Chester County APA Monday North Champions

On Monday our 8 ball team played the final match of the Spring 2021 session in Chester County's APA Monday North league. The previous week we had qualified for regionals with a win. This week we were playing for trophies and the number one spot this session. 

Typically we play 5 matches a night with a ton of strategy in who we call and when. We were fired up and managed to win the night with only having to shoot 4 matches. I would have shot the 5th and final match if it came to it, but we were all excited to clinch the victory as soon as possible.

Now we look forward to regionals in both 8 ball and 9 ball come the end of July!

APA - American Poolplayers Association

Towards the end of 2019 I was convinced by a bunch of friends to join their pool league team on Wednesday nights. I was a total beginner, trying to learn all of the basics and fundamentals to play 9 ball. It was a bit of a rough beginning filled with a ton of nerves and matches lost. I worked myself down to a skill level (SL) 1, but through a lot of coaching and studying and practicing I managed to get my first win. We had gotten an 8 ft. Gold Crown pool table for our basement and I continued to practice and try pool drills, all while working on my stroke. I won and loss a few more times and then in 2020 covid shut down the world including league. What a time to have a pool table in your basement.

The endless "stay at home" weekends turned into pool practicing weekends, which truly turned my game around. We were having a lot of fun while I was racking up hours on the table. When league started back up for a few months, I felt like a different player at league. Before the shutdown I had a losing record with 5 wins, 10 losses. After shutdown, I had 6 wins and only 1 loss and I had moved up to a SL2. From there we had another shut down for about three months. When we restarted again I landed at the top of the MVP boards for 9 ball with a final record of 8/9 for the Fall 2020 session. Our team placed in 1st and scored a ticket to regionals.

Come the Spring 2021 session, I was convinced again to join an 8 ball team on Mondays. I came in as a SL2 and after a win my first match I got bumped up to a SL3. While still being a SL2 in 9 ball, I ended the session with a 5/8 winning record. Our 9 ball team qualified for playoffs and we get to see how that shakes out yet this week and next. While already being qualified for regionals in 9 ball, our focus was primarily on 8 ball. Playing a different game, I ended my first session with a 3/8 record but the team made it to playoffs. We had our first playoff match last night and won huge, punching our ticket to regionals with the 8 ball team now as well!

Regionals will be held the end of July, so the whole team is looking forward to those matches and trying to get as much table time as possible until then. The winner of both 8 ball and 9 ball will each get tickets to Vegas to play in the World Championships; the ultimate goal.

Below are my top patches I have earned over the past couple years. Our team had a clean sweep in 8 ball the other week. Earlier this session I got a 9 on the snap and then a Rackless match in 8 ball. My proudest match to date is a 20-0 win in 9 ball that I had this session. I look forward to collecting more patches, practicing and improving my skill and most of all shooting with our teams. It has been a way more rewarding experience than I ever could have imagined, and I can't wait to play with both of our teams at regionals in a month!

Right on Cue

One of my new favorite hobbies lately has been playing pool in league. I joined the American Poolplayer Association (APA) the end of 2019 due to the encouragement of my best friend, her husband and my boyfriend who have all been playing in league for years. Entering the APA and joining a 9-ball team, I would come in as a skill level 3 and win or lose to determine my long-term skill level. Being completely new to the sport, I quickly dropped down to a skill level 1 with a ton to learn. This allowed a lot of flexibility for the team though since we had a broad range of skill levels already on the team. 

I lost a TON at first, but that definitely made that first win extremely memorable. Eventually COVID-19 put a wrench in any social activities including pool league. One benefit we had was a pool table in the basement. I watched a bunch of intro videos and practiced nearly every weekend. When we came back to shooting league later in 2020, I was winning and bumped up to a skill level 2. Our team went through some changes as well and were now under a new name Right on Cue.

Once back to shooting full time in league, Right on Cue placed first during the "summer 2020" session. Unfortunately, we lost the first round of playoffs, however, since we had finished first in the session we advanced to regionals. Being a team full of friends outside of league, we were all really excited at our ticket to regionals. The winner of regionals then advances to go play in Las Vegas. While we have a couple months until our shot in regionals, we all decided we needed a logo design and t-shirts. After my busy catalog season at work, I got inspired and designed a logo.

In true fashion, I designed a logo based around a great typeface. Additionally, I came up with the concept of having the name be large and keep the pool concept subtle but still recognizable to those in league. "Right on Cue" references hitting the cue ball with right English, causing the cue ball to move differently after contact with the object ball than it would if you hit it straight on. Many instructor videos include diagrams of applying English with a red dot to signify where the tip of your cue should make contact with the cue ball. I wanted to include that concept subtly within the logo.

Initially I was thinking of using the "o" in "on" to represent the red dot. However, after several attempts, I couldn't quite get it to work or find the right font to pull off the concept. From there I focused on the dot of the "i" in "Right". Below is what I came up with.

Hopefully we can get these made up in time for regionals and have a successful weekend shooting! Until then, we'll be practicing weekly and having fun while doing it.