The Most Fun I've Had at the Pool Table in a Long Time

[DelaWho???]

Yersterday the local Moose lodge held an adult/teen Scotch doubles tourney. About a month ago I told a kid I'd be his partner, and everytime he saw me he would remind me of it. As the tourney drew near, I was kind of dreading it. I didn't want to be hung up there all day waiting for a bunch of kids to play.
I show up, because I told him I would, and we get started. The format is APA style 8 ball, double elimination, alternating shot, race to 2 on a bar box. There wasn't an entry fee, it was free for everyone involved. All the kids that participated got a ballcap and a free soda voucher, I had to buy my own drinks....

We get started, and the kid I'm partnered with has game...We go down in the first match 1-2 and head to the losers bracket. There we made our stand. We sent 5 teams home including the team that put us on the 1 loss side. We make it to the final match, against the defending champs (father/son team) and we lost 1-2. It started at 1pm and we were done by 5.
First place was a trophy, $50.00 gift certificate to the mall and a Sportcraft (wooohooo... ) cue. The dad got a voucher for a free steak dinner at the Moose ($12)
Second place got a $30 gift certificate to the mall and a Sportcraft cue (wooohooo... ) I won a voucher for a cheese steak at the Moose ($6). There was a prize for third, but I don't know what it was.
I told the kid I'd partner with him anytime, and he was delighted. We made a great team, I let him play his game and offered the occasional suggestion, and he left me where I could at least hit the ball every shot.
The next step is to get the other Moose lodges in the area to do the same type of thing, and then have a Moose state adult/teen tourney.......
Just thought I'd share. It was great to spend time with all of these new young players, who were (most of them) quite impressive on the table.

Banger McCue

 

[Adanac67]

I wish we had something like this in my area. You are a good man for helping out the youth and it sounds like it is very rewarding. The prizes mean nothing and the fact that you helped make a kid's day beats any prize you could have won.

 

[thekid14]

any another way you can think about it (besides just helping the youth) you paid no money (except for drinks) got a couple hours of pool time and a cheese steak for nothing.... cant complain about that at all. they dont have that kind of thing in jersey as far as i know... wish they did.

 

[pooltchr]

Just thought I'd share. It was great to spend time with all of these new young players, who were (most of them) quite impressive on the table.

Banger McCue

I couldn't agree more! There is a youth league in our area, and today is the end of session awards banquet. I am the prize for the second place finishing team. They get me for 4 hours of lessons. I did this last year and the kids (10-15 years old) were great. They shoot pretty well, and were very anxious to learn. Getting teenagers to pay attention to ANYTHING for 4 hours can be a challenge, but they did it last year. I am looking forward to spending some time with these kids this afternoon. Hopefully, they can finish first next year, and won't have to listen to me again!
Steve

 

[DelaWho???]

any another way you can think about it (besides just helping the youth) you paid no money (except for drinks) got a couple hours of pool time and a cheese steak for nothing.... cant complain about that at all. they dont have that kind of thing in jersey as far as i know... wish they did.

I really didn't want to be there until I got there. It seemed like I had a million other things to do, but I am a man of my word, and I knew the kid was psyched about it so there was no way I wasn't going to go.
I did tell him before we strated that any prizes won were his.....I didn't expect the cheese steak voucher, and he would have gotten that too, but they put my name on it, so who am I to not enjoy a good steak sub....

The local Moose has 3 barboxes, and they do an 8 ball tourney Friday night and 9 ball Saturday night. An adult scotch doubles once a month and now the kids tourney once a month. One of the members suggested the kids tourney (the guy who won it both times lol) and it looks like it's a success. They raised the entry fee on Friday/Saturday nights by a dollar (now it's $6 to enter) to pay for the kids prizes. Maybe if you have a Moose or an Elks or a VFW, where under 21 can get in, you could orgainize something in your area.

Banger McCue