The first time you remember playing?

[briankenobi]

I was 9 years old and my family moved into a house that had a pool table. I would bang balls around with my dad and he saw that I really enjoyed playing. He bought me the 3 VHS tape series that included "Pool the Masters Way, Learn from the Best, and Amazing Trickshots." I wore those VHS tapes out. The Amazing Trickshots VHS tape was the start of my journey into artistic pool/trickshots. My first discipline medal I won in a pro ranking artistic pool event is now hanging in my dads office. Great times.

 

[BC21]

I was around 15, went to a pretty girl's house down the street to ask her dad, Mr. Joseph, if I could cut their grass. He said yes, for $10, and I busted my ass for 2 hours pushing his broken-wheeled lawn mower through that thick, weedy lawn.

Of course I had ulterior motives when I knocked on his door that hot summer day. I wanted a glimpse of Jill, his daughter. And while I was cutting that grass I found myself looking back at the house every 20 steps or so, just hoping to catch her watching me. I never saw her.

After cutting the grass, Mr. Joseph handed me a $10 bill and asked if I wanted to come inside and cool off with a glass of water. Inside? Where I can possibly lay my eyes on Jill? Well yes, yes I would! I entered the house through the back door and there was a 9ft Brunswick Gold Crown sitting there in a large rec room. I remember the table was covered with clothes, folded laundry, and Mrs. Joseph was there and looking fine herself. It was no mystery why Jill was such a pretty girl.

Mr. Joseph brought me a huge glass of ice water, then he disappeared into another room, leaving me there with Jill's mom and this pool table. Agatha was her name. Not the table, the mom. She asked how my mom and family were doing, whether or not we had gone to the beach for summer vacation. She just talked and talked and talked, folding clothes, carrying them upstairs in blue baskets, until eventually the pool table was clear. I reached down and pulled a few balls out of the side pocket and rolled them across the table. They bounced off the cushion and smacked into each other and one dropped right back into the side pocket with a little click sound.

I looked up to find Mr. Joseph watching me, and I apologized for messing with his pool table. He was pretty cool, asked if I had ever played. I told him I'd watched my dad play in bars since I little, but never got a chance to actually play. He walked over and grabbed two cues off the rack and handed me one. He showed me how to form a bridge with my left hand, how to grip the cue just right to allow it to move freely and not forced. After about an hour I was making more shots than I was missing. He told me I had a good feel for the game.

I ended up cutting that lawn every week for the next 3 months, and I always played pool for a couple of hours afterwards, sometimes with Mr. Joseph but most of the time by myself. Every now and then Jill would come down stairs and ask if I wanted anything to eat or drink. I'm sure her mom would send her down to ask. And even though I couldn't help but watch her bounce up and down those steps, I was no longer coming over to steal glances of her. I was coming over to play pool. I was hooked.

 

[HueblerHustler7]

Though I am only 30, The very first time I remember actually playing was in my friends basement on his 9 footer when I was 17. We were all playing four friends and me, I knew I was hooked when I was the only one left shooting on the table and everyone else was watching tv on the couch. Wasn't until 21 until I started playing seriously and playing multiple times a week. Now I can't go a day without at least hitting some balls around, love pool and won't stop.

 

[beetle]

I vaguely remember our Gold Crown in the early 70s when we lived in Kent, Ohio. I was only about 6-7, so I couldn't really reach the table or do much at that age.

My grandparents lived in Flora, Illinois, and we'd go there almost every year. A highlight of those trips, as I got a little older, was to play at the local pool-hall where my grandfather played. It was only something like 25 cents/game at that time (in the mid 70s). I still have his cue!

When I was a late teen and in my 20s in the 80s- early 90s we had another table at our house in Wichita Falls, Texas. I was more into pool then and enjoyed playing with my dad up until his last year. He died young, at 62, which makes those last times playing with him more special.

I'm much more serious about the game now and I am able to invest more time in the last few years since the trials of graduate school and my career have eased up.

It was surprising to know that the places I lived and visited in Ohio, Illinois, and Texas were actually hotbeds of high-level pool when I lived there, but I was too young and not that familiar with the scene to see some of the champions and hustlers when I was growing up. It likely would have stimulated me to take the game more seriously when I was younger, if I had. Then again, it might have distracted me from my education and career!