Jennifer Barretta: Professional Pool Player, Bodybuilder, Model, Actress, Gym Owner, Wife and Mother

"I was just really closed off before. I was like, 'I'm busy. I don't really need any other people to distract me from what I'm doing.' Now I realize the people are what make life. They're not distractions. They make life rewarding."

The Beginning

Before relocating to NYC, Barretta grew up in Norristown, Pennsylvania in a small family with only one older brother. Her athletic life began from a young age when she played competitive tennis through her teenage years before moving on to softball and later body building. Always finding ways to improve and excel, Barretta believes, "any kind of competition is good."

Barretta spent her days as a fashion designer, what she went to school for, when she was bit by the pool bug. A few years ago, she and her husband of 17 years decided to open a gym and despite the tough economy, business has been steady.

Q: How did you get started with pool?

A: My husband and I always used to do activities together. In the winter it was snowboarding. One day, in the spring, we were walking down the street and just went into a pool hall and we played a couple games and he beat me. It made me so angry that I decided I was gonna go take lessons and then try to beat him. And that's what I did. I went and I took a lesson and I just fell in love with it. The guy that taught me a few things said, 'I've seen how the women on the pro tour play. I think that if you put the time in you could go pro as well.' So, I was like, 'alright.' ...... Silly me.... If I had known how much there was to learn I don't think I ever would've done it. Ignorance is bliss but it just wouldn't have seemed possible if I had known how much I needed to learn.

"Tick, tick, tick," said the Biological Clock

Though the decision to get pregnant was premeditated it was still not an easy one. Barretta recalls putting the plan off and feeling, "it was never the right time." Then, at the height of her career, the news came. She was going to have a baby "and I'm so glad we finally did it," she recalls.

Q: How much time did you take off to have your son, Max?

A: Well, when I first had him, I took no time off. I took him on tour with me. I took him to the poolhall. When they're really little, they're very mobile and they sleep a lot, so that first year I practiced a whole lot. But, once he started walking I had to stop. I took an entire year off where I didn't hit a ball.

I went to the first couple events that year and just realized I wasn't able to practice I was just going out there and not really showing up and it was too painful. I said, 'You know what? I'm just taking the next year off. I have the exemption. I can do it.' That was a hard, hard decision too.

Q: Was it more difficult to take the year off or to return to pool after taking the time off?

A: It was easier to take a year off than to go out there with 50% of my game and once I got away from pool, I stopped thinking about it. I probably wouldn't have gone back if my family hadn't pushed me back into it. They said, 'I think you'll regret it if you don't get back out there." I knew they were right, but I was kind of in 'mommy-mode' so I didn't really care that much.

Q: Was it tough to leave Max for that first tournament when you returned to the tour?

A: The first event was hard but maybe about half way through the event, I was calling home and he was crying and I was enjoying myself at the event and I thought, 'this is actually a good thing,' to have a little bit of time to yourself. It's easy to get too wrapped up in yourself where you forget that you're your own person.

Motherhood

A typical day in the life of Jennifer Barretta and her now 3-year-old son Max, AKA 'Superbaby' consists of bouncing him between her and her husband in order to get all her errands, work, and practice in for the day.

Q: What's the biggest thing that motherhood has changed in your life?

A: Just me, in general. I feel like I didn't really realize that the best things in life are really other people and the connections that you make with them. Because before, I was so focused on pool and what I was doing that I kind of alienated myself from other people and I wasn't very open to meeting people and making new relationships. Now, I kind of realize before that those are the things that you look back on when you're on your deathbed and you realize that that's what means everything in life.

Q: What is one specific thing that has helped you balance your family life with your pool life?

A: Obviously, my husband helps tremendously with balancing it. I'm not the kind of person that could leave my son with a stranger or babysitter. If my mom lived close, that would be different. If he didn't take Max, I wouldn't be able to play. The other thing is having my own business, I can bring Max to work with me which I do for a couple hours. He loves it there. He loves to run around.

Q: Do you have any tips for other mothers who may be aspiring to fulfill their dreams?

A: It's still possible to be great at something even with being a mother but never lose sight of the fact that your child is only going to be young once and it's not really worth sacrificing that to be a pool player. Right now, pool for me is a serious hobby. It used to be my profession. It used to be what I lived and breathed for but now he's what I live and breathe for and pool is just something I do when I have a little extra time. I mean, I make time for it, but you know.

Q: Are you spending your time differently now when you're at the events?

A: Oh, absolutely! When I was first on tour, I would only stay by myself. I would not room with anyone. I thought it was a distraction from what I was there to do and I didn't do anything. If I was out of the tournament I would go sit and watch the top players and the things that they did. It was like a business trip. And that's a great way to be and maybe that's why I got so good so quickly but now I room with two other girls which is a huge difference but I love it! Now, we go out when we're out of the tournament. Obviously when we're in the tournament, it's all business but I definitely enjoy myself more when I'm there.

Pool, These Days

Q: How many hours a week do you practice these days?

A: It's probably 3-4 hours a day, 5 days a week. Up until two months ago it was three hours a day, three days a week but my husband changed his schedule around so that I could play every day. Now I'm playing almost as much as I used to in the beginning.

Q: What do you practice?

A: A little bit of everything. I usually keep one or two days to myself to practice alone. I think that's really important to work on the things that I consider my weaknesses. It's so rewarding when you have something as a weakness and you work hard on it and you see the payoffs. Recently, banks were just my worst thing. I started doing a bank drill and now I feel like banks is one of my strongest but then something else becomes a weakness so it's never-ending.

Barretta has been working with her coach, Stu Mattana once a week for past nine years. They meet on Monday nights. "He's like the task master. He holds no punches," describes Barretta on Mattana's teaching style. She appreciates his honest approach and explains, "I know that he's good for my game and I'd never have gotten this far without him, no way!"

Q: At the level that you're at right now, do you notice a significant difference in your game when you take more than two days off from practicing?

A: No. I took 10 days off over the holidays and went to Vermont. They don't have any pool halls up there and I came back and I was playing just as well as before I left. It's really just having a good fundamental state to go back to. That's why Allison doesn't practice at all but she just comes in and plays like a monster. She just has great fundamentals.

The Future

Q: Do you have any long or short term goals for pool?

A: It would be really nice to just win one event. It sounds like a modest goal but I know how difficult it's going to be.

It's a great feeling to get to the very end of a tournament and look out into the bleachers and you see everybody else that's still in the tournament just sitting out there and you're one of the last ones standing. That's a great feeling.

Q: Do you feel like in order for you to take it to the next level you would have to sacrifice some of that time with your family?

A: I don't, actually. I have a really disciplined practice routine. It's not just throwing the balls out. I specifically work on things. That's a huge part of getting better quickly. Just going to a room and throwing out balls or getting into a game and whacking balls around will make you a good player but not at the same level as if you were specifically targeting things that you need to work on. And I always play a wide variety of opponents. That helps too. If you just play the same two people, you only learn how to deal with those people. If you play a whole bunch of different people you get different styles and you learn how to win against every different kind of style.

Q: Any plans for Superbaby #2?

A: I think we might be done. Once you get past a certain point with your child and you experience a little bit of freedom it's hard to go back to the 24/7 care, cause I can't do the nanny thing. It's just not for me.

We have no family nearby. It's just me and my husband, we basically pass him back and forth so when I want to practice, my husband takes a break from his workday and comes home and takes him for a few hours or a few nights maybe he'll get done at 5 and maybe I'll go play so it's just constantly switching him back and forth.

Barretta's filming on the 9-Ball movie is scheduled to continue in Maryland this April. She is currently sponsored by Mezz Cues, Amsterdam Billiards, and IB Cue Cases.

Follow her blog at: http://jenniferbarretta.wordpress.com/ Adventures in the Life of a Professional Pool Player (eviscerating my soul for your reading pleasure)