[poolplayerpatti]

From the time I played in my first league til now, I have seen that in some way, men and women are considered different in the world of pool. What I am saying is, according to my experience in playing leagues and tournaments and even pool being played on ESPN, when the average skill of a man is compared to the average skill of a woman, in your opinion, are men better than women? I think they are for several reasons and the other day a male friend of mine thought it was unfair in a coed tournament that there was an award and recognition for the "top woman" of the tournament. His reasoning was that men and women are equally skilled at the game of pool and it is unfair to give a special award to recognize the top woman player. What do you guys think?

[poolplayer2093]

the skill potential is the same! but from what i can tell women have been playing for a shorter amount of time. when more women start taking an interest and have more women to look up to and learn from we'll start seeing more monster women players.

i think there's a slight competitive edge given to the men though. we're brought up always trying to be the alpha dog

[poolplayerpatti]

Thanks for replying to my post. I agree that the skill potential is the same. A few weeks ago there was a 12 year old boy winning several grown ups in our Saturday afternoon tournament. I don't know how he did overall, and I heard that he was the Jr National Champion. I think it goes to natural talent and how much time a person can put in on practice. When I first started getting on this forum I saw a thread where players were posting about there personal consective runs. I purchased a book written by one of the top women 9ball players on ESPN, Jeanette Lee, (I may have the spelling wrong) a few years ago and she wrote about the day she ran 121, at that time her top best. The guys on the forum were talking up in the 200s. Anyway I was curious as to the opinions of some of you guys who are more knowledgeable than I am about the world of pool. Still would like to hear more opinions on the subject. Thanks again!

[Rono8275]

I think the skill level is pretty close between men and women in pool. It isn't like other sports like swimming, running, even golf where strength gives men an advantage. In pool it's all about controlling the cue ball and making the shots.

[thelmstetter]

Here is a pretty good article from Emily Duddy:
http://www.pooldawg.com/article/pool...rences-in-pool