The young European talents in three cushion and players from other parts of the world have been held back in their development by this year of COVID-19 crisis. The last World Junior Championship in Valencia 2019 ended with super-talent Myung-Woo Cho in his last year as the winner and three Koreans on stage. The next World Championship event in the Netherlands was postponed and almost certainly not played.
Was it a year of standstill and stagnation, of desperately waiting for the new start? How do young players deal with the crisis in this important part of their career? Kozoom went in search and starts a series of interviews from now with young billiard players: about the crisis, the future of their careers, the current conditions in their home countries and life without championships, tournaments and competitions. Today part 1: Lukas Mortensen (19) from Denmark.
Passport:
Name: Lukas Mortensen
Age: 19
Place of residence: Aarhus, Denmark
Profession/study: Last year business school
Other hobby: football
Relationship: no
Billiard club: BK Fluen, Aarhus.
1 Kozoom/Frits Bakker: How do you deal with this year in which the COVID crisis dominates all the world?
Lukas Mortensen: It has been a very difficult and a quite weird year. In Denmark we went into the first lockdown in March and the country began to reopen around May/June. And over the whole summer it was actually quite normal, bar some things such as nightclubs and festivals. There were not a lot of people getting affected by the virus, but that changed a lot in the fall, where there just came more cases day after day, until we had to enter the 2nd national lockdown. It was also very in the way that the last few years, I had got used to travelling a lot, especially to billiards tournaments, but this year there were next to none after I was in Turkey in February 2020. It's been a very long time now since an international youth tournament, as the EC and WC, was cancelled last year and this year's EC is moved to August. I am just really looking forward to regaining a normal life, where we have the possibilities as before. I am also going into my last semester in my business education, where I am hoping for a normal ending, so I can celebrate my education in a normal fashion, where it is possible to do all the traditional things, so that I don't have to get my degree over a computer.
2 Is this a time of standstill in your early career, in which fast development and progression are so important?
Lukas Mortensen: In many ways I would say yes, because what I think that I learn a lot from, is the experience of playing, not only internationally, but also nationally, where I have competed in the Danish tour systems. That allows me to play against some of the world's best players, such as Dion Nelin, Brian Knudsen, Thomas Andersen and many more. Even though, I probably won't qualify between the best 16 this year, I will have gained a lot of experience that I can use in other situations, which only makes me stronger. So, I do think it is a massive setback I don't think Denmark has been hit as hard as other countries, because we actually played a full tournament schedule from August till the start of December.
3 How is the current situation in your home town and your country in relation to COVID-19?
Lukas Mortensen: The whole country of Denmark went into the 2nd national lockdown in the beginning of December and is yet to reopen. But nationally, there is progress to be seen, especially in the region where I live, it is minimal at the moment, therefore I am hoping to see the restrictions being lifted in the beginning of March, so that I can safely return to my education, billiard club and other general activities.
4 How are the conditions for training? How much you can practice every day or week?
Lukas Mortensen: I am personally in a very fortunate position compared to the other juniors in my country, as I am both in the 'elite' category of players, which allows me to train in my club and I am so lucky that my family have a billiard room in the basement with a billiard table. So, in that way I am really not as affected, training wise, as others are. But I still think that, at this time, I train less than I normally would, because I don't really have any tournaments that I can look forward to in the foreseeable future.
5 How does life look for you without championships, tournaments and competitions?
Lukas Mortensen: Right now it is very boring, because all I do with my education is sit in front of a computer 8 hours a day where there is no real interaction with my friends. Fortunately, I really enjoy sports, so I always look forward to the football, billiards from Korea, the NBA and any other sports I can get an enjoyment out of.
Lukas Mortensen during the Junior World championship in Valencia
6 What is your country or federation doing to develop careers of young talents?
Lukas Mortensen: The Danish billiards federation or DDBU are doing a lot of initiatives for all the up and coming players, but they have also begun to massively promote youth billiards with new school programs, which means that some kids can get billiards on their schedule in school. For the already established 'talents', there have been massive investments in the development over the last couple of years, with national coaches in both 3-cushion and 5-pins. In 3-cushion the coach will be Tonny Carlsen, whom I have been personally practiced with for some years now, as he doesn't live far from my city. In 5-pins it is the former biathlon world champion Erling Sjørup who is the coach. This gives the new talents a lot of possibility to learn from the best, which can help improve us, not just playing wise, but also mentally, as they know what it feels to play in big tournaments. With that DDBU has also brought in a mental coach, who have also worked with other billiards players
7 How do you see your future as a sportsman and possibly as a professional billiard player?
Lukas Mortensen: I don't really know what to say right now, because we don't know what the future brings with this pandemic. Of course I would love to become a professional billiard player, if possible, but I also have other things I want to do in life. So I do not want to rush anything. Right now I play around 0.9-1 average, but I will need to continue my development, if I would like any chance to become a professional in the future.
Lukas Mortensen: I would like any chance to become a professional in the future
Danish federation is helping a lot with coaches and mental trainings