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by KRISTIN LARMORE
Lifestyles Reporter
Though he might not be a professional pool player, Adam B. Davis, known to some at Appalachian State University as “Golden Boy,” is as close as it gets.
“If you’re going to be a professional player, you really have to play all day every day. It’s something that takes constant practice,” Davis, a sophomore biology major, said. “It can’t be a weekend warrior profession.”
Davis has been playing since he was 11 years old, entering in his first professional pool tournament at 13.
Since then, he
participated in the Junior Nationals three more times at ages 15, 18
and 19. He also played in the Junior Worlds in Reno, NV last November,
along with participating in other minor competitions.
Davis
said he doesn’t really know where his nickname came from, but never
questioned it, saying pool players often acquire interesting nicknames.
The
employees at Hawksbill Game Room in Plemmons Student Union said fellow
employee and Appalachian graduate Justin Champion made the nickname up
when Davis first started coming to the pool hall as a freshman, and the
name stuck.
Though
Davis said he could see himself becoming a professional, he doesn’t
plan on making it a goal in the midst of his plan to perform medical
research after college.
 Sophomore biology major Adam B. Davis has been playing pool since he was 11-years-old and practices every day to prepare for more professional pool tournaments. Photo by Alisha Park.
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“The game is not only about how well you can play, but how you can play over an extended period of time,” he said.
And there’s no question he takes the hobby very seriously.
“It’s
very strange because I can tell he really, really likes to play pool,
but at the same time he tells me to love this game, you have to
absolutely hate it,” Davis’ girlfriend Rachel P. O’Donnell said.
Davis told her the more a person hates the game, the more they will strive to get better and better.
“He’s got a passion for it, and it’s very intense. I’m proud of him,” she said, with a laugh.
Davis
has been trying to increase O’Donnel’s and a few of his other friends’
interest in the game he knows so well, but he admitted he is a stiff
teacher.
O’Donnell
said she’s been more inspired to improve now that she has a place to
practice and someone to help her. However, she said she gets in trouble
when she doesn’t listen to her teacher.
Though
Davis can be hard on his friends when they make an error, he’s even
harder on himself because every shot he misses he has made once before.
“Every
time I miss a shot, it has to be a mental error. It’s not a lack of
knowledge about the game,” he said. “It’s something in my set-up, my
stance, my stroke.”
Davis explained his typical set-up strategy before making a shot.
He
counts in his head “one, two, three, shoot” as he strokes the pool
stick each time toward the que ball to get into a mental rhythm.
However,
if he hesitates right before he actually shoot, it ruins the point of
the set-up because the stick is not making the correct stroke.
Davis
attempts to help others in the pool hall by giving them pointers.
Still, playing a game with other Appalachian students is another story.
“For me,
it’s a strategy game, and if someone can’t offer me any strategy to go
against [it’s not as fun,]” he said. “It would be like playing checkers
with a 5-year-old. It’s kind of aggravating.”
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