An Interview With The Viper...
Ken “The Viper” Tewksbury is an enthusiastic pool educator, a former Billiards Congress of America (BCA) and current WBIA Master Certified Instructor, and many other things improving the pool skills of his students at The Institute of Billiard Sciences.Tewksbury’s Concord, New Hampshire billiards facility is worth the trip. Over 150 trophies and 50 plaques line the walls of his attractive, well-lit pool schoolroom. He is to pool what Wally Armstrong is to golf, a passionate and highly creative teaching pro, marrying concepts as diverse as mathematics, karate and jousting to his pool teaching coursework.
The Tewksbury family has taken a keen interest in the mental and concentration aspects of sport. One of Ken’s sons, Bob Tewksbury, pitched 18 years with the Yankees, the St. Louis Cardinals, and other major league teams, before moving to serve as sport psychology coach and sports commentator for the Red Sox organization.
Matt “Quick Draw” Sherman of Billiards.About.com: Ken, how did you garner “The Viper” for a nickname?
I got my nickname from a gentleman who I beat in some tournaments it went something like this. When I’m playing and an opponent was at the table I had a tendency to sway a little bit as I was waiting for him to shoot, nothing that would be a distraction but nonetheless I still swayed.
After one lost the match and as we were having coffee he made the comment about how it made him think of a cobra just before he strikes, and the other guys who were at the table suggested that they call me “The Viper”, and that was how that got started.
Please tell our readers about The Institute of Billiard Sciences and your mission to further student concentration and achievement in pool.
As for The Institute of Billiard Sciences this is one of those stories that just don’t happen that often any longer. One of my students who has been with me for a long time suggested that I open a school because I have a great way of teaching people how to play. At the time I was teaching out of my house.
I told him I would like to someday open a really good teaching facility but the cost was to high for me. As a matter of general conversation after our lessons he asked me. “How much do you think it would cost?” I told him I would check into the cost.
After a couple of weeks had gone by, my student asked me again about what the cost would be. I told him the numbers and what it would include to open a school. He said, “Well, that is a lot of money,” and I told him that was why I could not open a school at that time.
After he left I didn’t think any more about it. And the next week when he came for his lesson he never said anything about it during the lesson.
After the lesson, however, he told me that he wanted me to open my pool school and gave me a check for the amount I had worked out. I told him I would not be able to pay him back and gave him back the check. He refused, saying that it was a gift from him to a great teacher. Talk about being excited!
