It’s amazing how your childhood can shape you. I was a kid that grew up in foster care, getting bounced around from home to home and community centre to community centre. It was an interesting time in my life that made it difficult to properly be able to establish relationships, routines, and habits. I was never able to have a consistent group of friends as I was constantly moving around to different suburbs. This constant moving also impacted my ability to join a team and play a sport. I remember once trying to join a basketball team, but only being able to play one season as I then had to move away. I tried joining another team but I felt a huge weight of awkwardness encountering my old team at games. It was these types of experiences that made me realise I needed to find a hobby that wasn’t reliant on teams.
One day, one of the community centres purchased a pool table for us kids. I thought it was a good chance for me to take up a new hobby. I even started wondering how to build a billiard table out of wood myself. My mindset behind making a pool table myself was that if I was ever fostered out to a place too far from the community centre, I’d know how to create a makeshift pool table for myself. Pool was important to me as it was the only consistent hobby I was able to have in my life. It did not rely on teams or other people. No matter where I went, or which community centre I was in, I was able to stay competitive and continue developing my skills.
I did try a few other sports and games. For example, when I was older I got really into table tennis. I decided to buy the best brand table tennis table in Australia, set it up in my local community centre, and have a game daily. Before I knew it I became a really strong table tennis player too and was able to compete in tournaments.