Biography

I started to play billiards in the summer of 1986, within the scope of textra-school activities for pupils during vacation time. In the billiard club of Prilly, in the cellar of „Café de la Treille“ I saw the famous red and white balls for the first time. Interested, but not more, I came once or twice a week to this club. The President back then, Mister Mauron, had warned me however that it did not make sense to start playing billiard if I didn't play at least twice a week. This was a clear statement. So, during the first year I followed this rhythm.

During the next months I liked to play more and more. Partly because of an older member of the club, a player with a general average of 6 in the Free Game, who watched me playing and who was impressed by what I did. I remember one statement of this gentleman which undoubtedly was important for my development: he asked me for my highest run. This seemingly simple question raised a problem for me. I had not understood that the goal in billiard is to combine points and play as many as possible in one row. Caused by this I worked on realizing runs of 15, then 20, later 40. In this club there were several juniors. The presence of other young players added more fun to this game.

In 1988 the club of Prilly was flooded after an explosion of a water pipe. Without premises it was not possible to play billiards anymore. Together with Christian, another enthusiastic young guy, who influenced my way back then, we were looking for solutions for being able to continue to play billiards. First in commercial bars. Then we became members of the Billiard Club Lausanne, today's „Académie Lausannoise de Billard“, the ALB. Back then the persons in charge had installed a system of a „training key“, which allowed to train for a reduced, for young players a greatly reduced, price.

Near the end of the year 1988 I played for the first time in the Swiss Team Championship for my new club. Fortunately, my level of a general average of 3 to 5 was sufficient for the last place in the first team. In November I reached my best official result: 5.16 GA.

The first half of the year 1989, especially summer, was game-changing. More and eager training, still with my pal Christian, we motivated each other. Later, unfortuntely, he stopped playing billiards. I remember that I have trained a lot all summer long. Much effort for one goal: to reach the „Série Americaine“ as often as possible. The result was not long in coming. First I won my first Junior Swiss Championship in Free Game on half-match table with a small barred corner zone in a memorable final against our regrettably departed friend Tschanz. A final with one inning (100 points) in which my friend drew level. Several prolongations were necessary to decide the game. Then, in November of 1989, another important result: 52 GA in the final of the Swiss Championship National League B.

I had planned to turn to other things as soon as I would reach a GA of 50. So as of 1990 I left Free Game and the half-match table and started with Balkline 47/2 on the match table. A new challenge which should keep me busy for the next years.

Between 1989 and 1992 I was studying and found only few time for training billiards. After finishing my studies I decided to sacrifice more time to training and only work for 50 %. After one year of unemployment I found a part-time job which I did until 1999.

I never had a trainer and learned to play billiard by self-education, taking from everybody what I liked. In 1988 I took a course in Istres, France, with Connesson. Unfortunately, I didn't have the level (3 GA in Free Game) to profit the least from this course, which was dedicated to the delicacies of Balkline 47/2. In 1992 I could take part in a course with the German trainer Klaus Hose, together with the Swiss National Team. This guy could adapt his instructions to our modest level, thanks to his extraordinary qualities. But this course was too short and we were too many. Therefore I only profited regarding my working schedule. But I have very fond memories of this German training center, where French and American billiard, coffee, a restaurant, training facilities and hotel rooms are combined. Too bad that such facilities do not exist here.

An important fact for my progress was a handicap and at the same time an advantage as well. Caused by the low level in Switzerland I soon became Junior Swiss Champion and could therefore take part in European Championships for Juniors. So I got in touch with young champions as Fuchs, Knoors, Horn and many more, which helped me a lot. The latter became Junior European Champion in Athens with a GA of 80 in Balkline 47/2, all were on a higher level than I was. I could profit from their skills and come back home with new ideas. In 1993 I started to play European Championships of the seniors, one level higher, this time together with the big ones: Grethen, Caudron, Blondeel, Zenkner and many more, who influenced my progress at that time, without knowing of course. But these experiences could compensate the isolation that a Swiss player can feel in his country... since he follows his passion all alone, without teaching, without training partner, without competitions on high level.

Between 1989 and 1995 I held several courses at the ALB, especially internal courses for members of the club. I have to admit that I am sure that I profited more from these lessons than my students. Not that they didn't profit as well, but these lessons contributed a lot to my progress. In 1995 I stopped these courses due to disagreements with the people in charge.

In 1994 I surprisingly got a call from Ms. Gerber, who back then was the head of the national team, who offered me the two billiard tables of the sport center in Magglingen for a very decent price. After two seconds of thinking about it I said yes. One of them took Andreas Efler, Austrian Champion with double citizenship, who used to put the fear of God into the Swiss three cushion players for a long time. The second table was for me. I put it into storage until I found a solution. After months of searching I moved into a small studio in 1995, big enough for a billiard table and two pieces of furniture... Not depending on the ALB for my training and considering the differences with those responsible, I changed to the club of Sierre, for which I played in the Swiss Championship. Three years I won single and team competitions for this club. Then I came back to Lausanne hoping for a change in mentality.

Since I had reached a certain level in Balkline 47/2, I turned to other disciplines: Balkline 71/2, One Cushion and Balkline 47/1. Learning these disciplines took several years. Still being self-educated, I was able to learn the concepts and techniques of these disciplines, still being alone and with the unvoluntary help of players from abroad, who I fortunately came in contact with.

But still I had a considerable problem. When e.g. I trained Balkline 47/2, I could not play one cushion or Balkline 71/2 anymore. As soon as I mastered one discipline, I lost the others. One day I wanted to change that and decided to put things right. So I started with a multi-discipline training. I wanted to be able to change from one discipline to the other without losing my efficiency. Using this multi-discipline principle I practiced four disciplines within one training session. This payed off years later.

Since 2002 I have played in no less than 13 semi finals in four disciplines. This, by the way, is at the moment one of my biggest satisfactions: results in all disciplines, One Cushion as well as Balkline 47/2, 71/2 and 47/1. This ability in several disciplines allowed me to lead the European yearly ranking for three times.

I am aware of the fact that in the classic disciplines there is still a lot to do, technically and strategically. Additionally, there is an enormous room for improvement when it comes to psychology during the competition, without which technique and strategy are useless.

But my last challenge is to add the game of Three Cushions to my abilities in the classic disciplines. Only few players in the world were able to manage this. The biggest and strongest, thus called an „alien“ by everyone, is the unrivaled Frédéric Caudron. This is this what I admire him for: to combine all classic disciplines and Three Cushion. Being a realist I don't claim to reach the level of the best Three Cushion players, but an honorable level and keep my abilities in the classic disciplines. This will be the focus in my work within the next years.

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