OPINION: Howard Williamson - The pool table is still a relevant resource

But it does not have to be that way. A pool table can be a creative resource in a youth centre if youth workers have the courage to use it as an educational tool rather than a device for keeping the older young men happy. I once ran a training course on Breaking into Conventional Pool: creative uses of the pool table. It was amazing how many youth workers simply accepted the received wisdom of how a pool table could be used: a single list (names down) and one set of rules (winner stays on).

I suggested that one could have different lists (for girls and boys, for example, so that girls get an independent chance to play), that one could play loser stays on or that the new player could play anyone of their choice, and many other things. This inevitably produces allegations of unfairness. But it also raises the possibility of young people learning that there are few fixed positions in life. Indeed, the least you learn is that the first rule of pool is to establish the rules.