Ilmatsalu youth's small dream

March 26, 2026

The older teens at Ilmatsalu have had a little dream for a long time: a pool table—after all, every youth center for older teens has one. Until now, Ilmatsalu has only had a ping-pong table, which wasn’t exactly everyone’s cup of tea. So, one day in January, the topic of a pool table for the Ilmatsalu Youth Center came up again among the youth workers.

I had the idea to post a question in the “Trash to Treasure in Tartu” Facebook group asking if anyone happened to have a pool table to give away. So I made the post. The idea seemed a bit ambitious, of course, but I figured it doesn’t hurt to ask, and people sometimes have completely surprising things they’re willing to give away for free. No offers came in, but the director of the Ilmatsalu Youth Center sent me an interesting email.

The letter said that although the man couldn’t give us a pool table, he would like to come take a look at our space. Since he has been involved with pool tables for a long time, he could advise us on what kind of table we should even be looking at and what size table would actually fit in the room. No sooner said than done—just a couple of days later, we were discussing various options at the Ilmatsalu Youth Center. I learned that there are actually so many different types of billiards games, and that tables come in both larger and smaller sizes. Until then, I had only been familiar with standard 8-ball billiards.

Anyone who has been to Ilmatsalu before knows that our community center has narrow hallways and passageways. The youth center is located on the second floor, accessible via a narrow hallway with stairs. We were worried about how we would even get such a large table upstairs. I was surprised to learn that pool tables actually break down into very small pieces and have an easily removable stone slab on top. That’s what makes this table so heavy.

The dream was already within reach, but… we still didn’t have a pool table. As it happened, that same gentleman offered to rent us a pool table for a small fee. They deliver it themselves and set it up, come by to maintain it, and even throw in billiards lessons for the kids on top of that. Just two days later, the billiards table was in our hallway, and after the weekend, it was carried up the stairs and set up.

Then things really got going at the Ilmatsalu Youth Center. Not a day goes by without the pool table getting some use. People of all ages come to play. It’s great that the pool table also brings older teens to the youth center.
On February 6, a pool lesson was held, which gave the teens theoretical and practical knowledge that they are now putting to the test every day.

A big thank you to Levis Plumberg for helping make the dreams of the young people at the Ilmatsalu Youth Center come true!

Written by Liisi Parkonen, a youth worker at the Ilmatsalu Youth Center.

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