Many have heard of the discipline of billard or “pool”, as it is popularly known in our country, more and more sites that open their doors in Costa Rica for lovers of this sport. Historically, it has been a sport ill-linked to drugs, but recently the Ministry of Public Education (MEP) announced that it will teach pool play to children in our country’s schools, as a method of concentration and discipline.

Undoubtedly at some point he heard the term “black ball” or “ball 8”, this is just one of the games that sport provides, that within its characteristics integrate a lot of precision when hitting the balls with the cue to play.

here are a lot of variants for the pool, such as: French billiards or carom, English billiards, pool or pool, as well as Spanish, all integrate different ways of playing, but fun is guaranteed.

However being a good player in this discipline is not easy and, therefore, the pool teacher and former president of the Buchacas Sports Association, Junior Umaña, tells us the five keys to be a champion. 

1- You have to recognize the pool as a science, but above all it is a very disciplined sport , if you do not have good discipline it will be very difficult to be successful in this.

2- Get a good teacher, I always say a phrase you can play for 20 years in a row and you will not get a good level but you will train 20 hours with a teacher and you will learn much more than in 20 years of play. Having a good teacher to guide you to overcome each level is vital and can help you perfect the technique.

3- Do not extend in practice, the hours should go up to a maximum of 4 hours , playing pool for many hours does not work at all, because the mind no longer works the same and the body does not so the only thing they do when playing so much time is wearing out. The schedules should be administered and not play every day but 3-4 times a week.

4- The personalized team is key, to which we refer to have a taco of the right weight ie19 ounces by a lot, sometimes you tend to think that the heavier the taco the better and it’s not like that. In addition to a ferrule that does not exceed 13 millimeters , that for me are measures that help you improve.

5- The competition is always important, and being able to play some official tournaments can help you perfect the technique and correct some details with your teacher or coach.