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You won’t know your real ability until you play in a match
You can shoot perfectly at your practice hall, but that isn’t your real ability.
The moment it becomes a match, you can’t play the way you always do.
The cue ball won’t stop where you meant it to.
You miss an easy ball.
I think we’ve all been there.
I’ve tasted it many times myself.
That feeling of your heart pounding, the hand on your cue trembling just slightly.
“Why won’t such an easy ball go in?”
That feeling of getting irritated with yourself.
The invisible opponent called nerves
I really do think pool is a cruel sport.
You don’t crash bodies together.
You don’t run around.
You just quietly strike a ball.
But that is exactly why every voice in your heart comes out in your play.
“If I miss this, I’m done for.”
The moment you think that, you really do miss.
Uncannily so.
Pros who compete on the world stage stay calm at domestic events, and it isn’t talent.
They have played on big stages again and again, and they are used to that pressure. That is all there is to it.
The courage to take that one step
I know the inner struggle of entering a tournament.
“Is it too soon?” “Once I’ve gotten better.” “I might embarrass myself.” Those voices go round and round in your head.
But the moment you pressed that entry button, you already became someone special.
How precious that courage is.
There are plenty of people who practice for hundreds of hours and still can’t take this one step.
The luxury of playing in the same room as the pros
Professionals will also take part in “Yokohama Open 2026.”
What if you get to play one? You might lose. Yes, you might well lose.
But what you gain from those few games could be worth more than months of practice, don’t you think?
How a pro applies pressure, which safeties they choose, the sound of their break, the stillness when they get down on a shot.
Seeing those things on video and feeling them at the table right in front of you are completely different.
Even if you don’t get to play one, just being in the same venue teaches you things.
While you wait, a pro is playing at the next table.
Isn’t it a real luxury to watch from that close?
Which balls they choose, which balls they avoid.
When they attack, and where they play defense.
Watching it live should teach you a great deal.
Real matches change people
Competing in earnest in a match isn’t only about getting better at pool.
The strength to decide under pressure.
The strength to hold on when you’re about to lose.
The strength to stay calm.
These are skills that will absolutely help you, at work and in private life alike.
Before an important presentation, at a nerve-racking interview, when you stand at a crossroads in life.
The experience of having overcome the pressure you felt in that match will surely hold you up.
The pool table may be something like life in miniature.
That time after the match is over
Even when I lose, I love the time after the match.
Watching the person who overwhelmed me, or the one I fought neck and neck with, keep winning their way through.
“That guy was strong.”
You can honestly think that.
Conversations over drinks with the other players who fought with the same goal.
“Choosing that ball there is what did me in.”
“No, but that safety was good, man.”
A strange elation, accomplishment and defeat all mixed together.
Something out of the ordinary is there, something you could never taste in everyday life.
Time like that makes you want to play in the next match.
And sends you back to the practice hall again.
February 23, at Yokohama Open
To those who have already entered: thank you.
From the bottom of our hearts, we salute your courage.
To those still hesitating: we understand that hesitation well.
But even you, there in the middle of that hesitation, have something already beginning to move, I think.
The moment you decide to play in a match, you are already growing.
Whatever the result, that one step has a value no one can deny.
On the day, across the table or in the waiting seats, we look forward to meeting you.
We truly believe that each and every one of these challenges is precious.
The nerves, the mistakes, all of it: it is your story.
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