Photo courtesy of FOX 5 DC
An 11-year-old Prince George’s County native has been declared a “pool-playing phenom” while displaying his impressive skills at Center Pocket Billiards, a local pool hall in Bowie, Maryland.
D’Angelo “Jawz” Spain told FOX 5 that his father had given him the “nickname because I was killing people on the pool table.”
Spain was 4-years-old when he started playing pool. His father, Frank Spain II, said his son developed an interest in the sport after the family bought a karaoke machine.
“One day, we went out to go try to get a karaoke machine or something like that,” Frank recalled. “[My wife] was like, where are we gonna put it at? I said we can make space.”
“The only place we had to put it was in our living room, so we had to take our couches out, move them all out, and we did get a pool table,” said Spain’s mother, Angela. “He did talk me into it.”
Since then, the 11-year-old has appeared in tournaments all over the country, including in New York and New Orleans. Other players at the establishment agreed that Spain is one of the top players to look out for when competing against him.
In addition, he is also currently the top-ranking player for the 13-and-under division of the Junior International Championships.
While the talented pre-teen hopes to beat the pros in future competitions, he mostly looks forward to defeating his dad.
“When you lose to him one time, you feel like you lost to him 100 times because he’s gonna talk trash,” Frank laughed. “He’s gonna rub it in. He’s gonna make you lose sleep over it.”
Though competing in national tournaments can be fun, the cost can be pretty expensive. As a result, Spain’s family launched a GoFundMe campaign for anyone who would like to help cover the 11-year-old pool shark’s expenses.