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Jimmy Wetch (born on April 23, 1968 in St. Paul, Minnesota) is an American professional pool player nicknamed ''"The Kid"''. He was at one time a feared , later becoming an accomplished tournament pro, having won or placed in numerous competitions. He was ranked fifth in the world by the Pro Billiards Tour (PBT) in 1996.〔City Pages LLC (2007). (Rack 'em up ) by David Schimke (September 9, 1998). Retrieved on August 8, 2007.〕 ==Early years== The son of Jimmy, Sr., the owner of a painting business, and Janice Wetch, a switchboard operator, he has one sibling, Sharon, who is four years his junior. His early life was characterized by instability. Wetch's parents divorced when he was 9, remarried when he was 17, and again divorced after a short time. Wetch would sometimes live with one parent, and sometimes with the other, or both when they were together, and each of his parents moved a number of times, though always in or around the Twin Cities area. Wetch never went to the same school for more than two years in a row.〔 "It still probably affects me," said Wetch in a 1999 interview, "To this day I'm not very good at interacting with people."〔 At a young age, Wetch became fascinated with gambling, so much so that his mother threatened to enter him in Gamblers Anonymous. He pitched coins, played cards, bet on sports, and even on pinball. His other gambling pursuits tapered off when he discovered a pool table at 13 while playing cards in a friend's basement. Wetch was soon hooked, spending as much time as possible in a local pool room called the Rack & Cue, playing eight ball and nine ball for 20 cents a game or more. He earned free table time by recording high scores on the room's video games.〔〔〔MN Billiards.com (2007). (Interview with Jimmy "The Kid" Wetch ). Retrieved on August 8, 2007.〕 Wetch's talent was quickly evident: A month after taking up the sport he was already beating his father who was a decent recreational player. Pool became his passion. He would practice his at the kitchen table, attempting to keep his stroke perfectly level by passing it through a hollowed out cube of pool chalk without touching the sides, and stain his father's towels wiping down the of his cue stick. Every night after completing his homework, he would head to the pool room to practice. He was known there for pestering all the better players for tips to improve his game.〔〔 By 15 years of age, Wetch had 50 balls at straight pool, calling each shot in advance, as is mandatory in the game. At 16, he posted a run of 131 balls, and at 17 he won the 1985 Minnesota State Championship. Wetch had theretofore been a decent student, but pool had become all he thought about. He soon dropped out of St. Paul's Humboldt High School, to take up the life of a . He set off with a family friend, one Joe Saad, who acted as his on the road. By that time, he had already earned the nickname, "The Kid", given to him by a manager of Minnesota Billiards, one of the pool rooms in which Wetch had cut his teeth.〔〔〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Jimmy Wetch」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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