Teens, Seniors Take Cues From Generation Gap

It was a classic pool hall matchup: youthful cockiness versus sure-handed experience. Minnesota Fats himself would have been proud.

The first “Minnesota Fats Memorial Seniors Vs. Teens Eight Ball Billiards Tournament” took place Thursday at the Goebel Senior Adult Center in Thousand Oaks, and there was plenty of friendly trash talk in the air.

Indeed, the braggadocio over who was going to win the competition had begun flying days before, when one of the six champions from the senior center strutted next door to the Thousand Oaks Teen Center to do a little scouting--and a lot of gabbing.

“The guy wouldn’t show his stuff though,” said 16-year-old Ethan Zinner, the teen center’s billiards whiz, as the vaunted match was finally about to unfold. “Rumor has it, these guys play every day. Yeah, they’re supposed to be good. We’ll have to show them up.”

The seniors’ top pool stud, George “The Big Kahuna” Kekona, was hardly intimidated by the youngsters.

“I have confidence in our seniors,” he said between mouthfuls of pahd Thai minutes before the match. “We’ll take these guys, no problem.”

Both centers hold pool tournaments every year. The senior center, in particular, is a virtual billiards hotbed, as more than 30 players show up daily to practice their favorite sport.

“A lot of good guys have played here,” said 72-year-old Brice Burkett, who has been playing pool for about six decades. “Unfortunately, they’re not all around anymore.”

The standouts from each center had never challenged each other. The colorful, competitive event was organized by the staff of the centers, who wanted to show the teens and seniors that they had much more in common than they realized.

The organizers liked what they were hearing Thursday.

“We like to schedule these inter-generational activities because these two groups aren’t familiar with each other,” said staffer Ray Olvera of the senior center. “This way, they can see for themselves that the other isn’t so bad.”

As the teen all-stars walked into the senior center’s well-worn pool hall, inspecting the slightly slanted tables and knocking some warm-up balls, one senior cracked, “We need seeing eye dogs to make our shots.”

But the youngsters weren’t fooled. In fact, they looked a little jittery.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if I got beat pretty bad,” said 16-year-old Sean Henschel. “I think experience will beat out youth in this particular match.”

He was right: The seniors took the trophy, and Kekona won the top individual prize, as expected. But the teens can always come back next year to try to take the awards next door.

“It’s a wonderful idea,” Burkett said. “Too bad we didn’t think of it sooner.”