Megan Smith is one of the top players on the highly competitive Northeastern Women's Tour and is currently attempting to break onto the WPBA tour. In her column, Megan will discuss her experiences as she strives to make it as a professional pool player. Megan's regular column for the NEWT tour can be found at www.susiecuebilliards.com/Tournaments/WPBA/MegansNews/megansnewtnewslist.htm. You can email Megan at megan@azbilliards.com
	On Country Music, Comebacks and Combos... By Megan Smith On Wednesday July 19th in Philadelphia, I jumped in a car piloted by my friends from NYC and the lot of us headed down south to compete in this year's WPBA Amateur Nationals. Our destination was Charlotte, N.C., specifically the famous Mother's Billiards where we would make a run at the most prestigious title in all of women's amateur pool. North Carolina is a beautiful state, although the hot and humid weather was quite oppressive to us yankees. Sightseeing was out of the question since most of our time would be spent in the pool room, and I'm quite depressed that I didn't get a chance to have some of those famous boiled peanuts my southern friends speak so fondly of. One thing I love about being a pool player is the opportunity to travel to exotic places, and despite the familiar pool room setting, we were constantly reminded that we were south of the Mason-Dixon line nearly every time the juke box came on. I had spent the entire week or so before the road trip preparing myself for intense competition. I wanted to be physically and mentally able to give myself the best chance to perform well. Lately I had been guilty of not practicing religiously and letting my concentration slack off a bit. Consequently I had a series of three sub par finishes in Northeastern events which served to frustrate me and lower my confidence. On the bright side, it is sometimes these setbacks or slumps which motivate a player to take a step forward, and I tried to use that to my advantage. I spent several hours playing straight pool to hone my cueball control as well as practicing nine ball patterns and also the usual shots that give me trouble. Another thing I practiced even when a hundred miles away from the nearest pool table was visualization. Giving yourself a clear mental image of desired outcomes is a great way to prepare yourself for competition. At any rate, by the player's meeting on Thursday night, I felt very optimistic and ready to play. The tournament was going to be run exactly like a pro event with scheduled match times and the 30 second shot clock available if necessary to counter any slow play. I make a habit of not looking to see who my opponent is when the draw is done for an event. I feel that only serves to set expectations in one's mind. It's impossible to avoid seeing the bracket (or your opponent) eventually, but on an occasion like a players' meeting I like to avoid reading names since you have the entire night to have possible expectations gestate in your brain. Whoever my opponent would be, it was a safe bet to say there would be few "easy draws" since this tournament was full of talented shooters from all over the continent. My first match was scheduled for 2:30 in the afternoon which was a blessing for me. I think most pool players detest early matches, and I'm no exception. This would allow me the luxury of sleeping in a bit and working out before I played. By the start of my match, I felt fantastic and my performance reflected my mood. After that victory, I didn't have to return again to play the second round until 8:00 PM Friday night. I tried to keep in stroke throughout the day on the beautiful Diamond tables, but six hours is a long time to wait. In retrospect, I should've done some things differently to keep my mind focused, but as they say, hind sight is 20/20. I played my second match against Melissa Herndon, last year's 3rd place finisher, and struggled the whole way. I got in a 5-1 hole, which I was greatly responsible for, until I began showing signs of life. Nothing is worse than fighting back from 6-2 down to reach the hill and not closing out the match, but I managed to do it. At 6-6, I hung a four ball on the snug Diamond pockets and that's all she wrote. At this point, I faced a crossroads. You can either pack your bags, or prepare for a long journey through the one loss side to take the cheese. I didn't drive nine hours to North Carolina to get a haircut, so I made up my mind to go for it. I knew I had found a good stroke for the equipment and if I took one match at a time, anything was possible. One match, one game, one ball at a time... My journey through the west side of the bracket began at the miserable hour of 10am and didn't conclude until 9pm that night. When the smoke cleared, I had defeated Karen Thompson, Ariane Duin, Doreen Verna, Alice Rim and Kelly Pendleton to make it to Sunday's play. I owed my performance to a good attitude, the proper mental focus, and the sterling equipment. I would have my work cut out for me in my match on Sunday morning as I was destined to play Indiana's Christy Dickerson. I've played Christy a few times, and knew I could expect strong offense and few opportunities. I was surprised to find myself on the hill first due to some unfortunate errors on Christy's behalf. At 6-4, I had an opportunity to win and missed a ball in hand 1-9 combo. I wasn't crazy about shooting it, but there was no accessible route to run out so I went for it. As if to punish me for my errant shot, the next time I was running out for the match, I pocketed the five and scratched. When it was double hill, Christy missed the three ball and I saw my chance to pounce. I began running out and felt the match in hand when the improbable happened. I made the seven to come back for the eight, and my cueball defied the odds and found the three square inches of space on the table where I was directly snookered behind the nine. The sigh of the crowd reflected my disappointment, but I didn't want to sweat it--as long as I'm at the table, I have a chance. That chance soon disappeared as I failed to pocket the eight or leave it safe off my kick shot. I could do nothing to stop Christy from making the last two balls for the win. Not even the patented squirm would've helped. Christy went on to make it to the finals where she was finally defeated by Kelly Willis. Looking back on my trip to Charlotte, I feel proud to have placed as well as I did (7th/8th) and am happy with how I played. It takes a lot of stamina to pull off a comeback from losing in the second round and I think that's a big strength of mine. On the other hand, I always look for something to work on in my game when I leave a tournament, and Charlotte was no exception. I have a week before the Baltimore pro event, and that leaves plenty of time for working on kicks, safeties, and those blasted ball in hand combinations! Until next time... Meg Smith   All copyrights are owned by Megan Smith. No duplication is allowed without her permission.