Stories and Pics

Artistic Pool Challenge #3

Tom “Dr. Cue” Rossman held the final APA Artistic Pool Challenge Thursday evening. Twenty participants were again randomly chosen to participate in the challenge.

Tom set up a series of shots including standard shots, kick shots, speedshots and shots to test follow through, each participant had two attempts to try each shot, if he or she didn’t make it they were disqualified.

After 2 rounds the field was narrowed to half, after four more rounds two were left standing, Seth Dittrich and Christopher O’Neal both from the 8-Ball team, Say My Name of Georgia. It took one more round to finally declare a winner, Seth Dittrich prevailed.

Mercer is a skill level 6, “I’ve practiced a few trick shots in the past, I actually really enjoy learning them, this was a lot of fun.” Dittrich won an APA Cuetec Cue.

Members Save a Life

“I was on a Southwest flight coming into Vegas for the tournament and I over heard two women talking about playing in the tournament they were a few rows up, well all of the sudden, another woman had a heart attack on the plane, the flight crew was asking if anyone was a doctor, and the two women talking about the pool tournament turned out to be nurses. Everyone thought the woman who had the heart attack was gone, but the two nurses worked on her until she came back, I’m positive if it wasn’t for those two women the lady would have died, by the time the plane had landed, we had to divert to Amarillo, Texas, the lady was alive and looking well,” Roger Herpel from Illinois retells the account that happened on his plane. “I don’t know the names of the APA members who turned out to be nurses, but what they did was really great.”

The two women were not able to be found during the National Team Championships for comment or pictures, nearly 10,000 members made it to Vegas for the championships.

Artistic Pool Championship

Twenty-four of the most talented artistic pool players started competition Wednesday morning. Competitors from North America and Europe will be competing until Friday in the first 2004 Las Vegas Artistic Pool Championship at the APA National Team Championships. Two League Operators, Bruce Barthelette (Massachusetts) and Michael Murray (Massachusetts) will be competing in the event. After the first round, Tom “Dr. Cue” Rossman was in the lead with 66 points, Andy Segal was in a close second with 60 and Steve Geller stood in third with 48.

Participants compete for points in eight disciplines, Trick or Fancy, Prop/Novel/Special Arts, Draw, Follow, Bank/Kick, Stroke, Jump and Masse. Competition will end on Friday.

Giving the Gift of Pool

8-Ball team, JV Kavanaugh from Long Island, New York gave their team captain, Tom “Pop” Meyers a nice surprise earlier this summer. “My team gave me a father’s day card back in June and inside the card they told me they had bought me a private lesson with Allison Fisher during the Team Championships,” said Meyers.

Tom’s lesson was Thursday morning at 10 am, “I’m a little nervous, but I also want to improve my game, so any tips she can give me I’m going to try.” Allison helped Tom with his stance, body angle, foot position, bridge, and gave him tips on training his eyes for contact with the ball. “Tom is an excellent leader, he’s a great person and there is no one who deserves this opportunity more than our team captain, Tom,” said teammate Kenny Nilsen.

Artistic Pool Challenge #2

Tom “Dr. Cue” Rossman held the second APA Artistic Pool Challenge Tuesday afternoon. Twenty more players participated in the event and all twenty were hopeful to win and take home the APA Cuetec Cue.

Each participant were allowed two attempts at all set up trick shots. After 7 rounds the field was narrowed to four contestants, in the eighth round, three of the four contestants were eliminated. Ed Jacobson from Chicago, Ill. captured the win.

Jacobson has been an APA member for 4 years, and won an APA Challenge in 2003, “trick shots are a lot of fun,” said Jacobson, “I have a lot of cues, so I will probably give it to someone who needs a cue more than I do.”

Artistic Pool Challenge #1

Tom “Dr. Cue” Rossman held the first APA Artistic Pool Challenge Monday morning. Twenty participants were randomly chosen to participate in the challenge; competitors included men and women who were participating in the event as well as friends and family of those competing in the Championship.

Tom set up a series of shots including push shots, novelty shots, rack shots, wing shots, spot shots and kickback shots for contestants to attempt, each participant had a determined number of attempts to try each shot, if he or she didn’t make it they were disqualified.

After 11 rounds the field was narrowed to three contestants, each in high demand of the APA Cuetec Cue as the prize. It took two more rounds to finally declare a winner, but Mike Mercier from Gardner, Mass. was the winner.

Mercer is a skill level 7 competing in the 9-Ball National Team Championships, “I’ve never really practiced trick shots before, but I learned a lot of neat things, I think I’ll start doing trick shots now!”

Pro Point of View

Mike Massey talks to players about his professional career and life experiences surrounding pool that has affected his life. “I’ve had ups and downs, and my share of problems, but I got out of it, you learn how to fight certain battles in life,” said Massey.

Massey is here with GTS, a trick shot demonstration and discussions with professional poolplayers. Tom Rossman also talked about his start in pool, “I started out as a rack boy in a pool hall in Illinois. Over the years, I learned that it wasn’t always important to make the shot, missing was okay, but what’s important is to slow down and enjoy life.”

GTS also held drawings for a cue stick, compliments of Robin Dodson, and t-shirts.

Family Matters

Ralph, Darlene and Mandy Perez of New Orleans have made APA part of their family. Darlene and Mandy are the mother and daughter duo out here competing in the Ladies Division with the rest of their team. “The whole family is involved in the APA, cousins, uncles, everyone,” said Ralph, “my father was in the APA, I am and now my daughter is.” APA history in the Perez family is multi-generational and covers all three formats, 8-Ball, 9-Ball and Ladies.

Ralph has been a member of the APA for 25 years; Darlene and Mandy both have been members for 12 years. Darlene and Mandy are here for the second time competing in the Championships.

Rockin’ Roosters

Steve Mynar, Warren Novak, Chris Mahoney, Kristin Lee, Matt Doehring, Jeff Fryer, Tom Shenton and Tom Stofko teammates of Rockin’ Roosters from Baltimore, Maryland are here for the first time playing 9-Ball. “I’ve been here for 8-Ball in the past, this is the first time for 9-Ball,” said Mynar, team captain, “we are doing okay, we are still having fun, I wish we were doing better, but we are still here and smiling.”

Information Station

League Operator, Kim Pankonin helps players with match information during the 9-Ball and Ladies Division Team Championships. Match information workers help hundreds of players each day figure out where their team will advance as the Championship progresses. Kim is the League Operator in Riverside County California, where she hosts 8-Ball, 9-Ball and Ladies Division teams.

Cinderella Story

“We placed fourth in our division, we went to playoffs and won; at that time we only had five players. From playoffs we went to the Money Cup, we were the underdogs but we were determined to go all the way, then we won the Money Cup. That qualified us to play in the City Tournament, at that point we had six players and we had won the City Tournament,” said George Cates, “it seemed that we had everything against us, being in fourth place, we only had five players, but we came through and we won the trip to Vegas!”

Team members of Finish Line gathered in front of the tournament room getting ready to meet the rest of their team and to play their next match, George Cates, David McNown and Bryan McNown are from Moncks Corner, S.C.

Ladies Ready to Compete

Ladies Division competitors, Kathy Mohr, Theresa Garcia, Stephanie Reinhard, Madie Mirabal, Janice Hamilton and Mercy Calazar, from Albuquerque, New Mexico are ready for their competition at the table and in the pictures. The ladies just finished getting their picture taken for the Team Shirt Contest. “Madie hand drew the shirts herself, we just got them today,” said Janice Hamilton of her teammate, “we haven’t played a match yet today, we are very excited, so don’t forget to come back and take a picture of us with our trophy on Sunday!”

Duchess Holds Court

Top-ranked WPBA superstar Allison Fisher (the Duchess of Doom) is on-hand throughout the National Team Championships signing autographs, performing exhibitions and providing instructional classes.

On the opening day of the Ladies 8-Ball and Open 9-Ball Championships, Allison took on all comers in challenge matches. Each player in attendance was given a raffle ticket and those who were lucky enough to be drawn had a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity to show-off their skills against the world’s No. 1 ranked women’s player.

Only one player managed to defeat the Duchess in the challenge matches by pocketing a 9-on-the-break and keeping her off the table! Unfortunately for the rest of those who made it to the table, no one else was able to top Allison.

To see Stories and Pics from last year’s championships click here.

© 2004, American Poolplayers Association, Inc. | Page Last Modified on Friday, August 27, 2004 6:45 PM PST