USA vs Europe: past, present, and future

[smiling_Hans]

Why do you play at all? It sounds like you dont really like the game? Pool is not a waste of time any more than any other endeavor that the young participate in if like anything else the proper prospective is maintained. There are millions of kids playing sports that they wont gain from when they get to high school or college and they certainly wnot be playing those sports at 60 years old.

Its not the only sports where theres little Money to be made, its just the one I wish paid more.

Put it this way....do you wish the put a kid from your local pool hall through this? Most likely not.

It would be doing his life a disservice to persuade him to go this route no matter how talented you think he may be.

Lets not produce these players but let them shine on their own. I don't think SVB was groomed to be this top guy. He risen to become who he is due to his environment. The kid waiting for dad to finish his league games and knocking balls in the back, in my opinion, are the future of pool. Don't invest and force something on a kid in a no-paying industry.

 

[mattydrva]

was he a contemporary of Bergman and Woodward? If so, was he considered to be on their level?

He is a contemporary of them and was on their level, ya. I understand he beat Styer in a set in 2018-19 when Styer was on the MC team and playing well. Super strong player who had the good sense to move away from pool, haha. Smart kid. His dad is a well known pool player/instructor. Sounds like he would have been a shoe in for MC over the years but chose a different path; again smart kid!

 

[Bob Jewett]

If you break it down to two parts “Find the savants” and “develop the talent”, ...

I heard that in Poland the two parts work like this:

Lots of kids get to play pool in school. I'm guessing they have several years by the time they're 15 or so.

The top 700(?) each year at some age (15?) get more extensive training -- like being on the team. They are supported in pool activities by the national billiard federation until they are about 22, then they are more or less on their own. I think they might continue to be supported to play in sanctioned events like the National, European and World Championships.

 

[camaro69926]

I think it is funny that the US thinks that we should just be able to pick up a pool stick and practice "x" amount of hours and that is all it takes to be a pro. If a person does practice "x" amount of hours and is still not a pro then it is pool's fault.

Pro football players, baseball players, tennis players or any other professional sports all started when they were young and put in a ridiculous amount hours of practice. Then even when they got out of high school they put in even more work. Then they started to get paid for all of the years of practice they have put in.

Pool is no different. You cant just play in leagues and a tournament once a month and expect to play as good as any pros. Then complain because there is no money in pool. Yet the person that says that kind of stuff doesnt want to put the hours in of practice. Or they say because they have a house payment and bills so they cant become pros. No pro football player woke up in their mid 20's and said I want to really train to become a pro football player now. It started when they were in elementary or junior high school.

My son's fargo is 719 now, but he plays more with the 740's to 750's. Fargo is not really a thing in our area and that is true for a lot of places here in the US. I just watched Payne McBride run a 4 pack during a tournament and he is a 659.

Sorry for the rant. My son hears it all the time from adults in pool halls. Stop playing, no money, he will end up doing drugs all of this negative crap. He just loves to play and compete. USA have a real strong group of juniors coming up.

 

[justnum]

If you break it down to two parts “Find the savants” and “develop the talent”, the U.S. might actually be favorable on the first item in the social media world, but is seemingly lacking at developing talent.

My thought process here is that the number of basement pool tables in the U.S. should dwarf Europe, as more land, larger houses, and lower energy costs are all favorable here. That’s how 10 year olds get on tables. If some kid starts running racks on his basement table it’s damn sure showing up on social media. Tiger Woods has videos of him as a 4 year old just “getting” golf (little did he know at the time low-rent chain restaurant waitresses would be his downfall).

The next step then is where Europe excels and takes those kids and develops them. Of course, just like the lower population density (and larger houses) of the USA makes home tables more common, higher population densities make it easier to run programs for niche activities in Europe, so it’s a catch 22 for the US.

The legal people got had when they called healing medicine drugs by the pharma sales people. Have some scientist make synthetics when organics are available? Unless its a required project, it would only lead to loss and decay. Still both are needed and everyone gets the needle.

But that is another discussion.

US pool players need sponsors that get involved and stay involved. This is not a pet project.

 

[garczar]

I think it is funny that the US thinks that we should just be able to pick up a pool stick and practice "x" amount of hours and that is all it takes to be a pro. If a person does practice "x" amount of hours and is still not a pro then it is pool's fault.

Pro football players, baseball players, tennis players or any other professional sports all started when they were young and put in a ridiculous amount hours of practice. Then even when they got out of high school they put in even more work. Then they started to get paid for all of the years of practice they have put in.

Pool is no different. You cant just play in leagues and a tournament once a month and expect to play as good as any pros. Then complain because there is no money in pool. Yet the person that says that kind of stuff doesnt want to put the hours in of practice. Or they say because they have a house payment and bills so they cant become pros. No pro football player woke up in their mid 20's and said I want to really train to become a pro football player now. It started when they were in elementary or junior high school.

My son's fargo is 719 now, but he plays more with the 740's to 750's. Fargo is not really a thing in our area and that is true for a lot of places here in the US. I just watched Payne McBride run a 4 pack during a tournament and he is a 659.

Sorry for the rant. My son hears it all the time from adults in pool halls. Stop playing, no money, he will end up doing drugs all of this negative crap. He just loves to play and compete. USA have a real strong group of juniors coming up.

Problem is almost all play the lion's share of their pool on bar boxes. Until THAT fact changes the US will be Europe's b#%*ch in the MC.