Teaching

Last week I was contacted by a pool player here in town, Mark Otto. He told me about the pool club he was allowed to start at Chiddix Junior High in Normal, IL. I thought it was pretty cool. When I was a freshman in high school, I proposed a pool club or pool being added to the PE curriculum. I was laughed at. Of course, pool has such a bad reputation, at least that was the school boards excuse. I was happy to find out the Mark got something going. Hopefully it will grow into something more and eventually all of the local schools will give pool a chance!

The first day that I went to help out was last Tuesday. There were only three kids that attended, Will, Deion, and Zack. The flu has hit the schools really hard and there are usually at least ten kids in attendance. It was fun and I got a chance to play some challenge games, do some trick shots and answer questions. Here is the Tuesday group:
I was supposed to go back that Thursday but I got stuck standing in line waiting for the H1N1 vaccine for four hours! Sorry I missed it kids. I had to take the precaution for traveling and having a chronic illness.

So today (Thursday) I went back and took Jason along with me. Wow, what a turn-out!! Sixteen kids showed up. We got a chance to meet and play lots of games. Thank you all for being so nice and willing to learn about pool! Now for the list of everyone there, Sam, Kenny, Robbie, Jordan, Kevin, Michael, Juan, Michael, Katy, Adison, Oliver, Brysen, Dylan, Omar, Colt, and Daniel. It was fun guys and I will definitely be back!
One thing that Mark has is something that can help people learn to play pool. He has a training aid that helps show the where to aim on virtually any shot. He showed it to me last week. I think it is something that can help any beginner. I would say it is a hands on tool that is similar to the ghost ball method of aiming. I highly recommend it to anyone that is just learning or is interested in learning. Here is a picture of the trainer. Each trainer comes with a DVD that will help explain. Please check out his website www.teachmepool.com and keep this tool in mind especially if you are planning to teach your kids how to play.

While we are on the topic of kids playing pool, the WPA Junior 9-ball Championships began today in Nicaragua. You can click here to watch the live-stream and see score updates. Good luck Team USA, Nick Tafoya, Skylar Woodward, Jesse Engel, Landon Shuffet, Brendan Crockett, Briana Miller, Nicole Jaynes and Liz Lovely!! All of them were winners or top finishers in the 2009 BEF Junior Nationals.

The other excitement of this week was doing a radio interview. Brent and Kevin from the radio station B104 originally contacted me when I was in Taiwan. I couldn't make it that time since I was in Taiwan so we scheduled it for this past Wednesday. It was just a short interview talking about visiting China and how I got started. If you would like to listen it will air Tuesday, November 10 at 7:40am cst. Here are the links for the radio station B104 and the page that links directly to Brent and Kevin in the Morning.

All in all, I would say this was a pretty interesting week. Thanks again Mark and all of the kids that participate in the pool club! Thanks B104 and Brent and Kevin for inviting me to be on the show! I really appreciate it.

**edit: Sorry I left Brendan Crocketts name off the list of competitors from the USA. I apologize Brendan, good luck!!