2024-04-08 21:07:00
Gayoung Kim poses at a personal training center in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do last month. He won the grand prize along with the total prize money, best average, bank shot, and team league wins, and said, “I think it is a record that no one will be able to easily achieve in the future. “So I feel really good regarding finishing this season.” / Reporter Nam Kang-ho
Kim Ga-young (41, Hana Card) stands out as the strongest female player in the recently concluded LPBA (Women’s Professional Billiards) 2023-24 season. She won the last two championships, the World Championship and the Huons LPBA Championship. She won the grand prize along with the total prize money (120.5 million won), best average, bank shot, and team league wins, and won the honor of five crowns. She has been called the ‘little witch’ since she was a teenager and has swept the world’s women’s pocketball stage. She has also risen to the top of the three cushions. She recently met Gayoung Kim at her private practice studio near KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do. Last year, Gayoung Kim set up a personal practice field measuring 30 pyeong regarding a 10-minute walk from the PBA stadium. In the actual game, she uses two billiard tables and even has an electronic display board, making it look like a mini billiard room.
-Why did you set up a separate private practice room near the PBA stadium?
“It is natural for players to invest in their performance. When he first started his career as an LPBA player, he thought that learning as a beginner came first. I thought I needed some personal research time, so I set it up last year. There is no set time for training. However, once I got into it, I played for 14 to 15 hours. Come in the morning, practice, eat, then practice once more… . I also brought a piano to play as a hobby during breaks and a hammock to use for a while. It cost tens of millions of won. Always sleep at home. “I recently moved from Incheon to be near the training center.”
-Following Pokeball, the feeling of reaching the top in Three Cushion must be special, right?
“When I first started my career as a Three Cushion player five years ago, I thought that if I worked hard, I would rise to a certain level. He personally took three years. He performed consistently every year. He was also No. 1 in the league rankings for the past three years. Two years ago, he won the King of Kings Tournament. This year, we even won the team event and achieved 5 gold medals that no one else might achieve. It seems like a record that no one will be able to achieve easily in the future. So I feel really good regarding finishing this season.”
Graphics = Kim Ha-kyung
-People say, ‘It’s natural that Gayoung Kim will win.’
“I’ve heard that countless times. Even if I make just the slightest mistake, the Pokeball Champion says how can that happen? I don’t want to be stressed by those words, so I don’t meet people often. I was a Pokeball champion, but I am a 5-year beginner at Three Cushion. I’m still uneasy regarding my skills. The average (average number of successes per inning) in the first game of this King of Kings preliminary round was around 2 points, but in the second game it dropped to around 0.6 points. If it had been a tournament, I would have been eliminated. The Pokeball average is steady, but Three Cushion is still experiencing severe ups and downs. I am still behind in a head-to-head match with Throng Piabi, who is competing with me for first place in the rankings. Piavi joined the LPBA in 2020, but he has already been a figurehead since his days in Armagh. He has already inflicted many defeats on me. But I think it would be better to beat them with a long history than to lose.”
-What is the difference between a pocket ball and a three-cushion?
“Just because you’re good at figure skating doesn’t mean you’re good at speed skating. Billiards is sensitive. Even if someone touches my cue for just one second, I know it right away. Three-cushion and pocket balls have completely different cue properties and ball size and weight. I had a hard time adapting. The way to play is also different. “With a pocket ball, you have to figure out where your target ball is going, and with a three-cushion, you have to see the path of the ball you hit.”
-What was the most difficult thing regarding switching to Three Cushion?
“It’s regarding letting go of the habits that have formed in your body while playing pocketball. However, it is difficult to decide which habits to keep and which to abandon. There was no precedent for switching from a pocket ball to a three-cushion, so I mightn’t ask for advice. There has been a lot of trial and error along the way, and it still continues. This season, I had a hard time listening to other people’s stories for a while. But I don’t know if it’s right for me or not, so I have to give it a try.”
-They say that even if you prick yourself with a needle during a game, not a single drop of blood will come out.
“I still get a lot of criticism because of my strong appearance. It is also said that if you smile while playing billiards, it looks like you are laughing. Even to me, he looks like a psychopath. Because of the prejudice around me, I had a complete mental breakdown in my early 20s and had to be treated at a hospital. There were times when I deliberately wore strong clothes and makeup to hide my weak mentality. As I studied, listened to advice, and received training, I think I now have some know-how that is hard to shake. Fighting once morest others is fun. When I lose a game, I feel upset and angry, but I forget regarding it following regarding 30 minutes. On the contrary, when something doesn’t go as planned even following practicing thousands of times, I start to think regarding all sorts of things. There are times when I want to die. There was a time when I crawled under the pool table and cried because it felt somehow safe and comfortable. It’s so much harder to fight with myself than with others. “It feels like a never-ending fight.”
Kim Ga-young, the queen of billiards, won the Women’s Billiards LPBA Championship and won her 5th crown of the season. /Reporter Nam Kang-ho
-Do you have any regrets regarding quitting poker?
“Ever since I was young, the only way I might make a living as a female billiards player was through pocketball. After graduating from high school, she became a champion, enduring all kinds of jealousy in the United States and Taiwan. She would have not switched if she had been able to continue playing Pokéball, which raised her international profile. Five years ago, that path was blocked because of her external circumstances. It was when she was preparing for her master’s thesis (major in the philosophy of physical education) at school (Korea National Sport University). As she continued her studies, she debated whether to become a pocketball coach, but she chose the path of a three-cushion player. She has no regrets. “She has decided to take a new path, so she must make the most of her opportunity.”
-How long do you plan to continue your career as a player?
“If I had continued to play pocketball, I would have reached at least 8 or 9 of the 10 steps I aimed for, and then I would have been thinking regarding retirement by now. However, as I am now in my 5th year of Three Cushion, I hope that I have still moved up three or four steps. Regardless of my age, I hope there is still a lot of room for me to grow further. Only then will fighting spirit arise. First of all, I want to break the preconceptions regarding female athletes. Until I came, female athletes said it was difficult to exceed the average of 1. But I don’t believe that. My average is now over 1. I think that with a little more effort, it is possible to get a score of 1.3 to 1.4, which women say is impossible. Even if we can’t surpass the male players’ skills, I think we can narrow the gap even further than we do now.
And I think I’ll quit at any time if I think my skills are behind me in the top class. But there is still a lot to do and a lot I want to know.”
-Please say something to the juniors who want to surpass Gayoung Kim.
“That girl has been eating a lot at Pokéball, but I can’t help but think that she’s coming to Three Cushion and stealing our food bowls. I am ready to give up my position at any time. In order to surpass me, my juniors must also work hard. I trained consistently no matter what, whether it went well or not. Isn’t it true that office workers can’t go to work just because they’re sick? I think I had a talent for thinking and thinking rather than a talent for handling a ball. How can I train consistently and make it more fun? What is the best way to do physical training? . “If you work hard and wait consistently, it will all come back to you one day.”
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