This Weekend & More
This weekend, I played in a $250 added Women’s 9 ball tournament at the Colorado Cue Club. That’s the “this weekend” part. I also wanted to write about Thursday night. That’s the “& more” part. So, chronologically, I’ll be starting with the “& more” first.
So, Thursday night, I decided to stop by the Skylark to visit my friend Tom Ross. I hadn’t seen him in a while and he runs 
a free Thursday night pool clinic there every week. I knew it started around 7p.m. and by this time it was after 8p.m. so I figured he’d be wrapping up and I could hit some balls and hang out. On the contrary, he was in the midst of the clinic and there were about 20 people there! WOW! That’s really terrific!!!
I ended up staying to help out and doing a couple presentations myself. (That’s how I lost my voice… oops!) I worked with some of the students and then hung out and played with some of them afterwards. It was REALLY awesome! The thought of a room full of that many people that are THAT excited about pool just really made me excited. They were all like sponges, just soaking up every little thing I had to share with them. They were curious and excited and couldn’t wait to learn more and come back next week. It was truly inspiring.
This weekend - Well, yesterday, I played in a women’s tournament at the Cue Club. It was originally advertised as a 9 ball event and when we got there, we collectively decided to play 8 ball on the winner’s side and 9 ball on the loser’s side since this is all part of their “Springboard to the Nationals” series of events and we play both at nationals. 15 women showed up and they added $250. Of the 15, the six masters (including myself) raced to 6 and everyone else raced to 5.
I won my first match 6-4 against Nicole Keeney. She was actually one of the people I traveled to Valley Forge with. I played pretty well and could count the number of mistakes I made on one hand. You see, it’s bar table 8 ball. I couldn’t forget that this was my forte before I started working on my 9 ball game. Though I hadn’t been practicing much due to some matters in my personal life, I just reminded myself that there’s really no excuse for missing one single ball.
My next match would be a tough one. I managed to win 6-2 in an even race against my friend Caela Henley. She’s such a champion! She’s a bit of a mentor to me. She was the first strong female player that I met and watched. She sort of took me under her wing and asked me to join her masters team when I was just starting to get serious, long before I was master material. I admire her so much. I knew I would have to play hard and I did. I only missed two balls in that match and they cost me the two games she won. And, one of those balls skidded on me! I was very happy with my performance in this match.
Next, I played another (former) teammate, Bettina Nedel. I won 6-4. She has improved so much from the last time I played her or even watched her play. She played incredibly well against me, and I had to spot her a game. She broke and ran one rack and ran another rack off my break. I knew I would not be able to take her lightly. This win guaranteed me third and I would move on to play for the driver’s seat.
My next match was against another teammate, Bonnie Plowman. I ended up losing to Bonnie 6-5. I scratched on the hill and she made a great out. During that match, we both had our moments of greatness but it was one of those sort of goofy matches where things would go almost perfectly and then something would go wrong. I made a couple really nice outs and she made two incredible runs where she hooked herself on the 8 ball in one and then rolled right on top of the 8 ball in the other game. I missed and 8 ball and scratched a couple times on back door outs. Overall, my performance was not nearly as strong as my earlier ones. I wish I could’ve played better, especially against Bonnie.
Next, I met up with Julie Schultz. You guessed it. She’s another teammate and champion player. Since I had lost to Bonnie, I now had to switch gears and play 9 ball against Julie. she had a slight advantage because she lost an earlier match (I think it might’ve even been her first one) and had been playing mostly 9 ball. It started off back and forth but then I was down 5-2. I took a quick break and had a talk with myself and returned to win the next three games with a fire in my eye. She was playing just as great as she always does!
Unfortunately, I had another undesired turnaround on the hill. My normal side break had not been working for 9 ball. The balls weren’t spreading well and I wasn’t making a ball so I was breaking from an unfamiliar spot on the table. I made a couple new adjustments and unfortunately, hit the rack just a little off center. The cue ball spun itself into the side pocket and the 9 ball, like it was in slow motion, creeped toward the one ball and sat in front of the hole, leaving her a wired 1-9 combo with ball in hand. It was brutal! I didn’t even make her shoot it. I lost 6-5 and finished 3rd. I got 110 bucks.
It can be difficult playing our friends/teammates. We were also there celebrating Julie’s birthday yesterday, so along with a day of competition was a day of fun and celebration. It can be tough to take a match seriously against your good friends or people you care about. You (well, I do, anyway) want to root for them and see them succeed but I can’t forget that they are still my enemy when I get to the table.
Here’s a photos of the final four left in the tournament. From left to right, Deb Winter, Julie Schultz, Bonnie Plowman, & me! Our entire team finished in the finals. I thought that was pretty cool.
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