PORTO – He just returned from the billiard table, winning his first match, coming up his next mission later today. Luca Philipoom, just 17 years old, a Dutch billiards player living in Belgium, considered by insiders to be a great talent, ambitious and driven, is currently playing in his fifth World Cup in the Portuguese city of Porto. Most billiard players in the sweltering playing hall complain about the intense heat in the arena. Luca Philipoom remains remarkably calm. ’’It feels like playing in a sauna, but it's the same for everyone. I've decided to just play and not complain.’
What is it like for Luca Philipoom, a sports and exercise student, to play billiards for the Netherlands with a famous Belgian father? Isn't he teased in his home country because he plays for the Dutch national team? What is it like to play in World Cups as a 17-year-old student alongside some of the world's top players? Luca Philipoom, between two matches in the Portuguese billiards hall, has time for a fairly extensive interview. Two bottles of water on the table, his blond hair a little tousled, enjoying his first victory with the ambition to survive at least one round in a World Cup. ’’This afternoon I play my second match against a Swede, an experienced player, but I want to seize my chances.’
Frits Bakker/Kozoom/KNBB: The question of why a young boy takes up billiards is superfluous, especially with a father like that?
Luca Philipoom: I started very early after playing football for a few years. You grow up with it, everyone in billiards knows my father Jef, he has been world champion and European champion. It was inevitable that I would also play some machtes, and that's how it all started. Training, getting more and more fanatical, eventually playing matches. My mother is also fully behind me, so it just grew from there. And now I'm playing in my fifth World Cup. I'm not the youngest anymore, because Amir Ibraimov is eleven days younger than me. My plan is to play in as many World Cups as possible, but it has to be compatible with my school. Wherever my father plays, I want to play too.
Kozoom/KNBB/FB: Your father Jef is your role model, how could it be otherwise. And your mother Bianca is your biggest fan. Why isn't Jef your trainer too?
Luca Philipoom: It was better for me to work with other coaches, because especially at the start it was difficult to listen to my father, even though he is also a very good coach. He is my role model, of course, and I dream of becoming as good as him and celebrating successes. But my coaches from the Dutch federation are Christ van der Smissen and Jean Paul de Bruijn, about ten hours a month. Privately, I get lessons from Frans van Kuyk, a very good billiards player who knows a lot about the game. He also happens to live in the same village as my grandparents, which is convenient. He knows a lot about the systems, just like Christ van der Smissen. Jean Paul does too, but he plays more on instinct.
Kozoom/KNBB/FB: So the Dutch federation, the KNBB three-cushion section, was the main reason for becoming Dutch?
Luca Philipoom: To be honest, I have always felt more Dutch than Belgian, but billiards and the culture of Belgian billiards have accelerated that. My father is Belgian, my mother is Dutch, so I now have dual citizenship. The Dutch federation offers many more opportunities for young talents with training, guidance, also abroad, we have our own trainers, young billiard players get many more opportunities in the Netherlands. So now I play for the Netherlands in championships and tournaments. I can be very brief about Belgium: they do nothing for young people, no training, no education, they don't want to invest any money. You have to figure it all out for yourself. That's how you send away young talents. I have never regretted it for a moment and will never go back on my decision. I will never play for Belgium again.
Kozoom/KNBB/FB: How is that for a young boy, at school for example, are you bullied for playing for the Netherlands as an athlete?
Luca Philipoom: At the very beginning, yes, but everyone understands why I made that choice. We joke about it now. I tell jokes about the Dutch, but also about the Belgians. My father found it difficult at first, but not anymore. For everything in my sport, it's better that I'm Dutch and play for the Netherlands.
Kozoom/KNBB/FB: How is your development going? Do you see a lot of progress in your game with those training sessions, World Cups and competition matches?
Luca Philipoom: I think my development has progressed rapidly over the past year. It's not immediately clear in the averages, but my game has improved a lot. My technique is bette rand better, the same as my mentality at the table and my acceptance. In previous years, I sometimes reacted wrong to bad luck or a mistake, but that has improved a lot now. I now also have a mental coach, Jan Bloemen, who used to work with Eddy Leppens. The difference is very noticeable.
Kozoom/KNBB/FB: How far along are you in your education at school, and how do you combine it with billiards?
Luca Philipoom: I'm in the fifth year of my education, which is focused on becoming a physiotherapist or trainer, coach, sports teacher focused on nutrition and the body. I don't know exactly what I want yet. Next year, in my sixth year, will be my last year. Then I will have my secondary school diploma. And then I want to focus even more on billiards. I want to play even more World Cups. Right now, it's still a case of: if my dad goes, I go too. From the age of 18 or 19, I will also go somewhere on my own.
Kozoom/KNBB/FB: It must be difficult to map out a career and estimate how good you can become.
Luca Philipoom: That's so difficult with all the strong players out there right now. The level has risen so much. For now, I want to enjoy the game, the sport, and I love travelling. I watch other players a lot. Myung Woo Cho is a wonderful player; his technique, calmness, charisma, it's so impressive. So young and already world champion, a great example for the sport of billiards. I watch the great players, the high class and calmness that Caudron, Merckx, Jaspers and all those world-class players exude. It's great to see that professionalism. I still have so much to dream about.
Thank you, Luca, for the interview. Good luck in the future.