By Rich Brown
rbrown@joplinglobe.com
A line from Meredith Wilson's “The Music Man” may have said it best when summing up the zeal of three Joplin pool teams headed to The Association for Pool National Championship.
Harold Hill uttered in the musical: “I consider the hours I play with a cue in my hand golden.”
Seventeen amateur players from Joplin will be experiencing a lot of golden hours during the annual TAP event Sunday through Nov. 12 at Charleston, S.C.
The teams from Joplin representing the Show Me TAP Pool League will be the Misfits and the Dragon Slayers (playing 8 ball) and Misfits II, entered in 9 ball.
The national qualifiers come from 17 teams in the Joplin area and around 50 squads in the entire Show Me Tap League, which extends from Lake of the Ozarks to Springfield and through the Joplin area.
“Only the top four teams from Joplin go to the regional tournament to try and qualify for the nationals,” said Tommy Carpenter, league representative for the Joplin area.
Carpenter, at 62, has been playing pool since he was 16 and he said what he likes about the leagues is that they carry handicaps to fit all skill levels from two (the lowest) to seven.
Brenda Petross, captain of both Misfit teams, agrees on the importance of handicaps.
“When we say leagues that equates to a bowling alley and their leagues,” she said. “The bowlers are members of the same organization but all are members of the same league.”
As amateurs, players concentrate on 8 ball and 9 ball competition.
“Most players who play in the league have never played billiards,” Carpenter said. “Nobody plays billiards but the top players, whereas, in this league you can play, not be a top player and still enjoy yourself and be competitive.”
He said that their style of play is quite different than what you might have seen on TV where the top players often break and run the table.
“When you get down to mid-level, you are not going to break and run the table,” he said. "You may try to run half the table and then play a good defensive shot where you can get back in control of the table.
Especially in 9 ball, it is important to keep control of the table. The better defense you play makes it harder for the other guy to come back."
Petross, who plays against men as well as women, said that an important element in pool is position
“You have to play for position in making your shot but if for some reason you know you won't have another shot, then you have to play defensively,” she said.
Both Petross and Carpenter have been to national tournaments before as members of teams from beyond the Joplin area, so they know about the tough schedule they face in the five-day event.
Although the first day is a time to get acquainted with other players, the pace picks up dramatically from there.
Following a 7 a.m. team meeting on Monday, Nov. 9, the round-robin competition gets under way an hour later and runs until midnight. That same schedule is kept Tuesday. However, play goes until 8 p.m. on Wednesday with the finals running until noon on the final day.
“The most wins by a team after the first day puts you in the running for the national championship,” Carpenter said. “Then, the second half of the teams are put into a bracket called the best of the rest and they have a national championship in that bracket, too.”
Carpenter said that in a normal tournament a team tries to win three out of five games but in a national meet, it is important to try and win all five games every time."
He said that there will be 256 teams with an average of six players to a team competing in Charleston.
“The only night we have to relax is the opening get-acquainted night,” he said.
Petross added that with those long hours and continuous play from early morning to late at night, “It will be a hard week.”
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Joplin pool teams headed to nationals
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