The other side of Efren

CebuanoNiNoy

CebuanoNiNoy

Pinoy D Player
Silver Member
Efren the Ambassador inside a classroom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kxCpGFeDOY

Some of the words though are in tagalog specially
Efren's inspirational talk. But basically, it would
roughly translate as
"You are lucky (there's that word again) that you are here.
Look at me i did not finish in school. You should be thankful
to your parents that they sent you here. Again you are lucky
than i did before. Education should be your first priority. But
if you want to learn billiard/pool then it is also good. But again
it should be secondary only to your schooling. Because education
will go with you until you grow up (and becomes successfull)."
 
What I would love to see are more professional pool players with college degrees.

Other than Marlon Manalo and Nick Varner, are there any other active pool professionals with a college education?

But of course, with the current state professional pool, a college degree would be MUCH more valuable than a "successful" career in pool.

I wonder how things are like in Taiwan regarding pool and education.
 
jsp said:
What I would love to see are more professional pool players with college degrees.

Other than Marlon Manalo and Nick Varner, are there any other active pool professionals with a college education?

But of course, with the current state professional pool, a college degree would be MUCH more valuable than a "successful" career in pool.

I wonder how things are like in Taiwan regarding pool and education.
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You mean like most of the players in the NFL and NBA ? You know the ones, from places like Michigan, Ohio State, Florida, etc.,etc., that can't form a coherent sentence to save their life?

I understand what you are saying and agree that education is the best way to guarantee future success, but.....the balls on the table do not know or care where you went to school.

As far as a degree being rewarding, it depends on what you do with it. I know lots of educated people that are miserable. You pays your money and you takes your chance :D
 
JCIN said:
You mean like most of the players in the NFL and NBA ? You know the ones, from places like Michigan, Ohio State, Florida, etc.,etc., that can't form a coherent sentence to save their life?

I understand what you are saying and agree that education is the best way to guarantee future success, but.....the balls on the table do not know or care where you went to school.

As far as a degree being rewarding, it depends on what you do with it. I know lots of educated people that are miserable. You pays your money and you takes your chance :D
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I believe that an education is the key to securing your future. Playing pool at the highest level is not something that will last forever. Some guys don't realize that until it's too late. When I was 22-23 years old, I looked around at some players that were twice my age. They had been playing pool forever, gambling, and they had absolutely nothing to show for it. It was around that time in my life that I decided that I was not going to end up like some of those guys.

So... I went to school.

My education doesn't make me any better than anybody else. What it shows a prospective employer/business associate is that I had the discipline and the good sense to complete my studies in my chosen field to validate my expertise. Will that put balls in the pockets? No. But it puts more money in my pocket on a monthly basis than those players that are out there gambling for half of what I am making.
 
Blackjack said:
I believe that an education is the key to securing your future. Playing pool at the highest level is not something that will last forever. Some guys don't realize that until it's too late. When I was 22-23 years old, I looked around at some players that were twice my age. They had been playing pool forever, gambling, and they had absolutely nothing to show for it. It was around that time in my life that I decided that I was not going to end up like some of those guys.

So... I went to school.
Click to expand...

Reminds me of something similar in my life. At about age 21, with three years of college, I became obsessed with pool and quit school. For almost a year I virtually lived at Cotton Bowling Palace in Dallas. But like you, I looked at some of the older pool players and realized that most of them owned little or nothing beyond the cash they had in their pockets. So I went back to school, got a few degrees, and took a different path. Getting more education doesn't necessarily mean you'll make more money, but it usually means you will have more choices and options available to you.
 
Blackjack said:
I believe that an education is the key to securing your future. Playing pool at the highest level is not something that will last forever. Some guys don't realize that until it's too late. When I was 22-23 years old, I looked around at some players that were twice my age. They had been playing pool forever, gambling, and they had absolutely nothing to show for it. It was around that time in my life that I decided that I was not going to end up like some of those guys.

So... I went to school.

My education doesn't make me any better than anybody else. What it shows a prospective employer/business associate is that I had the discipline and the good sense to complete my studies in my chosen field to validate my expertise. Will that put balls in the pockets? No. But it puts more money in my pocket on a monthly basis than those players that are out there gambling for half of what I am making.
Click to expand...

All things being equal, more education is always better. But things are never equal. If you got a B.S. or B.A. why did you stop there? MBA and Phd. pay more. Because that is the choice you made and you live with the results.In my opinion attitude and work ethic trump most everything else.

It all depends on what you want and how hard you are willing to work to get it no matter what path you choose. Most people find a point where they are content and stay there. It is different for all of us.

I have friends who still work in the auto plant where I used to work (more than a few with degrees). They thought I was nuts for leaving $30 an hour and benefits for a buyout. I think they are wasting time in a job they hate and will eventually lose anyway. It all comes down to what a person wants to make of his or her life. I saw more than my share of guys who did "The smart thing" wake up one day at 65 and say "What the hell did I do with my life?" To me that is just as bad as those guys you saw in the pool room.

If all a guy wants to do is scuffle around in pool rooms for change then that is all he will ever be. To quote one of my favorite movies "The world needs ditch diggers too."
 
JCIN said:
All things being equal, more education is always better. But things are never equal. If you got a B.S. or B.A. why did you stop there? MBA and Phd. pay more. Because that is the choice you made and you live with the results.In my opinion attitude and work ethic trump most everything else.
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True, but there is Bill Gates and the rest of us.

In every society there are more regular guys than exemptional ones. When it comes to just being a regular guy, education is a bigger trump card.

That is what Efren is trying to point out. Yes, he is a celebrity with no education but has dedication who made it. For every one of him there are hundreds who won't make it with similar predicament, but if those hundreds have an education they will have something else to hold on to.
 
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jsp said:
Other than Marlon Manalo and Nick Varner, are there any other active pool professionals with a college education?
Click to expand...

Off the top of my head, Gerda Hoffstater has a Business Degree (from NYU I think) and Max Eberle has his degree in Geography from George Washington University (?).
 
CebuanoNiNoy said:
Efren the Ambassador inside a classroom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kxCpGFeDOY

Some of the words though are in tagalog specially
Efren's inspirational talk. But basically, it would
roughly translate as
"You are lucky (there's that word again) that you are here.
Look at me i did not finish in school. You should be thankful
to your parents that they sent you here. Again you are lucky
than i did before. Education should be your first priority. But
if you want to learn billiard/pool then it is also good. But again
it should be secondary only to your schooling. Because education
will go with you until you grow up (and becomes successfull)."
Click to expand...

Do you know if he also appears on a more impoverish school?

Southridge is probably not the right venue. Most of the kids that attend that school are set for life even if they turn into a couch potato.

Just my thought.
 
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JCIN said:
It all comes down to what a person wants to make of his or her life. I saw more than my share of guys who did "The smart thing" wake up one day at 65 and say "What the hell did I do with my life?" To me that is just as bad as those guys you saw in the pool room.

If all a guy wants to do is scuffle around in pool rooms for change then that is all he will ever be. To quote one of my favorite movies "The world needs ditch diggers too."
Click to expand...

I can relate to all of that. My dad worked for Western Electric in Kearny, New Jersey for over 30 years. At the end he received a gold watch and a pension. He was forced to retire due to health issues, and when the job was gone, he had nothing to fall back on. A few years later he had a stroke and was bedridden for the rest of his life. He died 7 years later, 3 days after his 65th birthday.

My dad always wanted to be a baseball player, but he never was able to follow his dreams. He was discouraged by those that told him that he need to find something that would give him security, so he did just that. He did what the world wanted him to do, and what he wanted to do got lost somewhere. He started a family, and then he worked 10 hour days 5 days a week and all those dreams faded into the background as the years went by. In the end, he had a lot of regret, a lot of coulda-woulda-shouldas . The message I received was this:

Follow your heart.

Pool has always been a big part of my life, but I have learned to keep it in perspective. My education is in the psychology field and I have done pretty well with that, and I can use it to assist me in my pool endeavors with coaching, writing, and teaching. When I signed up for the police department in El Paso in 1995, they didn't care what my degree was in, they just wanted to know if I had one. My degree could have been in Animal Husbandry and they would have cared less. I've owned and operated several of my own businesses. I have taught. I have written books. I've played pool at the highest level against the best players and I know where I stand with that - which is a lot better than sitting there someday wondering "what if".

I've lived out a lot of my dreams and achieved a lot of my goals, and IMO, education opened a lot of those doors for me. It's sad when you see other guys struggling out there with nothing to fall back on when its all over.
 
crosseyedjoe said:
Do you know if he also appears on a more impoverish school?

Southridge is probably not the right venue. Most of the kids that attend that school are set for life even if they turn into a couch potato.

Just my thought.
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Any school he walks into in the P I would fit that description. If he helps a few kids by giving this message then good for Efren.
 
alstl said:
Any school he walks into in the P I would fit that description. If he helps a few kids by giving this message then good for Efren.
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Not Southridge that why I ask if he is also doing it in other schools. Southridge is not any other school in P.I.
 
crosseyedjoe said:
Do you know if he also appears on a more impoverish school?

Southridge is probably not the right venue. Most of the kids that attend that school are set for life even if they turn into a couch potato.

Just my thought.
Click to expand...

Good Point. If you guys noticed, the school and the kids are, for lack of a better word, westernized. These are priveleged kids who come from well-heeled backgrounds and mostly mestizos (mixed breeds) of European Spanish or Chinese descent. If they are Malay looking, they are well-to-do or extremely intelligent. It takes money and influence to be in these schools.

As we all know, Efren came from an impoverished background and he is a HERO to the masses. In answer to your question, yes, he does appearances in economically challenged schools. It's however not recorded since these devices are out of financial reach for the average folks.

When it comes to pool though and pool being a game for the masses, over 90% of the best Phil. pool players hail from the poor to average folks. Economic standing nor ethnic heritage don't mean squat for the stick, table and balls.
 
fanthom said:
Good Point. If you guys noticed, the school and the kids are, for lack of a better word, westernized. These are priveleged kids who come from well-heeled backgrounds and mostly mestizos (mixed breeds) of European Spanish or Chinese descent. If they are Malay looking, they are well-to-do or extremely intelligent. It takes money and influence to be in these schools.
Click to expand...

It's a British owned Intenational School catering the foreign (ex-patriates) kids and local kids from affluent families.
 
You need education to develop as a person.I know very few normally socialised people without education.Most of uneducated are very bitter and very hard to talk to.I often have problems to get on the same level with them.Either bitter or extra full of themselves.
And i would go crazy just playing pool:eek:
 
fanthom said:
Good Point. If you guys noticed, the school and the kids are, for lack of a better word, westernized. These are priveleged kids who come from well-heeled backgrounds and mostly mestizos (mixed breeds) of European Spanish or Chinese descent. If they are Malay looking, they are well-to-do or extremely intelligent. It takes money and influence to be in these schools.

As we all know, Efren came from an impoverished background and he is a HERO to the masses. In answer to your question, yes, he does appearances in economically challenged schools. It's however not recorded since these devices are out of financial reach for the average folks.

When it comes to pool though and pool being a game for the masses, over 90% of the best Phil. pool players hail from the poor to average folks. Economic standing nor ethnic heritage don't mean squat for the stick, table and balls.
Click to expand...

That's probably why he told the kids they were lucky. My wife came from a similar background as Efren, grew up in Tondo, family too poor to send her to school. The biggest argument we ever had was when I wanted our son to join the military and she wanted him to go to college. She won, he went to college and he has a good job.
 
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