Open Letter to Billiard Fans re: WPBA Regional Tour Championship

The following "Letter to the Editor" was received recently...

Recently, Ford and I spent the weekend volunteering our services for the WPBA Regional Tour Championships, and our experience there compelled us to write a few words of thanks.

The RTC is a tournament in where each tour across the country sends its top players to compete for an invitation to the 2009 WPBA season, with most of the entry fees paid. Even though many of the players had qualified for individual events, or if they had won their tour, an invite for the season, the paid entries and the prestige of outplaying the best that each region had to offer, made this prize a worth playing for. 

The tournament itself was able to come off with only a few stumbles, and if, like us, you've been involved in a large scale event of this sort, you know that, including a lot of luck, there was a huge behind the scenes effort made by a myriad of people.

Notably, The Parlor Billiards in Bellevue, Wa, who hosted and sponsored the RTC with a style above and beyond what could be expected, which wasn't surprising since The Parlor itself is far above and beyond a normal billiard room.

Also, the Northwest Women's Pool Assoc Board put in hundreds of hidden hours of work to create the environment of a professional tour stop.

Of course, it's needless to say that the WPBA itself put in so much work by so many people, we wouldn't know where to start.

But on game day itself, it was our volunteer Tournament Officials of Marvin Holmes, Mike Shannon, John Te and Penny Murry who sweated out the many details and problems of running a 64 player field using 16 tables. We can't thank you all enough! 

But no more with a letter that sounds like an Oscar acceptance speech. The main reason for writing this is to talk about what we witnessed with the players themselves. It would be impossible to find enough compliments to express our pleasure in what we saw. From their professional attitudes toward each other, the many spectators, and to us, the fun they had with each other, the politeness and respect that was evident in every action, it is clear that this group has the ability to handle themselves on the next level. Just as important, we were doubly impressed, as was any spectator we talked to, with the skill level displayed across the board. If this is indicative of play from the women's ranks across the country, then the WPBA Tour will be in good hands for years to come.

So if you are lucky enough to have a regional tour in your area, don't be shy about checking it out for yourself, and if you can find your way to the RTC, we can guarantee it will be a worthwhile experience. 

Once again we would like to thank everyone involved, if this tournament came off well, it is primarily due to your efforts.

Thanks again also to all the players for making our work running this tournament one of the most rewarding experiences we've had. Let's do it again soon.
Chris Rogers
Ford
Tournament Directors
Nwpatour.com