Couples Therapy

Last weekend Marco and I played in a scotch doubles event in a small city about 45 minutes outside of Zurich. As I have mentioned before, the players here have organized private clubs where most competitions are held and each one has their own little community of players. This event was in Lucerne at a club called Billard Club National Littau which has around 50 members with 7 9" tables, one snooker table, kitchen, private smoking lounge, cue storage areas and a nice bar at the entrance.

The more I play in new events around this region the more I learn about the pool culture. Before coming to Europe, I had a subconscious idea in my head of what a "normal" path for pool knowledge/development looked like but every day here challenges that idea. Players approach the game in such a different manner here that it's hard to tell what concepts a player has learned and what they have not. For instance, in the U.S. you know the "bar players" that think it's not fair play to play defensive shots? Well, I have not seen that exist even in beginners here. Strategy is considered a norm here. This is a very basic example but these differences in development really came to light at this scotch tournament and particularly in the women I see here.

I have always thought that you can kind of tell how well a player shoots just by watching one or two shots and seeing their stroke, stance, etc. What I have learned here is that since most players have a great sense for correct mechanics, that immediate determination is not as easy to do. I rarely see a female player that makes what I think are normal novice mistakes like holding the cue too far back, bridging too short, standing in an unbalanced manner. Instead, the women here are quite good shot makers and have a good grasp for the natural paths of the cue ball. They play more games (straight pool and snooker) so their experience is more well rounded. However, they seem to be a bit timid with manipulating the path of the cue ball. They play shape by adjusting their speed or by using a bit of draw but I rarely see them put any real english on the ball, or attempt any big stroke shots.

At first I thought this might be because there is a definite shortage in the number of women that play but after playing in this tournament I wonder if there is another factor. The male ego is a very funny thing and I am not generalizing for all men but it was a very big factor in a tournament like this. It always baffles me why guys insist on trying to crush the ball when we are using a magic rack! Everyone in the pool world knows that the wing ball goes in the corner every time with a magic rack so why bother risking the cue ball getting kicked in or being unsure of how far up table the one ball will go if it't not necessary?

This was our strategy and it worked great until we were on a table with a REALLY old magic rack that didn't lay right anymore. Because the first shot of the rack is arguably the most important shot and the shot that will either start us out in line for the rest of the rack or it will be the shot to hand over control to the other team, we always had Marco taking that first shot. He is the stronger player and I think that is always the best strategy in a scotch team. I did a soft break, making the wing ball every time and hitting it just hard enough to bring the 1ball to sit in front of the side pocket. Even though this was an obvious strategy to others and it was winning us game after game, I couldn't believe that the other guys still insisted on making fun of Marco because "the woman is doing the breaking." Guys really think their role is for power.

So this got me thinking when we got to later rounds against stronger players. The Male-female dynamic was so interesting, and at some points irritating for me to see. This tournament allowed all teams to talk to each other throughout the entire game and some teams took that to an extreme. During one of our matches, our opponents discussed every single shot. The male player was a top player in Switzerland but the female player was also a quite accomplished player in her own right yet when she player with him, not only did he have something to say about EVERY shot, SHE needed his opinion on every shot! In her own matches playing against other women she is decisive, confident and wins quite a few tournaments but suddenly when playing with a top male player, she is unsure of how to execute the simplest of shots. So I wonder if perhaps the fact that the women are less willing to experiment with a lot of english or try new shots has anything to do with the gender roles I see in men and women's pool here.

To encourage more women to play and to help develop the skills of the women that are already playing, one of the girls that runs our private club and I will be doing a monthly ladies night at our club. I'm hoping it will become a regular thing and we can get a good turn out.