My First AHA! Moment
Hello! My name is Joe Bouchard. Over the years at my favorite pool halls I’ve also come to be known as Jobou, Jobo, or Big Jobo. Let me tell you a short little story…
Since the age of 15 I’ve been playing pool.
I’m chuckling right now as I remember that my best friend and I had to get our parents to take turns bringing us to a pool hall because we didn’t have licenses yet.
Believe me, pool did not come easy to me! I struggled early, and played with frustration while my friend constantly got better (I later learned he had a secret tutor!). And then one summer afternoon I was hit with an “Aha!” moment.
My buddy had just run 3 or 4 balls, each time the cue-ball miraculously rolled into a perfect spot for him to shoot yet another ball. “Again!?” I thought, “This guy is SO lucky! Wait… wait one second. No way!” I suddenly understood something: that scoundrel had meant to put the cue-ball in-line for another shot! It wasn’t just an accident, and he wasn’t as unbelievably lucky as I thought he was through all those weeks we’d been learning the game.
He’d meant to do it. He had consciously controlled that cue ball. Boy, did that change everything!
Pool has brought me a lot of those moments, and following that first “Aha!” was the thought “Genius! That means I can actually do something about improving myself at this miserable game!” and suddenly pool was no longer miserable.
Yes, it was still frustrating to struggle with the mechanics of the game, but I knew I could improve my mechanics by pure stubbornness if I had to, dagnabbit! Even as my buddy took to the sport like a fish to water, even though he had managed to get a head start on me, it became intensely fun to learn and compete, and to pit my growing skills against my friend.
My “Aha!” moment revealed that this game is as much about strategy and tactics and mental discipline as it is about physical skill. It has very little to do with pure luck, as I had once believed.
Even at 15 I enjoyed the thrill of pitting my wits competitively against someone else. I knew I might not be able to win over the fickle heart of Luck, but by golly I could practice the mechanical skills and mental dexterity and discipline that was required. So practice I did!
By senior year I was playing consistently in an in-house amateur 8-ball league that hosted something like 30+ teams over two nights, and I played in that league for almost ten years building many solid, lasting friendships. When that pool hall closed down, I moved along with the league to a different pool hall for a little bit, but I also decided to to try playing in a newly opened billiard club, and a in new handicapped league with maybe 20 teams.
Just a year after I started in that new league, I was offered a chance to take over directorship of it for a decent though small wage, and free pool.
FREE POOL?? How could I say no?
Over the next few years we built that league up to (at its largest) 28 teams on Monday night, and maybe 20 teams on Tuesday night. I helped streamline the in-house rules and their handicap system, and I worked very hard to keep some 200+ players satisfied, excited, competitive and non-combative. A lot of the time I succeeded, yet when I failed, which was plenty, my players were very supportive of me, and gave me opportunity to find better solutions.
I’m letting you know all this so you’ll have a better idea of who I am, where I’ve been, and what I’m about:
- I have been involved in pool leagues nearly half my life.
- I have spent many years dealing with league players and their friendships and conflicts, their losses and victories. I have been involved in their growth as players.
- I have helped build and stabilize a fantastic community of people who are passionate about the game of pool and of league competition.
- Although I have never been a professional-caliber player, I have a wealth of knowledge and wisdom about the game that I have enthusiastically shared with every league-player asking to learn from me.
- I teach something you can’t find in any old book of drills – how to develop a sure-shot mentality.
And now I’d like to share this knowledge with you, as well. To get you started why don’t you head on over to this fun and educational post: 8 Ball Pool Lessons From Reggie The River
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