According to

PE instructor Marcie Davis, it came about one day when she was teaching

a class outside and it started to rain. One of the students suggested

they shoot pool. She searched for a place to play as well as an instructor

and found both at Hard Times Billiards.

She teamed

up with Barton Mahoney, a certified Billiard Congress of America (BCA)

billiard instructor who teaches the techniques established by the nonprofit

World Billiard Instructor's Association. "I was looking for a place

to teach pool and he was looking for a medium to teach it," Davis

said.

Besides going

off campus to play pool and write about it, what else does the course

teach these young people?

Pool is a game

that deals with the fundamentals of geometry and physics and requires

hand-eye coordination. It also teaches socialization, and students don't

have to be athletes to play.

Mahoney couldn't

agree more. "Young people appreciate the fact that the playing field

is equal with no social, physical or gender barriers," he said. "Learning

the physical geometry (of the body) through the application of visual

geometry (of the game) is how the intricacies of pool are discovered."

Since starting

the course in 1999, more than 700 students have taken the class. Marcie

thinks that what sets it apart is the fact that the class has a reading

and writing component. All classes at Del Campo require notebooks, and

in this class, students must do peer analysis and self-analysis. The students

also have assignments in which they read about a billiard personality

and write an essay.

Davis sets

high standards for her students in reading, writing and behavior. "If

a student misbehaves they are kicked out of the class," she said.

This has happened only once since the program's inception three years

ago.

BCA Hall of

Fame member and author Robert Byrne loves to sing the praises of the positive

attributes of cue sports and what young people can learn from the game.

"It teaches

advance planning; choosing the shot that gives you the chance to make

additional shots before your opponent does, not the one that gives you

immediate gratification," he stated.

"It also

demonstrates the concept of risk versus reward and is an exercise in discipline,

in which the player learns the value of emotional control."

There has been

so much interest in the school program that Davis and Mahoney are collaborating

on a Physical Education curriculum guide. "Bart is doing the writing

and I'm doing the collaborating," laughed Marcie. "I'm not a

billiard player, so I play teacher."

They plan to

present it to education groups around the country.

"The program

could grow to be a solid curriculum on the state and national levels,"

said Mahoney. "Education is a great way to bring significance to

our sport and I plan to encourage other certified billiard instructors

to join me in this quest. If our sport is to flourish, we must pave the

way for these students they are billiards' best ambassadors."

Stephen D.

Ducoff, executive director of the BCA in Colorado Springs, Colo., agrees.

"The BCA developed the education committee initiative a few months

ago with the goal of growing the sport nationwide," he said. "We

applaud the dedicated volunteers on this committee and are pleased with

its progress to date. Young people are the pool players of the future

stressing the educational attributes of the game will allow us to partner

with schools around the country."

Everything

old is new again. The students at Del Campo are discovering a game that

has been around a long time. According to Byrne, the game of pool is at

least 500 years old, with only chess having been in continuous play longer.

Mozart engaged

in billiard sports. In the movie "Amadeus," Mozart bounces a

billiard ball from one hand to the other while trying to decide whether

to go