Ok With Us from New Holland, Pa., is a close nit group of poolplayers. A week before their Regional tournament, the Team Captain, Toby, had a heart attack that put him in the hospital. When the playoffs came around, he was there, happy and cheering the team on. On day 2, Toby didn’t show up and the team found out that he had another heart attack and was in a coma. The team was devastated, but in their hearts knew that they had to win it for Toby. They were able to pull out a 1st Place finish and qualify for Vegas. Toby was better a few weeks later and cried after hearing the big news.
“When we won our local championship we were too emotional,” team member Jessica Sciangola said. “We all did it for him (Toby). This united us better as team and made us use what we knew as a team to push forward. We rejoiced in moments of hugging and tears of both joy for us and joy for what we have done for our friend that we were so worried about.”
The team has been playing together for six years and includes Toby Diem, Jason Bumbarger, Kenny Smeal, Dennis Sandoe, Mike Wise, Reeny Villanueva, Teresa Smeal and Jessica Sciangola. The team was brought together by friends over the years and kept growing.
“Our team is special because of our unity and the personality we bring to the game,” Jessica said. “We treat each other as family, not just teammates.”
Toby was ecstatic that he was able to make the trip to Vegas with the team! They competed in the 9-Ball Open Division.