Kelly Fisher
The beginning of a new year is always the time to choose the previous year’s “AzBilliards Player of the Year” award winners.
On the Women’s side of the equation, we felt it came down to three players, but the year was truly a testament to the level of play of several players.
Jasmin Ouschan netted two WPBA events for the year, while Chieh Yu Chou won the Women’s World 9-Ball title and the Wisconsin Open.
Our award though, will be another for the trophy case of Kelly Fisher, who won four WPBA titles for the year.
In our article for the 2022 Men’s Player of the Year, we mentioned how Joshua Filler was the favorite early in the year. 2023 was so far in the other direction that Filler found himself reconsidering whether Billiards was really what he wanted to do.
“The first two months were probably the worst and the hardest for myself. I changed my shaft. I played with a carbon shaft at the Derby and I played so bad. People kept asking me ‘How can you make the change?’. I put more pressure on myself obviously, so it got to me.
After I lost in the last 64 at the World 9-Ball, and then I had a really bad Derby in my opinion, because I just played bad. I played really bad at the World 9-Ball and I was like ‘ok, here we go. Maybe I should quit pool.’ I was thinking like that because I played so badly.” remembered Filler.
Filler’s year turned around though, and he gave credit to his wife, his coach, and a different frame of mind. ” I worked hard with my wife and my coach about my mindset and everything, and I turned everything around. Tried to think different and set different approaches.
Joshua Filler
I got to Vegas and took 3rd in the World 10-Ball and I was like ‘ok, this is my time now to get back on track’. I turned the year into the best year I ever had. ” he said.
The “best year that Filler ever had” encompassed eight major titles, including the China Open, the Qatar Open, four Eurotour titles, a World Teams title (alongside his wife), and an MVP performance at the Mosconi Cup.
Filler looked back on the year and the lessons that were learned. “For anybody out there who is going to read this, you need to just grind and stay positive. It doesn’t matter how hard your losses were or how bad you played. The first two months were so hard on me. The way I turned it around showed me that you need to just focus even harder and try to stay positive. It doesn’t matter what happens. ” said Filler.
Filler doesn’t look like he is slowing down in 2024, with his amazing performance at this year’s Derby City Classic. If Filler can keep up this level of play, we could be writing about him again at the end of the year for another Player of the Year award.
Both Fisher and Filler will be presented later this month with their physical “Player of the Year” awards, provided by Aramith Billiard Balls.
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