Why I Quit After Playing Almost Everyday for 30 Years

[Meticulous G]

My break has been better than ever.

I quit drinking and started training for the last 5 months. My breaks are almost professional levels. I always had speed but now its speed and power.

Sadly its not very controlled but I'm guarantee to always pocket something.

Speed and power as independent from each other? I'm not physicist, but that sounds weird

"The stronger the muscle, the quicker the bone" comes to mind...my wrestling coach said that

Sounds like however much power is exerted, determines the speed, and the speed of the cb determines how much energy is transferred in the next contact, ...aand it's all directly(?) proportionate, ya?

 

[KMcGrath61]

Maybe 25 years or so ago, in Delaware, I met an old timer that was 81 years old. He was hitting balls on a table and I got the table next to him. He asked if I wanted to shoot some and I thought why not .

He wanted to play straight and asked if I knew the game, I told him sure but it had been a number of years since I last played. I racked and we got started. He was good and it was easy to see he had once probably been very formidable, Lindy D'Onofrio was his name.

I started meeting him every Saturday afternoon to play some 14.1. As we got to know each other he shared stories from his younger years when he used to play with the likes of Jimmy Carras and Mosconi when he was visiting Wilmington, and about seeing Ralph Greenleaf play. He always had some fascinating stories and I enjoyed listening to him.
Along the way he would pass on tips and tricks and all manner of knowledge of the game as he had been playing for so many years.

He passed away at the ripe age of 97 years old. He never once thought about giving up the game he loved, and willingly shared his knowledge and more importantly some of the lore that makes the mystique of this game so colorful and interesting.

I absolutely consider it a privilege to have played with him those times I did and hope that in some small way as I age, I'm now 62, that I am able to pass on some of what I have seen and learned to another young and eager player.

i see no reason to slow down, I am not quite the shot maker I was at one time, and I do take breaks for the game from time to time, but I don't ever see myself completely walking away from it.

 

[jalapus logan]

I am 47 and still improving. I think I need contacts though.. I can't see anymore when my cue is close to cueball. I then start have more space between cueball and cue...

I can relate to this. I'm 46 and I started back playing and practicing again within the last four months. I actually think I'm getting better now than I was ten years ago. I do wear contacts, multifocal lenses to be specific, and I truly don't see the edges of the balls as crisply as I did once upon a time, especially close up. But I am more than encouraged by my enjoyment of the game and my continued practice. Progress, or regress, either way, I'll die with a cue in my hand (unless I happen to be holding a fishing rod at the time of my passing). All this knowing I'll never be a world champ. Or even a champ of any caliber most likely. But know what, I hit this sick table length draw shot on Thursday night in the pool league shooting the cue ball out of the jaws of the corner pocket to get the only conceivable off angle shape to pot the 8 ball. Everybody's eyes got big watching that one...hell, me too, I shocked myself with that one. In fact, that single shot will probably have me keep playing all on it's own for the next decade, lololololol.

My final argument is that pool is better than work. Refute that boyzzzzz!!!

 

[KMcGrath61]

Reading through a few of these posts reminds me of a T Shirt I used to have, it said:

"If only I was as good as I think I remember I am"

 

[OverTheNut]

I think I've improved with age. There's way more info out there nowadays to help you. Use it.

Anyone who says something like 'I used to be good at pool - but then didn't play for 20 years - now I suck' wasn't ever that good. Guaranteed.