--- title: "What Does the 2026 ICI Leadership Change Mean for Pool Instruction?" url: https://billiardnews.net/what-does-the-2026-ici-leadership-change-mean-for-pool-instruction-2 published: 2026-10-16T09:45:06Z updated: 2026-10-16T09:45:06Z summary: "Eric Naretto's move into the ICI chair signals a stronger focus on instructor development, collaboration, and measurable player progress." author: "chudat" categories: ["Learn"] tags: ["Eric Naretto", "ICI Summit", "PBIA", "Pool Instruction"] lang: en --- # What Does the 2026 ICI Leadership Change Mean for Pool Instruction? *The handover from Rob Moreno to Eric Naretto points to continuity in the ICI mission—and a more structured path for developing instructors.* Eric Naretto's selection to succeed Rob Moreno as chairperson of the International Certified Instructors Summit is best read as a shift from building an instructor network to deepening it. The public record points toward more collaboration, more instructor development, and more structured learning—not a sudden replacement of one teaching system with another. The ICI committee page says Naretto was selected at the conclusion of the 2026 Summit. It also states that his goals include expanding participation, strengthening collaboration among certified instructors, creating development opportunities, and continuing to raise instructional standards. Those priorities make the leadership change relevant to players as well as coaches. ## What changed at the 2026 ICI Summit? Naretto became ICI chairperson after Moreno, who remains on the ICI committee. The distinction matters: this was a change in leadership at the International Certified Instructors Summit, not an announcement that every billiards-instruction organization had changed leadership. Moreno is still described by the ICI as chairman of the Professional Billiard Instructors Association. In other words, the two instructors now occupy complementary leadership positions across organizations that share an interest in improving professional coaching. | Confirmed development | What it suggests | What it does not prove | |---|---|---| | Naretto succeeded Moreno as ICI chair | Planned continuity and a new operational lead | A break with the previous ICI mission | | Moreno remains on the ICI committee | Institutional knowledge stays inside the group | That the chairperson role is only ceremonial | | Instructor development is an announced priority | More attention may go to mentoring and peer learning | A new universal curriculum has already been adopted | | Participation and collaboration are explicit goals | The Summit may widen its network and exchange of methods | That all certifying bodies will merge or use identical standards | ![Rob Moreno, former ICI chairperson and current committee member](media:a56e15369940e50a) *Rob Moreno remains on the ICI committee after the 2026 handover. Image: International Certified Instructors Summit.* ## Why is Eric Naretto a significant choice? Naretto's profile combines classroom education, competitive experience, instructor certification, and program building. The ICI identifies him as an ACS Level 4 Instructor and PBIA Master Instructor, while the PBIA Master Instructors directory includes his listing in Pontiac, Illinois. His record also shows an interest in developing the teaching profession itself. The PBIA directory credits him with launching the G1 Billiards Online Academy in 2024 and creating the Instructional Open, where players learn while less-experienced instructors gain opportunities to work alongside established coaches. That model is important because pool instruction has often depended on individual reputation. A program that lets instructors observe, practice, receive feedback, and compare methods can make coaching quality less dependent on trial and error. Naretto also received the 2026 Jerry Briesath PBIA Instructor of the Year Award. The Billiard Congress of America published the award announcement on July 20, 2026, providing independent confirmation beyond the ICI biography. ## What direction could ICI take under the new chair? The most likely direction is professionalization through shared practice. That is an inference from the ICI's stated objectives and Naretto's background, not a claim that a formal new curriculum has already been released. Four areas deserve attention. 1. **Instructor mentoring:** Developing coaches need supervised teaching experience, not certification knowledge alone. 2. **Measurable player development:** Lessons become more useful when a coach establishes a baseline, assigns drills, and checks progress later. 3. **Hybrid instruction:** Naretto's online-academy experience may help the ICI explore how video review and remote follow-up can complement table-side lessons. 4. **Cross-organization exchange:** The committee includes instructors with PBIA, ACS, Billiard University, junior-program, mental-performance, and international coaching backgrounds. The value of the Summit is not that every instructor must teach the same way. Its value is that coaches can test ideas against the experience of their peers and identify practices that consistently help students. ## Why does instructor development matter to ordinary players? Players usually judge a lesson by whether they pocket more balls immediately. Good instruction has a longer horizon. It should help a student understand what changed, reproduce the change alone, and measure whether it survives under pressure. A stronger instructor-development culture can improve that process in several ways: - Coaches learn to diagnose the cause of a miss instead of offering a generic correction. - Students receive drills matched to a specific weakness rather than an unstructured list of tips. - Video, scoring, and repeatable layouts create evidence of improvement. - Follow-up plans connect a single lesson to weeks of purposeful practice. - Instructors become better at adapting explanations to different learning styles and physical needs. This does not make credentials irrelevant or infallible. Certification establishes a professional foundation, while continuing education and demonstrated teaching ability show whether an instructor keeps developing. ## What remains unchanged after the handover? The ICI's published identity still centers on connecting, collaborating, and elevating certified instructors. Moreno's continued committee role reinforces the sense of continuity. There is also no public evidence, as of October 16, 2026, that the leadership change has rewritten WPA playing rules, replaced PBIA or ACS certification structures, or imposed one mandatory teaching method. Readers should separate confirmed organizational facts from reasonable expectations about future programs. That caution is especially useful in cue-sports education, where ambitious claims can travel faster than published standards. The handover is meaningful because of the priorities attached to it, not because it instantly changes every lesson taught in America. ## How should a player evaluate an instructor now? The best response to a more professional coaching landscape is to ask better questions before booking a lesson. | Question for the instructor | What a strong answer should reveal | |---|---| | How will you assess my game? | A clear observation or testing process | | What will we measure? | Defined outcomes such as shot percentage, cue-ball zones, or decision quality | | What will I practice afterward? | A limited plan with repeatable drills and scoring | | How do you use video? | Diagnosis and feedback, not recording for its own sake | | When should we review progress? | A realistic follow-up point tied to practice volume | | Which certification do you hold? | A verifiable organization, level, and current status | A good coach should also be willing to explain why a change is being made. Players improve faster when they can connect a technical adjustment to a predictable ball outcome. ## What should the ICI be judged on next? The next test is execution. Increased participation should produce accessible events or learning opportunities. Collaboration should generate useful exchanges between instructors. Development should give newer coaches a visible path toward better teaching. The strongest evidence would be concrete outputs: published programs, mentor structures, session summaries, assessment tools, or follow-up reports showing what instructors changed after attending. Those outcomes would let the public distinguish genuine professional development from networking alone. For now, the 2026 handover signals evolution rather than disruption. Moreno helped establish a collaborative foundation; Naretto arrives with a background that fits the next task—turning that network into repeatable development for instructors and, ultimately, better learning for players. :::faq ### Did Eric Naretto replace Rob Moreno as PBIA chairman? No. The confirmed change concerns the chairperson of the International Certified Instructors Summit. The ICI committee page continues to describe Moreno as PBIA chairman. ### Is Eric Naretto listed as a PBIA Master Instructor? Yes. The PBIA Master Instructors directory contains a profile for Naretto, and the ICI biography also identifies him at that level. ### Was Naretto's 2026 instructor award independently confirmed? Yes. The Billiard Congress of America published a July 20, 2026 news item naming him the Jerry Briesath PBIA Instructor of the Year. ### Has ICI announced a new universal coaching curriculum? No public curriculum overhaul was identified in this review. The analysis concerns the direction suggested by the ICI's stated priorities and Naretto's record. ::: ## Sources - [ICI Committee and leadership biographies](https://internationalbilliardsummit.com/committee) - [PBIA Master Instructors directory](https://playbetterbilliards.com/learn/masterinstructors/) - [BCA: 2026 Jerry Briesath Instructor of the Year Award](https://bca-pool.com/news/731475/2026-Jerry-Briesath-Instructor-of-the-Year-Award-goes-to-Eric-Naretto.htm)