Kids in league

[willtyson]

Hi I've just finished my first season in our local pub pool league which our team won. In this league they have now (unlike in leagues before this one) allowed children aged 11+ play in the league. I would just like to here your thoughts on this? And if this is common in pub pool leagues near you?

Many thanks, Will :snooker:

[jim evans]

hi will we have had kids aged about 8-10 upwards in our snooker league for 10-15 yrs now some of them are at the stage they are playing in qualifiers and the ptc events

[The Statman]

I know nothing about pool leagues but am secretary of our snooker league. Obviously pool is played far more in over-18 venues more than snooker, but nevertheless we did have a slight issue a few years ago with one Conservative Club which didn't allow children on the premises (maybe after a certain time in the evening).

We got around it by trying to stipulate that
(a) teams could only enter the league if their venue allowed persons under 18 to be on the premises for the duration of their published fixture, accompanied by a responsible adult;
and (b) teams could only field persons under 18 in their team when at least one appropriate adult was also playing and would be present throughout the time that a person under 18 is in attendance.

Seems this could logically be applied to a pool league?

[willtyson]

That must be a tough league if you've got pro's playing in it! I am the youngest in the 3 local snooker leagues combined and have only lost 3 matches so far, although the ones I have lost have been poor losses. Any other thoughts on this guys, and I was wondering about pub pool leagues as well? :snooker:

[willtyson]

I know nothing about pool leagues but am secretary of our snooker league. Obviously pool is played far more in over-18 venues more than snooker, but nevertheless we did have a slight issue a few years ago with one Conservative Club which didn't allow children on the premises (maybe after a certain time in the evening).

We got around it by trying to stipulate that
(a) teams could only enter the league if their venue allowed persons under 18 to be on the premises for the duration of their published fixture, accompanied by a responsible adult;
and (b) teams could only field persons under 18 in their team when at least one appropriate adult was also playing and would be present throughout the time that a person under 18 is in attendance.

Seems this could logically be applied to a pool league?

I agree however living in a small rural area people don't actually mind children in the pubs, which doesn't worry me as it means i can play as much as I want (as pool tables are also all free in pubs where I live) but adults often don't like being beaten in the league by children.

[PaddyLowson]

Statman I would think so. It'd be dependent on the number of venues. If you have a league with 14 pub venues involved and 10+ of them dont allow under 18s in then it's likely to be much more difficult than if it was one or two.

I do know in Sheffield that there is a thriving youth section in addition. There's a junior circuit played around the clubs and also a Junior Championship. I know one club organised a junior premier league (between the top 10-12 players). As Jim's said it's shown in the Sheffield PTCs where some of the youngsters notably Will Lemons and Ashley Carty have made it through to the main draw.

@Will as statman's said snooker leagues can legislate this and it would surprise me if this wasn't the same for pool. - As you've said about blokes being worried about being beaten by children then personally I think the shouldn't be competing. They'd be happy to beat you - wouldnt they

[The Statman]

Yes [b]Paddy[/i] I agree. And of course, poole leagues are probably majority pub venues whereas in snooker it's mainly snooker clubs and social clubs so there is likely to be less of a problem.

We did also have to impose a rule on allowing women entry, when we had a few teams with female participants. There are still a few clubs where women are not allowed to enter (although they have female bar staff!). We stipulated that they could enter the league on the understanding that if they did not allow women in the club they would have to forfeit home advantage when playing a team with a female member. (That is not wholly acceptable because why should a team give prior notice as to which members they intend to field for a given fixture, but we cannot as a league afford to discourage teams from entering.)

At the moment, the only division which has a woman registered as a player, does not include the club that disallows women.

We did have a problem once where there was not a female player in the team but one of the visiting players brought his wife along, by necessity because he had to pick her up from work on the way to the fixture, and they were not allowed in - this too caused a but of discomfort as you can imagine!

[Souwester]

I play in a rural pool league of 14 teams, of which 12 are in pubs/social clubs. there are a handful of minors, from age about 12 upwards, and, to my knowledge, there isn't anywhere that prevents them from playing.

[DeanH]

We used to have a 12yr old in our pool teams years ago in the pub pool league, before we went out for an away match I (being the captain) would contact the landlord of the venue pub and check if it was ok for the youngster to be present, I would also mention that his dad was part of the team as well and would "guarantee" his behaviour. I never got a "no" but always a "hmm, ok." and there would be comments made once we got to the venue.
There are no rules about age limit but more about concerns with such a young'en in certain environments, as well as the opponents having to play him "even worst than playing a woman!" - and more often "worst than being beaten by a woman"!" as the 12yr old was a pretty good player
I would also say that we also had two players of the female gender in our team at the time (one is now my wife ) and that would sometimes raise an eye brow or two (especially when they bent down for the shot! )
Overall, I would say that young age is not a problem as long as the youngster themselves can handle the competitive and sometimes aggressive environment.

[andy carson]

personally i would say good luck to the lads, good to see young players being involved in the game properly.

[Tom Read]

personally i would say good luck to the lads, good to see young players being involved in the game properly.

Exactly, we want youngsters playing the game, right?

I started in my local league when I was 16 or 17. Now I'm 19 and playing in it, and I'm probably one of the youngest. It's a shame really, playing in and around Cambridge and there aren't many youngsters in teams, let alone in the clubs where we play our league matches.

It shows also that people want younger players in my league, as a lot of the older people I play against say it's nice to see somebody like me playing league matches on a Friday night, where most would be out on the lash... (to be fair, Friday's are rubbish where I live!)

[andy carson]

Exactly, we want youngsters playing the game, right?

I started in my local league when I was 16 or 17. Now I'm 19 and playing in it, and I'm probably one of the youngest. It's a shame really, playing in and around Cambridge and there aren't many youngsters in teams, let alone in the clubs where we play our league matches.

It shows also that people want younger players in my league, as a lot of the older people I play against say it's nice to see somebody like me playing league matches on a Friday night, where most would be out on the lash... (to be fair, Friday's are rubbish where I live!)

spot on

if they are good enough then let them play, no need in holding back talent for a few old farts who dont think its "right" for them to be playing or in a pub....

our snooker leauge is full of old farts, i wish actually there was younger players in it...

[willtyson]

Hi guys, thanks for everyone's thoughts, most of the old farts in both my pool and snooker leagues usually try to put me off in some way; like shouting to their friends about non-snooker/pool related subjects (the last two that did it were talking about their golf rounds:things like which club to use on each hole- this is extremely of putting!), some people stand directly behind the pockets, others wish bad fortune upon me when balls are going to either snooker me or go in the pockets (they make little snide remarks, things like 'go on keep rolling' ect), Others just make the snide remarks (things like- when I shake their hands and I always say 'good game well played' the other day an old man turned around and told me 'it wasn't a good game!' and just walked away, Others just take forever over a simple shot to try and slow my game down or annoy me when they do this I usually slow my game down to half the speed of theirs which they then get bored and speed back up. Trust me there's a lot of old farts in my leagues and they don't like getting beaten by a 14 year old!

[The Statman]

... (the last two that did it were talking about their golf rounds:things like which club to use on each hole- this is extremely of putting!) ...

Well if it's about putting, surely they would use a putter?

(Sorry, couldn't resist!)

[willtyson]

I was waiting for it Statman! I don't really care what club they use, but I sure know where I'd stick it! :snooker: