TD Experience - Players Playing (or Not)

I mentioned on American Billiard Radio last week (we talked about the crowd), I could discuss every single week of the year a topic related to running a tournament.  Seriously,  lol.  Yes, my bucket of Tournament Director topics is definitely full.

Today I thought I'd share something that maybe others may not have thought of before. 

A couple of years after starting the Omega Billiards Tour, a player contacted me about signing up.  I had major reservations and was apprehensive to let him play.

I contacted the sponsor of the Tour to ask him, "Can I not let him play?"

You see, as a Tournament Director, we really do have the final say on who can play or not.  This is easier to enforce if you have rules and guidelines that you can point to, but if you think about it, all TDs have this final decision - whether running a Tour or a weekly tourney.  And it can make for sticky situations if you have an opinionated TD or a vengeful one.  As you can imagine, it helps both sides if there are guidelines in place that the TD or players can point to.

The Omega Tour had no such guidelines in place at the time.  Just normal 9-ball rules and suggested no sharking examples on the website.

Going back to this player - I am ashamed to say I didn't want him to play on the Tour.  I was too green to understand that his past should not affect his participation.  You see, he had been running a monthly tournament and it was found out he was STEALING from the break and run pot, and he was also not paying out what he should in the regular payout.  The players were very upset with him and when I verified the accusation with a friend of his ("Melinda, I wish it wasn't true," he lamented), I just didn't want this dishonest guy to play.

After sharing the background and my thoughts with the sponsor he tells me, "He should be able to play, Melinda.  It doesn't matter who he is away from the Tour, you can't tell him he can't play just because he has acted this way."

I have to say I have ALWAYS appreciated that I could have great discussions with sponsors.  Not only the Omega Tour, but the sponsor of the OB Cues Ladies Tour (Royce Bunnell), too.  They both have a business mentality and both been around pool their whole life.  They have great perspectives and it was comforting to be able to have a meaningful and productive discussion with them on topics that would come up.

And in this situation, Mike Hoang (owner of Omega Billiards Supply), it was no exception.

And he was spot on.  I can't just forbid a guy from playing because he was cheating others somewhere else.  I had to let him play.  Obviously, if he somehow stole from the Omega Tour, that would be different.

So, I told the player how to sign up, and here I am 4 years later writing about it.

And let me tell you that he has turned out to be one of the biggest proponents of the Tour!  He bids on people, plays good and finishes well, always promotes the Tour, the players like him etc.  While his errant ways was over 4 years ago, the players don't bring it up or even think about because he's not running the monthly tournament anymore (he was removed).  He was always a well-liked guy, just happened to get in some trouble.

I was definitely taught a lesson here.  :)

Cue Case Gift Surprise

The other day I received a message that someone wanted to send me a gift that someone had ordered for me.  I quickly gave them my work address, as you never know with these stalkers nowadays :)

And I was COMPLETELY caught off guard!

Omega Billiards Supply bought me a case!  BUT!  They handed the hot pink case to fellow player, entrepreneur, and artist Tam Trinh (Mz Tam) so she could get her creativity grove on.  And boy did she ever!

She took a plain hot pink case, stalked my Facebook page, and created THIS amazing gift:  My first-ever custom cue case!

She added a bling elephant (bling for me, duh!, elephant in honor of my Mom), and also a blue M in beads (hello M!):

And she added all of the black cue design over the case as well!

And she creates pool case sleeves and check out what she made for me:

I can't thank Mike Hoang of Omega Billiards Supply enough for thinking of me and getting me this case and then stepping it up to have fellow artist player Mz Tam to turn it into a custom case for me!!  My first custom case, and I've been playing pool for over 25 years.

I am speechless.

THANK YOU, Mike Hoang!!

I sincerely suggest you check out Omega Billiards Supply for all your pool needs, and then when you want any of it custom, contact Mz Tam.

Omega Sponsor, ACS, Dream Come True

After I won the BCAPL Texas State tourney and was on the cusp of winning the Scotch Doubles in that same event, it all of a sudden hit me to see if Mike Hoang and his company Omega Billiards Supply would like to sponsor my women's team to the ACS Nationals tourney

I figured, the worse that could happen was he would just say no.

We have asked other companies to sponsor our team, but the most we received (while VERY happy about this) was team shirts being paid for, and then those pool rooms get their names and advertising on the shirts they paid for.

I only stated the facts to Mike, that I thought we would have a good chance winning both women's team events, and I was riding on a successful frenzy, also.

He said yes!!  I was SO excited he believed in us!  He paid our team entry fees, and we bought and made new shirts that showcased Omega Billiards Supply:

(thank you to Andy White of Irving Ink and Thread for the short-turn-around, quality shirts!) 

John Lewis who runs American Cuesports (ACS) has done a fine job for the last 10+ years.  I don't know if he realizes that he makes dreams come true by running this league.

To become a National Champion is a dream come true.

I told both him and the Tournament Director that they made dreams come true by hosting the event! Yes, I told them with tears in my eyes!

And every day I would walk by Mike's booth and at the end of the day and give him an update.

Day One:  "We are still on the winner's side of BOTH the 8-ball and 9-ball!"

He would smile back.

Morning of Day two:  "We are playing for the hotseat today!"

End of Day two:  "Hey Mike," (huge smile on my face). "We play in the finals tomorrow, for BOTH events!"

Day three, about noon: "Mike, we just WON the 9-ball event!  I told you!"

Day three, about 5pm: Mike was watching our match, as it was right in front of his booth, "We won the 8-ball, too!!"

To have support was AMAZING and much-needed money-wise, too.  We can't thank him enough for his support and belief in us.

To ACS and Omega, making dreams come true!  A HUGE THANK YOU!!