Appreciation for Running Omega Tour

I admit I was scared of the potential of the Omega Tour ending with just a kick out the door, lol, but I found myself on Saturday morning of the very last (forever and ever) event of the Omega Billiards Tour era receiving a gift from some of the players.

It was an award/plaque for my years running the Omega Tour!

I'm so ecstatic and happy to be honored!  Means so so SO much!!

Appreciation goes a long way, and this meant the world to me!

Bet you can't tell in these photos :)

Awarded Best Pool Blog!

I can't begin to express how cool it was when I received a message from Phil Capelle two weeks ago:  "I read in BD that you won blog of the year - it is in the July issue - I have not seen you mention it, is this news to you?"

OMG DID I REALLY??

I was out of town for work and told him my Billiards Digest magazine was prolly sitting on my counter, waiting for me to open it when I returned.

Sure enough, I open the magazine right when I get home and read with my won eyes my blog won "Best Pool Blog"!!

// big smile //

My blog has come in second place I think twice, and always wondered why I hadn't won the TOP honor because I don't know anyone else that blogs as much as I do (I blog 10-15 times a month).  Most other blogs are WAY outdated, and yet they would still win the top spot, so I was confused.  But, the author did mention my blog's template is 'cumbersome' (one other time they didn't like the colors), so maybe it's not my content, but how it looks is why I hadn't inched up to the top podium til now.

Further, to HEAR I won before I READ about it, was pretty cool, too, I admit! 

I can't begin to share with you how excited I am about this!  I really do love blogging and I make notes all the times for future blog entries so I don't forget to write about certain situations.  Writing in my blog would be the number one thing I would miss if I stopped playing pool (and so I would have to figure out a way to keep writing about pool!).

A HUGE thank you for Billiards Digest for the including me as one of their winners of their 2015 Web Awards!!  I'm very honored!  (and happy)  :)

 (Click on either photo to enlarge)

Amateur Pool Player of the Year for 2014

On January 6th, I got a really amazing surprise.

Renowned billiards author Phil Capelle announced his choice for Amateur Player of the Year.

ME!

He had asked me earlier in December for my accomplishments for 2014, and then I forgot about it.  Until, January 6th:

Melinda Bailey –
POOL’S AMATEUR PLAYER OF THE YEAR FOR 2014

I am happy to announce that Melinda Bailey is my choice for Pool’s Amateur Player of the Year in 2014!

Amateur pool is the backbone of our sport, and in 2014 no player exemplified the spirit of an amateur more than Melinda Bailey of Forth Worth Texas. Melinda’s regular job is with the National Weather Service, but she finds the time on nights and weekends to compete in leagues and tournaments, and she travels all over playing in state and national events.

She also was a prominent member of the team that ran the Hunter Tour, and she recently founded and runs the Omega Billiards Tour in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. She’s also has worked with AZ Billiards and has been the webmaster for numerous billiards sites (including billiardspress.com), and Melinda continues to blog about her life in pool at http://pooljourney.blogspot.com/ where she shares the thoughts of an amateur with complete candor and conviction. In recognition of her play and contributions to the game, she appeared on the cover of Bad Boys Billiard Online Magazine’s first edition, and was interviewed in the July issue of Billiards Digest.

Now for the best part: After years and years of competing and working on her game, the damn broke loose for Melinda in 2014 as she enjoyed the kind of year most of us only dream about. In a two month span she won state wide singles and doubles titles, then captured an individual title at the ACS Nationals and two additional ACS team titles! Melinda also won or placed in the top four in several other competitions. Her record in 2014.

Monday league team playoffs, 1st place (Jan)
Monday league singles tourney, 2nd place (Feb)
BCA Texas State Scotch Doubles, 1st place (April)
BCA Texas State Women's Singles, 1st place (April)
ACS Nationals Women's 9-Ball Singles, 1st place (May)
ACS Nationals Women's 9-Ball Team event, 1st place (May)
ACS Nationals Women's 8-Ball Team event, 1st place (May)
Men's league team playoffs, 1st place (June)
ACS Texas State Women's Singles, 4th place (October)
Women's league individual standings for 2014, 2nd place (October)
Women's league team playoffs, 2nd place (November)

I could NOT believe it!

And then I was overwhelmed with all the comments from follow players!  OVERWHELMED. 

Here is the photo he used (he said it showed my lefthanded-ness well, lol):

This screen capture also shows that it was shared 19 times and has 84 comments!  WOW!

I'm still speechless.  Someone noted that it doesn't say male or female, and Phil responded that was intentional.  Did I really have that great of a year last year in pool??  I had one of the the worse years in my life personally off the table, but somehow managed to play good pool?  Really?

While there is no "official" Amateur Player of the Year award, Phil decided after seeing all my accomplishments, to announce this. 

Again, all the comments and praise and accolades really meant a lot.  To be singled out and recognized was pretty cool.  I didn't even realize anyone had noticed.  Heck, I didn't even really realize the year I had had!!

Thank you to all my friends and fellow pool players for their love and support!  And thank you to all my competitors who helped me become a better player towards all the finals I eventually played in!

Surprise Awards

I'm on a new league, a women's league, and I have thoroughly enjoyed it.  I don't normally like leagues, but I have enjoyed this one, mostly because of the camaraderie of my fellow teammates and my competitors.  A lot of these women I have seen at state tournaments or once in a while at other events in the area, but I never really hung out with them.  A few, but not many.  I have enjoyed my new friendships with a lot of the women, and I think with my Mom's passing, this has been very important and healthy for me.

I haven't written about it yet, but my team won the league play offs two weekends ago!  I was SO excited!  I had never won a league playoff before.  And I won the case game, too!  It was a tricky out, to boot.  :)

I also only had one loss the entire weekend.  I'm REALLY not sure how that happened, because I was extremely sick on Sunday.  Saturday I fared well, but by Sunday morning, I had had only ten minutes of sleep the entire night before and my heart rate had been up all morning, and would be up for the rest of the day.  I had too many red bulls the night before (more than I ever have) and that combined with some emotional things almost convinced me to go to the ER instead of league playoffs.  As each hour passed, as each non-sleep passed, I just told myself I had to TRY to get to the pool room that was 30 minutes away and TRY to play pool for my teammates.  We were on the winner's side, about to play in the hotseat match at noon; I had to be there.

But I admit I was miserable.  I drank so much water, I had to pee 2-3 times during each match.  I was shaking and barely able to play pool.  I felt horrible.

I told my teammates if I fainted, "to just wake me up, don't call the paramedics."  One joked she would splash water on me, the other told me she would hit me (because I wouldn't remember it, lol).

As I struggled through the day, I forced myself to play pool for my girls.  I couldn't let them down.  And, we ended up winning!  I had never won a league playoff before!  I finally smiled - first time the entire day, after I sank the winning 8ball and we celebrated with high fives and hugs!

The banquet for the league was the following Thursday.  I called my captain and asked her if I had to be there.  I told her I wasn't feeling well still, but I wasn't sure what the banquet entailed, since this was a new league for me.  Would there be pics?  Discussions?  Was I *really* needed.  She said no, and that an official team pic (with our shirts) were taken over the weekend, but there would be a pic with the trophy (since we just won the playoffs) that I would miss.  I told her since I really gave it my all to show up over the weekend when I was sick, I would like to not go.  She said that was fine.  I didn't feel like I was letting anyone down by not going to the banquet, I more cared about showing up to play the weekend before.

On Friday, I see a photo of my teammates on facebook - we were voted best sportsmanship team!  How cool!  There was a pic with all the ladies,  all my teammates with cute little trophies, minus me of course.  I was so harpy for them!  And then I felt bad I didn't go, but I still had hoped they understood.

Turns out, besides my team award, I won another award.  The day of the banquet, one of the board members had called me because she heard I may not be going.  She was kind of stammering and I couldn't figure out why. She finally told me I had won an award. 

"I did?"

"Yes, you did."  She tells me excited.

"Well, I still don't feel good enough to go."

"Okay, I understand.  I thought I'd try tho.  I'll see you this weekend for the Queen of the Hill tourney." 

"Okay.  Um, what did I win an award for?" I ask.

"Most Tables Runs."  She finally fesses up.

I am perplexed and surprised as I tell her.  "Really?  That's weird, I didn't think I played enough to be in the running for anything.  I had no idea I had that many to win this award.  There were several people in front of me I thought."

"Yea, " she explains, "They had one, you had TWO."

LMFAO!!!

MIP Thoughts

The "Most Improved Player" Award is a touchy little award to win. It's a valuable award to those who win it and to those who crave it. However, to those who think they should have won it, they feel defeated - even though they had a good year! 

Even if my friends do not set a goal to win MIP, it still hurts me deeply when they deserved the award but did not get it. To me, some recognition for being in contention when the MIP is announced is also warranted.  When that doesn't happen, it bothers me.  I do not know how they feel, but I personally know how tough it is to think you should win something and everyone else thinks so too, but then the close contenders aren't even mentioned as being in the running.

As a previous Board Member, I can state emphatically that deciding the MIP is NEVER an easy decision. The MIP award has so many facets to it. It's not simply, "Hey, who moved up the most this year in the ranking compared to the previous years?"

Attendance is considered, the number of top finishes are compared against all contenders, the number of times they have played on the tour, sportsmanship and attitude, and overall pool game improvements which includes skill, mental focus, and consistency over the years.

It's one of the most difficult choices! Also, the award is decided by ALL the board members, not just one person.

I do feel that each friend and fellow competitor who wins the Most Improved Player award are MUCH deserving of it! Don't misinterpret my comments. But I also have some heartache for my friends and fellow players who obviously also deserved the award.

In 1999, a fellow player on the Ladies Spirit Tour out of Florida shared very valuable information. I told Karen that my goal that year was to get MIP. Well, instead of supporting me, she got mad at me! She scowled, "how can you have a goal which you have absolutely NO control over!" I was taken aback, "huh?"

Although I HEARD her, I didn't listen. I STILL craved that award; I wanted it badly and worked my butt off that year.

And sure enough, I improved in the standings and even jumped up more than any other player that year, but yet I still didn't win the award! The Tour Directors knew how much I wanted that award, but they gave it to another player who also moved up in the rankings that year.

The Tour created a new award and called it something like "the Best All-Around Player." The description on the certificate read something like, "best dressed, most professional, most considerate and thoughtful player who has also improved."

I accepted the award with sincere disappointed and hurtfulness. I did NOT listen at all to Karen. :(

Can I hear her now when I feel sympathy for my friends who don't win the award?

Nope, not at all.  (Sorry, Karen!)  The hurt is still there for them.

I Was Awarded

As a Board Member of the OB Cues Ladies 9-Ball Tour, I knew ahead of time who the board decided would win the Most Improved Player Award. We look at all the stats of the candidates - those who have rose in the rankings from previous years, number of events attended, and high finishes. Turns out this year we looked at three players, and I was one of them. It's very weird to look at your own stats for a potential award, and I fully admit I was very uncomfortable. However, looking at the figures, it turns out I would get the MIP Award over the other two candidates, but of course I couldn't tell anyone... so I kept the big news quiet.

I picked up the plaque of the MIP and Tour Champion on the way to the final stop of 2008 of the OB Cues Ladies 9-Ball Tour, as fellow board member and I, Julie Stephenson, headed to Legend's Billiards in League City, Texas.


Monica Anderson, the other Board Member, and I had already discussed that I would run the Player's Meeting but when it came time to award MIP and the Delta-13 Rack that was engraved "Tour's Most Loyalist Member," that she would give out the awards.

Tracie Voelkering was surprised to win the Loyalist Award (our first time to give it out) and the Tour Champion award wasn't decided until Sunday afternoon when Lisa Marr earned enough points to claim the title.

When it came time to give out the Most Improved Player Award, I thought Monica would just say, "she moved from 9th last year to 5th this year," but she said more, and it moved me to tears. She said that although I had won this already back in 1998, the competition nowadays was tougher, but more importantly, I moved up in the rankings and improved all the while enduring a tough year. I teared up, she teared up, and I accepted the award with downright shock with her words - I didn't expect all that at all!

Monica would remind me later I also moved up in the rankings all the while also being a busy Board Member.

I knew I had been doing well - a 4th place finish and two 5th place finishes this year, but when Monica mentioned I was not only improving "in general," but amidst a rough year, it made the award that much more meaningful to me.

I weird as it sounds, I didn't realize that.

As the one who endured the year, I don't realize sometimes I lost my Dad, got divorced and moved my Mom up here so we could live together because she is disabled. I use my passion (pool) as my outlet - still practice once a week, still work on pool websites, still help run the OB Cues Ladies Tour, still provide media coverage and photos at a few other events, etc.

On Sunday, fellow player, Jillian Martinez, stopped me and congratulated me. That meant so much to me b/c only moving up from 9th to 5th place doesn't seem that much, but she said it was obvious I should have won the Most Improved Player award. Her words meant the world to me.

Thanks to Monica for the moving speech and to my Mom who supports me practicing every week. Below is me with my new, proud, MIP plaque!


It's very weird to win this award in 1998 and now again in 2008. Some players on the tour don't realize I used to be able to play some! When they started on the tour, I wasn't playing well so the have no idea I played "okay" in the late 90s and early 2000's. LOL! I stopped regularly practicing around 2001/2002 and it really showed in my finishes.

In Aug 2006, I decided to start diligently practicing again once a week, but had too take some weeks off in 2007 due to my Mom almost passing away and then my Dad passing away. In 2008, I would do my weekly routine of 1-3 hours of me-only practicing whenever I could and I guess it paid off!

My friend at the pool room, Steve Game, was SO happy for me when I told him I won MIP. He expressed to me that indeed I had improved - he had really noticed my improvements on the table but didn't want to tell me before the final event because he didn't want me to play too loose. He says he will keep helping me, too. :)

I want to keep up the practice and maybe even practice additionally - I did add a Saturday session if I was not out of town and I want to keep that up.

I am very happy and honored to win Most Improved Player. My game has so much more matured than when I won it back in 1998. I have so much more knowledge in the fundamentals, it's amazing I even won that award back then, LOL.