How one pocket became part of my life – by Govert-Jan Vos
I was 14 years old and had some time in between classes at my high school. A friend suggested to go to het Dijkje Duinzigt, the local pool room down the road. That was the start of a 25-year love affair with pocket billiards. The first couple of years it was mainly the start of a Friday night with the boys. After moving to Scheveningen in the neighborhood of Zeekantje Pool & Snooker, it became more serious. Next to playing pool I got into the game of snooker as well. There I got my first experience playing competition and tournaments. My game improved and the drive to get better was born.
After starting my college the time I spent playing pool got less and less. New friends and working more hours prevented me from spending time on the practice table. I still had some time left to play the occasional tournament but time for the competition was gone. I still went to the poolroom, but I spent more time at the bar than at the table. The drive to improve myself subsided.
Govert-Jan Vos at the 3rd OPS Championship in Plan B, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
After college I started my full time job, I had more money to spend and did so in, you guessed, the pool room. The new owner was involved in the board of the regional competition, PoolWest2, and needed a new treasurer. Since I am a controller by profession this seemed to be a job for me. I was elected and a new interest in pool was born. This one was more focused on promoting the sport and organizing events.
It was during this period that I changed poolrooms again. This time I moved to Hague 5, the self-proclaimed ‘Home of Champions’ smack in the middle of The Hague city center. It is here that the love affair with pool still continues. Now as president of the regional competition. In this capacity I try to promote the sport in our region. For this, together with my other board members, we organize the regional competition and a series of tournaments concluded by a Masters.
After the move to Hague 5 I met the owner of the Poolhead forum. It was Pepijn who introduced me to the game of One Pocket. This new challenge has reignited my love for the game that started 25 years ago. I hope I’ll keep playing one pocket for years to come and that the One Pocket Series in the Netherlands will be a starting point for getting Europe to play one pocket.