Rules and Newbies

I played in the OB Cues Ladies Tour stop last weekend and ran into an unfortunate situation during my second match.

I HATE when this happens.  :(

I was playing a new girl and we were going back and forth and the score was about 3-3 when this happened.

She kicked at the 6ball and didn't hit a rail afterwards.  She hit the rail first, then the cueball hit the 6ball, and both balls moved a few inches to the center of the table.  I asked/told her it was a foul - I didn't want to just pick up the cue ball without her realizing the error.

She looked at me confused.

"I hit a rail," she tells me.

I explained to her that the cueball nor the 6ball didn't hit a rail afterwards.  She told me confused, "But I hit a rail."

I tried to explain again a rail had to be hit AFTER contact is made.

She expressed that she was told a rail had to be hit, it didn't matter when.

I explained the rule again.  She finally succumbed and said, "okay" and I took ball in hand and ran out the few remaining balls.

I ended up winning 7-4 and felt pretty bad.  A female player attending their first tourney is very vulnerable.  They are already very nervous and out of their comfort zone.  And if they have a bad experience, they may never come back.

I was hoping the incident didn't put a bad taste in her mouth.  It was simply a rule confusion, but if I didn't explain it well or she didn't receive it properly, it could be detrimental.

I would over hear her say later she normally only plays 8ball, but even in 8ball the overall rules are the same, so I was kinda confused.

But, I was VERY happy to see her back on Sunday when she came back to play in the Second Chance tourney.  Whew!

She had a very good game and once she gets rid of the jitters, she will be a force to be reckoned with.