SPM Magazine Issue 30

Introducing JuniorPlayer Riley Adkins

By Kieth Shaner

Welcome back my friends to another installment of The Break & Run Times…

Today I am presenting a profile on a young junior player from Ohio. I have known this young man for several years now, back when he was tagging along with his father, and he would let his cue do the talking. He was polite, respectful, and quiet. He always had a friendly smile and nod for everyone, if you got a hello from him, then he was in a talkative mood lol.

Now his cue is still doing the talking, but he does have some things to say to us, ladies and gentlemen let me present to you…

Riley Adkins!

Riley is from West Jefferson, Ohio. He began playing seriously at around age 10 under the tutelage of his father Dee Adkins. “I first started at my dad’s old pool room Player’s. He got me into it and showed me the right path to try to become one of the best in the world.” Dee Adkins is a past winner of the Derby City Classic Master of The Table (aka The All-Around Championship) and his path for Riley was a good one, as Riley recently took third place in the Junior World 9-Ball Championship in Austria! Riley considers

the World 9-Ball finish his most meaningful highlight to date, but I have a feeling there are going to be more highlights to come. Riley is not only an outstanding player, but he conducts himself as well as anyone. Junior or adult, amateur or professional, he represents himself, the game and the sport as a first-class ambassador.

His favorite player is Alex Pagulayan. Riley says he admires Alex because he is a great person as well as a great player (no argument from this author on that!) and he is quite a character to be around. I got to witness Riley playing Alex at the DCC one year and wow, did he show great composure playing someone like Alex! He says that he has also been influenced by Shane Van Boening and Billy Thorpe. Shane of course has been the number one player in the US for the past decade and Billy, a Team USA member for the Mosconi Cup and holder of 3 banners at the Derby City Classic, hails from the Dayton area right here in Ohio.

When asked about his favorite events, he names the Derby City Classic, when he was able to go before the changes which forced the event to have a 21 and over age restriction. The International Open, hosted by Pat Fleming in Norfolk VA, is his current favorite and it is a most excellent choice, as

Pat always puts on a quality event. I asked Riley if he enjoys watching pool and being the dedicated player and fan that he is. He says that he does enjoy viewing, especially older matches when players like Efren Reyes and Johnny Archer were in their prime. He says he watches rotation games the most and his favorite events to watch are Derby City Classic, The World 9-Ball and The Mosconi Cup.

His favorite rooms to play in are Michael’s Billiards in Fairfield Ohio, near Cincinnati and The League Room in Parkersburg West Virginia. His favorite game is 10-Ball although he is learning one pocket and enjoying the experience of the game.

Riley is by nature and preference a big table player, but he has adapted to the bar box tables as most tournaments he plays in are on the small table. He also prefers

tournaments to head-to-head matchups for the variety of competition they offer him. But do not take that as a sign that Riley does not take on challenge matches, or you will be out looking for work.

These days, Riley is shooting down the competition with a Ryan Meyer cue, his favorite cue maker. Ryan does outstanding work, and he is a tremendous supporter of young players in our sport.

Speaking of our sport, I asked Riley to give his opinions on the current and future state of pool as I thought a young player coming up as he did can offer a unique perspective. Here is what he had to say,

“The current state of pool is not as great as it could potentially be, but I see some good things possibly coming in the future with the moves that Matchroom is making. I also

think pros getting involved with the juniors and guiding them on the path that got them to where they are is a very positive and needed part of pool. I see handicap tournaments as the most detrimental aspect of pool. Most players have no desire to get better because it would be tougher to win tournaments as a higher handicap.”

He also says that he believes pool could attract more viewers by having not too tight of pockets and winner breaks when matches are played on TV. He believes the matches would be more interesting for non-pool players, watching for the first time, and seeing packs put together. He also shares this author’s opinion saying “I think advertising the players would help grow the sport. People could have a favorite player like in professional sports like football.”

Outside of pool, Riley enjoys the outdoors, hunting and fishing, usually catching bigger and better than the old man (sorry Dee!). He is also close to his family, traveling a lot with his father as well as his mother, who accompanied him to the Junior Worlds in Austria, and was able to share the experience with her son.

I want to thank Riley for taking the time to share himself and his thoughts with us today. I speak often on pool needing faces to represent it, in order to widen the perspective to the rest of the world and Riley is one of the ones in the center of the frame. It has been a real pleasure watching this young man grow into so much more than just a fine player, and I look forward to seeing him move forward on his journey to being one of the best on the world stage.