Pool Synergy: On Thankfulness
Pool Synergy, a web-wide collaboration of billiards writers & bloggers, has hit it’s two-year mark, continuing to go strong after it’s November 2009 launch.
Writers including billiard historian and author R.A. Dyer, billiard journalist and instructor Samm Vidal-Claramunt (formerly Diep), and Gail Glazebrook of the Predator Tour & Rack Starz member are regular contributors to this monthly collaboration.
In this month’s edition, which is hosted by Texas pool player and avid blogger Melinda, each contributor has taken up writing on what makes them thankful about the sport of billiards. You can read a summary of each of the entries here: http://pooljourney.blogspot.com/2011/11/november-thanks.html
NYC Grind’s editor & contributor Alison M. Fischer has written her take on why she is thankful for the sport’s role in her life…
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With the seasons changing and the holidays quickly approaching, this makes for a time when I usually do a lot of reflection and reminiscing about the past year. And with Thanksgiving just a little over a week away, it is a particularly appropriate time to reflect on what I can be thankful for.
Autumn also marks the endings or beginnings of many pool tour seasons, which gives me cause to look back and give thanks for all of the value this game has brought into my life.
As pool has played some sort of role in my life for almost as far back as I can remember, it has helped to shape my character in many ways. Growing up in a small town in Wisconsin with pool players for parents, by the time I was fourteen, I couldn’t be kept away from the table.
However, when I started to enter local tournaments when I was fifteen, I was soon introduced to some of the harsh realities of the game. Playing on my sheltered basement pool table did not expose me to how gritty the game can actually be. Persevering under the pressure of match competition, and being a totally unknown player in a room of older & much more experienced people, was a foreign experience for me.
Learning to deal with getting strange looks from oftentimes strange people when I walked into a pool room with a case over my shoulder was something that most young women my age would avoid at all costs. But, the lessons that came with these experiences helped me gain the ability to stand up for myself and approach the table with confidence, no matter how difficult the circumstances might seem at the time.
And while the newness of these experiences could be very intimidating at times, throughout the last eleven years, these tournament adventures have given me the opportunity to meet some of the most incredible people, and travel to places that I otherwise might not have.
The grind of playing hour after hour for sometimes days at a time has taught me a great deal about how to dig deep for strength and focus I didn’t know I had.
The necessity of letting go of my errors and pushing through the frustrating moments of failure has taught me a real and visceral sense of discipline that comes when you have a true passion to achieve something great.
The sport of pool has enriched my life in more ways than I could possibly describe… and that I am very thankful for.
