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.