Young U.S. 9 Ball players?

[mikepage]

Forgot about Olson. Landon will be a weekend warrior once he starts working. Been told he's going to teach school. Never heard of Styer. Where's he from? Wisconsin kid?

Danny Olson's been stepping it up lately. I think is about 25. Granted this is a highlight reel of matches but some pretty good ones in the last year.

Tyler is a WI kid who has been playing a lot of events around Vegas (and AZ and CA) in the last three months -- don't know if it is a move or just an extended trip.

 

[PhilosopherKing]

Internationally some of the best players in the world are or achieved their success fairly young:

Wu was a world champ at 16.
Kaci just turned 19 and has been winning international events.
Aranas
Filler
Sanchez
Albin
Ruslan
Chen

It does feel like we don't have the same representation of junior players. It would be nice to have a few 16 and 17 year olds that are 770-780 fargo out of the chute, then as they become seasoned they grow super strong at 800+. Instead it seems our youth players are strong but stall out in the 750-780 range. This is obviously an extremely high level of pool, but it is the price of admission in the international events. It's enough to be competitive but not win.

To be fair, we don't need many 800 players to have our fair share of representation at the top. Before we say "We just have SVB" we have to remember that Dechaine is ranked 15th at 799 and Bergman is ranked 23rd at 793. So we have 3 players in the top 25. Taiwan has 5. Philippines have 7. Great Britain has 2. Many countries have one, and many others aren't on this list. We have to remember this isn't the 80s. Now that this game is world wide we can't expect the same market share.

The rewards for pool in the US may be an issue. I know Berg has said this. So has Dechaine. From this vantage it looks like we have the resources in terms of talent but not in terms of incentive.

Still, when kids are teenagers they should be able to put everything into pool. What I think I'm coming to believe is that for the US to turn out world champions, it helps a lot to get to the highest levels by the time they are 18. It seems like the costs of continuing to work on an international pool education beyond that is too high in the US compared to alternatives, and progress slows down once you've been at the same level too long. Chip Compton and Joey Gray have been in the 740-750 range for a few years now, it would take a lot for them to push through to 800+. I'd love to see it, but it's a hard road.

This thread started by asking about junior players. I think this is a good focus. I'm thinking if pool needs to improve in the US it isn't with our 20 and 25 year olds, it's with our 15 year olds. What needs to happen for us to produce 16 year old 200 ball runners?

you make perfect sense here, but at what age did ralf souquet hit his stride?

 

[PhilosopherKing]

All overrated.

Actually, Bergman might be the second most underrated player in the world behind Mike Dechaine.

A lot of Euro-Tour players wouldn't want them competing on a regular basis, especially if their expenses were being paid.

I think he also took a huge chunk of time-off in the middle of his prime.
'

 

[sparkle84]

This thread started by asking about junior players. I think this is a good focus. I'm thinking if pool needs to improve in the US it isn't with our 20 and 25 year olds, it's with our 15 year olds. What needs to happen for us to produce 16 year old 200 ball runners?

Kind of off topic but Juniors have been part of the conversation so I'll throw in my 2 cents.
16 YO 200 ball runner?
Take 50 kids, start them at 8, they do nothing but play pool 8 hrs/day for the next 8 years guided by top level coaches and instructors. Then maybe one of them might be capable of running 200 balls. Maybe.
I just recently watched Michele Jiang (Jr. Champion) for an extended period of time.
While she's a decent player I kept thinking about how huge the gap was between her and the top women players. Where does she go from here?
Does she even want to pursue pool any further given that it's unlikely she'll be able to make money at it and even if she could the dedication it would take will without question detract greatly from finding fulfillment in other areas of her life.
I guess getting into the program at Lindenwood University would be the best option but if not that then what?
I wish the reality of the situation was different but unfortunately its not.
The people that train these kids are to be applauded but they're volunteers and many aren't really qualified beyond a certain point.
There's no money and very little interest. Open to ideas on how to change that cuz I'm fresh out. It's depressing to me.