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
	BCA Trade Show By Megan Smith Yes, I know. It's been over a month since Charlotte and you're probably all wondering what the hold up has been about. I have not retired, joined the witness protection program, or enlisted in the military. To be completely honest, I was putting off sharing my thoughts about Charlotte simply for lack of anything worthwhile (in my opinion) to say. In a nutshell, I went to the tournament, lost a close first round match to the California state champ 9-7, then drew Helena in the first round of the one loss side. I admittedly sweated the next installment in a littany of tough draws, played under par, and lost to her. End of story. There were no deep insights gained, no breakthrough performances or personal revelations. I did get to do an interview for the Channel 9 news down there which was pretty cool, but other than that my tournament experience in Charlotte left much to be desired. With that synopsis out of the way, I can now confess the OTHER reason for my extended leave of absence from the keyboard--the BCA Trade Show in Las Vegas. Now this is worth writing about. In fact I"m sitting here right now on the plane back to Philly scribbling down the thoughts that are nearly bursting out of my head. This story actually began coincidentally at the same tournament I've been remiss in writing about, Charlotte N.C. At this event, several factors collided and the hands of fate clearly spelled out what my plan of action should be--to get off my behind, get some photos taken, put together a resume, and get out to the trade show in pursuit of the sponsorship I so desperately need. After all, one of my beliefs is that dreams only come so close on their own and eventually we have to reach out and grasp them.....so what was I waiting for? A few times while I was taking inventory and putting my resume on paper I was gripped by the panicked thought: "What am I doing? I'm not established enough yet to seem valuable to someone..." Luckily I smacked some sense into myself and focused on the MANY ways in which I can be of value to any company and prepared to pitch myself as such. After all, I was not attempting the impossible--Jeanette had gone out and landed Imperial as a sponsor when she was still semi-pro so why couldn't I do something similiar? With that thought in mind and armed with my resumes and usual sense of adventure, I headed back to Vegas once again. Being in town and not actually competing felt weird at first but there was certainly no dearth of activity once the trade show began. The energy in the convention center was unbelievable! Everyone had their game faces on--marketing, promoting, buying, selling, networking, bargaining, talking, and planning, ad infinitum. With no time to waste, I dove into the melee head first. In my time between shifts at the WPBA booth, I was busy scoping the place out and hunting for prospective sponsors. Before the weekend ended, I had circulated about ten resumes, spoke with as many companies as possible, made several contacts in the industry, met scores of WPBA fans, and helped to support and promote our tour. Not bad for three days. I didn't close any deals while in town, nor did I expect to, but I do have a couple of leads and I couldn't be more thrilled about the way things went. To top it all off, the grande finale of the week was being able to attend the annual BCA Hall of Fame banquet and induction ceremony. I was honored to be there as Raymond Cuelemans and Robert Byrne were welcomed into the prestigious and exlcusive group of billiards legends. And of course, no gathering of pool players and friends would be complete (especially in Vegas) without at least one night of off-the-wall, uninhibited partying and dancing until dawn, so some of us managed to fit that in as well. As I sit here speeding back to my home turf, Vegas recedes into my memories and dreams once again. I am looking back on my most recent experience with gratitude and hope. Gratitude for my persistence and fortitude that compelled me to get out into the thick of things, and hope for what the future holds. The way I see it, even if no sponsorship materializes as a direct result of this venture, I still come out winners through all I've gained personally from this experience. Right now my brain is working overtime--exhausted from the pace of the trade show and excited by the possibilities that lie ahead of me. So at the present, this exhausted, excited and sleep deprived pool player is signing off for now to hopefully descend into a peaceful slumber filled with visions of pocketing 9 balls, Vegas sunrises and the Rocky mountains.... Until Albuquerque, Megan Megan Smith   All copyrights are owned by Megan Smith. No duplication is allowed without her permission.