What is it that makes the top players fall off?

jhanso18

jhanso18

Broken Lock
Silver Member
We all know that after time, players fall out of their "prime." My question is why? Why does one lose the ability? It's not as if pool has A LOT of physical demand. I would think the biggest detractor would be sight, but that can be corrected fairly easy. Stamina sure, but it's not like that's a huge issue either. Do they loose feel?

I am curious what happens. I know golf isn't quite the same as pool, but it's close. I understand that the older boys just start to loose the "touch" they once had after a while. That's the only thing that makes since to me...


Either way, I was thinking out loud again, and thought I'd share.


Best,

Justin
 
It is very hard to be at the top of any heap, harder to stay there.

Pool ain't no way to be a grown-up either.

But above all other reasons, I'd guess folks fade due to lack of motivation though.
 
Black-Balled said:
But above all other reasons, I'd guess folks fade due to lack of motivation though.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Something I heard Mike Davis say at the tournament this weekend (paraphrased from memory): "To play at the top level you have to work so hard on every shot; if you don't have a strong desire to play it's just not worth it." The older you are as a pool player, the more rare it is to possess the kind of drive it takes to give every shot everything you have, and devote the kind of hours it takes to be the best player you can be.

-Andrew
 
jhanso18 said:
We all know that after time, players fall out of their "prime." My question is why? Why does one lose the ability? It's not as if pool has A LOT of physical demand
Click to expand...


Mike Sigel - lost his drive. He often lamented that if this were a different sport and he was the number one player, he'd be a millionaire.

Strickland - still extremely competitive, but disclosed that his body is changing as he gets older and has to something to compete with the younger guys, according to a recent interview. That's why he's gone to padding, weights, longer cue.

So both mental and physical. You have to be pretty special to keep your drive and you have be pretty special to recognize the physical aspects and how to address them.

Freddie <~~~ not very special... recognizes the sofa and the hot dogs
 
jhanso18 said:
We all know that after time, players fall out of their "prime." My question is why? Why does one lose the ability? It's not as if pool has A LOT of physical demand. I would think the biggest detractor would be sight, but that can be corrected fairly easy. Stamina sure, but it's not like that's a huge issue either. Do they loose feel?

I am curious what happens. I know golf isn't quite the same as pool, but it's close. I understand that the older boys just start to loose the "touch" they once had after a while. That's the only thing that makes since to me...


Either way, I was thinking out loud again, and thought I'd share.


Best,

Justin
Click to expand...

I don't think old golfers lose their touch...they lose their distance off the tee. If they can maintain that, they can still play with the field. Look at Freddie Couples at the masters hitting 300 off the tee...at 53 years old.

The pool comparison would have to be the break. And with they way some top players break today...it would make sense. I think Shane vs. Efren (10 ball and 8 ball) will show just that.
 
They loose the hunger.

Prize fighters are a perfect example of this. They train hard and dream of one day being the champ. Then one day they realize that dream and become satisfied........now what? Without that hunger it's hard to find the heart to compete at the level required to stay at the top.
 
Regarding sight...the problem isn't that you can no longer see. The problem is that it takes your eyes longer to change focus from the CB to OB and back again 5 times in the course of lining up a shot. It's only 1/2-second longer but that makes it so much harder to play in the moment and stay confident.

It's the physical making the mental harder.
 
I would suppose it's not one thing for every person. I know a very good player here in town, that has won about everything you can win in the tri-state area, and he actually just doesn't care much to play anymore. His hunger is GONE. Occasionally He'll play a guy tough, and when he does it's like watching an artist!
 
To me, the question is almost "what makes the top players go up" rather than "what makes them go down".

It's kind of abnormal to obsessively play a game to the point where you practice endless hours and then travel all over the globe (for almost no pay) to potentially get your ass kicked in a game where the best player may not even get to participate, much less win.

The guys who semi-retire from pool to enjoy other things in life are just doing what most normal people would. They say shane spent 12 hours one day just breaking. If he spent 12 hours throwing a dodgeball at a target on the wall instead, they'd have committed him.
 
My opinion is that it's kind of like the pool version of the law of diminishing returns. It takes so much work and effort to keep getting better and at some point you can only put in the extra work so long before you start letting up. I really don't understand why most poolplayers don't burn completely out because there isn't much to keep them going and just a little noticeable improvement could take a ton of dedicated work. Without more measurable benefits... jeez, it makes me wonder why anyone plays.
 
A lot of players get to a very high level and find that there's not enough reward to justify the time and effort it takes to stay at the top.
 
All young pool players must come to the realization that there are only a couple of handfuls of people who have ever made any real money playing pool.
There are very few who ever kept any of it.
Some continue to keep playing and improving in spite of that for various reasons.
All of them, one day, wake up to the reality that there is no big money to be made, and stop giving it their full effort.
The sad part is ,that most only know how to do one thing, play pool.
Their options are limited and the majority live a subsistence type of life on some kind of government aid.
It is a tragedy that has played itself out as far back as I can remember.
How do you go, from a life of getting up when you want , going to sleep when you want, gambling and excitement frequently, to going to a nine to five job when you are 40 or 50 years old?
I try to give thanks every time I think about it, that I didn't play better when I was young.
Most of my friends in life have been pool and card players, both trades have devastating effects on familys and relationships and neither has a pension plan.
disclaimer
{The hold em tournament players of the last 12 years I have no idea about , they made so much money, so quickly ,it would be hard to believe some of them did not survive but who knows?}
 
I would say focus. Many times people have something happen in their life that make blocking out out everything except pool or that one shot tough. If it creeps into your thoughts durning play, you are toast. But I think everyone has posted very good reasons as to why not just the top players, but all of us have days that are better than others.--Smitty
 
jhanso18 said:
We all know that after time, players fall out of their "prime." My question is why? Why does one lose the ability? It's not as if pool has A LOT of physical demand. I would think the biggest detractor would be sight, but that can be corrected fairly easy. Stamina sure, but it's not like that's a huge issue either. Do they loose feel?

I am curious what happens. I know golf isn't quite the same as pool, but it's close. I understand that the older boys just start to loose the "touch" they once had after a while. That's the only thing that makes since to me...


Either way, I was thinking out loud again, and thought I'd share.


Best,

Justin
Click to expand...


I think most pro players, like us deweebes, have periods of playing at our top speed, and others times when we do not play as well.

I think the other thing that happens is that some players just come to the table with a cue in their hand and play awesome from the get go. They just naturally fall onto the table and are setup to play wondrous pool. But, because it has come to them so naturally, they may not be aware of all the components that are making them play so well. And so then, somewhere down the road, when for whatever reasons they start doing things a bit differently (age, weight gain, injury, new cue, laziness), things go out of whack. The game demands so much precision that it doesn't take much.

Lou Figueroa
 
This question doesn't only apply to Pro's. We all know of one old guy here or there, that can play lights out, but use to be better. I'm talking those guys as well.

What ultimately brings the "great" players down to "good" player status.

This has been a pleasure to read BTW, thanks for the responses.

best,

Justin
 
I think some of the posters have nailed the reasons... No return (the pigeon coup fell down), too many incidents of one kind or another & loss of appetite.

We have several very good players in our area that have literally quit. A couple play poker, but otherwise they are content to drop bye, do a little BSing & leave.
 
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