but they get to hit the object balls directly into the hole without using the cue ball. It gives me a chance to give them little tips on stance and stroke and they love it because they are actually able to pocket balls. It is amazing after just a few sessions how well they are stroking the ball now... firing them right into to the hole.

Slowly we are starting to introduce the cue ball back into the game. Both girls are now using the cue ball to pocket the 8 and we will start working backwards from there. 8 plus last one, last two, etc. It amazes me how they are starting to develop a "feel" for the game.

I cannot even describe the joy on the faces of my girls when they make a good shot or beat Dad. They are actually bugging me non-stop to go play pool! How sweet is that? It's great practice for me too because it's getting to the point where if I don't get out, they will. And last but not least... it is a great way to spend time with the kids and give Mom a little bit of free time (which makes us all happier).

Anyone with young kids that "aren't interested" should try this. It is well worth a few chalk marks on the object balls...
 
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I used to have my children shoot one ball at the pockets, using an older set of balls. If anything they will develop hand eye coordination. The stool is a great idea, you don't want them developing the side-saddle stroke. My kids didn't take to the game the way I did. I was greateful and sad. One pool-player in a family is enough to deal with. They do play recreational pool with their friends.
 
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