kinship - noun
1. a close connection marked by community of interests or similarity in nature or character; "found a natural affinity with the immigrants"; "felt a deep kinship with the other students"; "anthropology's kinship with the humanities" [syn: affinity]
2. (anthropology) relatedness or connection by blood or marriage or adoption
"kinship." WordNet® 3.0. Princeton University. 07 Apr. 2009.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/kinship
According to the second part of the above definition, a strict anthropological appraisal might be so rigid as to leave out, or discriminate against, any pool playing folk who are not related by blood, marriage, or adoption. Arguably, the discipline of Folklore need not recognize such a strict definition as what Anthropology or Sociology might want. What is important to understand is that when people take part in any activity over a very prolonged period of time together, their interdependence and caring for one another can definitely evolve to a point where it resembles a familial tie. Certainly, in pool, there are so many people whom have developed such extremely strong bonds through this activity that one would be remiss not to recognize the familial, or kinship-like, aspects that develop here. The strongest of these bonds seem to develop through a long and shared practice of this activity, for instance, when two (or more) friends play on the same team together, for many years.
Below is a picture of a pool tournament that took place at Cheyenne's Senior Center. Many of the gentlemen that played in this tournament are regular pool players at this establishment. What is more, there are games almost everyday there that last for hours on end. What is especially nice about this venue is that there are people of many different nationalities who play very amenably together there, and consider each other to be good friends. I am much younger than most of the participant players at this center but they often, graciously invite me to play with them. Thus, pool easily helps to bridge boundaries between race and age.
The next image shows the "marker board" at the Senior Center that is used to let people know when their turn is up. The funny thing about this is that these boards are often present in bars, but they rarely work in those environments, even if they are used. I have actually seen fights over how the board is used in bars, so they are an imperfect artifact, to say the least.
Another thing to help keep the peace at the Senior Center is a Rules Sign. Across the top of the image is a scoring string that helps the players keep accurate track of points while playing some "Snooker" (which is a certain type of billiards game rules).
