Welcome to "SheLoves2Play" a/k/a Noel Campos, Pool Champion

JAM

JAM

I am the storm
Silver Member
I want to extend a big welcome to Noel Campos to AzBilliards. She recently won a big tournament in Vegas and beat some top-ranked players. Today, she is a force to be reckoned with. I look forward to her continued participation. Please, everybody, give Noel a welcome post.

Now, Noel, to answer your question on the other thread, I don't play pool anymore today. I am a railbird and pool enthusiast who loves pool. I take a lot of heat on this forum for not playing pool and being a railbird, but I don't care anymore. They can make fun of me if it brings them pleasure, the way I look at it.

I used to play pool years ago on the Busch League. I was a 6 out of a 7. We played mostly 8-ball. I enjoyed playing the leagues. I made a lot of cool pool friends. I still see them from time to time. It is because of these cool pool friends that I met my boyfriend years later at a pro tournament in Maryland. I live in D.C.

My boyfriend is a pool player from California, like you. His name is Keith McCready. He plays with a custom-made Jack Madden cue. It weights over 20 ounces, has a skinny butt, and a long professional taper. His shafts weigh over 4 ounces, and he likes a medium or hard Moori tip. I don't know what all that means, to tell you the truth. The only thing I can tell is how much a cue weighs. I like a 19-ounce cue. :)

Tell us about the tournament you just won. Were you nervous, or did you know you were going to win? What was going through your mind right before you sunk the winning ball?

JAM
 
Noel has joined the forum to let us know what REALLY happened. Plus, she's a new member here. I look forward to her posts! I think he's going to really like this place! :)

JAM

Edited: Removed bad link.
 
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Welcome

I know we have already had some correspondence, but wanted to welcome you to AZ. Im new too. Only been here since beginning of April.
I have found AZ to be very informative, educational, and the people are great. We ALL have the passion for this great sport of billiards. Noel, Im sure you are going to enjoy it.

Looking forward to more correspondence,
Andrea Saenz Maes

PS. See you in the masters next year!!!! And welcome!!!!!
 
That's What I'm Known For, My Thinking

Originally Posted by JAM
Please, everybody, give Noel a welcome post

olauzon said:
wouldn't that be annoying, 13,557 welcomes?
Click to expand...


Not really, I'd probably stop reading after 11,289.... imo
Doug
 
http://www.modbee.com/columnists/jardine/story/306124.html

And since there are still a few retard newspapers out there trying to CHARGE people to read old articles, I will post the text and picture. The ModBee is one of these newspapers, so this article might be unreachable soon.

I ask that people please post the text of news articles, for this reason. :D

Don't let the wheelchair fool you; Modesto woman's a billiards shark

By JEFF JARDINE
jjardine@modbee.com

last updated: May 22, 2008 05:11:49 PM



Noel Campos just sat there and endured the insult.

The 30-year-old Modesto woman needed a victory to advance to the quarterfinals of the Billiards Congress of America National 8-Ball Championships in Las Vegas earlier this month.

"She was playing an Asian woman who had been just walking all over (her opponents) -- really rolling over them," said Linda Barrett, Campos' friend of a decade who is also a billiards player. "(Campos' opponent) came up to the table, looked at Noel and said, 'Oh, great. I get to play a gimp.' "

Consider it an ill-mannered comment and a poor choice of words, especially when talking about someone who can't walk, let alone with the limp "gimp" implies. If the opponent thought she could trash talk her way inside Campos' head, she was sorely mistaken.

"It kind of fires you up," Campos said.

Over the next hour or so, from the elevated seat of her wheelchair, Campos won the four games needed to take the match. One of Campos' friends -- gee ... Barrett, perhaps? -- uttered loud enough for all to hear: "So you let a gimp beat you?"

Oh, yeah, and a legally blind gimp at that.

Campos went on to win the 32nd annual tournament's women's open division. Not the women's handicapped division. Not the handicapped women's open. The women's open, in which her opponents can, well, stand.

"What she did, for a woman coming from the Modesto area to be a national champion, would have been an accomplishment in its own right," Barrett said. "But that she did it from a wheelchair makes it that much more impressive."

Campos transcends billiards and the skills needed to win at that level. Her story symbolizes the human spirit, of overcoming physical barriers and societal prejudices to succeed.

She was born with a spinal condition that prohibited her from learning to walk. She can't see out of her left eye and needs to get within two inches of printed material to read it with her right eye.

A graduate of Beyer High in 1996, Campos learned to play billiards from her father while she was a teenager. It didn't take much to tap into her competitive juices.

"I wanted to be better so I could beat him," she said. But she didn't get serious about the game until she began taking lessons about nine years ago.

Campos began playing tournaments, struggling at first but always improving her game. Over the past five years, she began climbing in the national standings.

Meanwhile, she studied to become a computer programmer and became a private contractor to support herself and her billiards habit. She simply blows up the size of the type on the screen to the point she can read it.

"The thing that really hits you about Noel is that she's a very beautiful, sweet person," Barrett said. "She's got a great sense of humor. She's unassuming and very low key. But put her at a pool table, and look out."

Campos made adjustments to overcome her physical handicap, adding cushions to her armless wheelchair to give her the elevation necessary to see the table better. She also created a collapsible extension for her bridge -- a device that steadies her cue for difficult shots.

"She sent me the prototype," said Mark Griffin, chief executive officer of the Billiard Congress of America Pool League, which ran the national tournament Campos won at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas.

Playing from her wheelchair, squinting at the table, Campos wows some folks and inspires ill feelings from others.

A few years ago, her custom-made cue stick disappeared while she was at O'Brian's Tavern in north Modesto. Campos posted a $200 reward for its return. A few days later, she got a call.

"I asked him to read the inscription," she said. He did, and she knew it was hers. She made arrangements to get it back.

"I grabbed a couple big guys I knew, met him, gave him the reward and took the cue," Campos said.

She used it to win her recent national title.

"It's weird," she said. "Afterward, I was approached by I don't know how many people in the gift shop who congratulated me. But you'd also be surprised by how many people who saw my cue hanging on the back of my chair, and said, 'Oh, you're going to play?' in condescending tones. I got that a lot. Like I'm supposed to be sitting in my wheelchair with my cat and staring out the window?"

To the contrary, she picked up $6,000 for winning the tournament, and came away with gobs of billiards apparel.

"I wore a Hustlin USA shirt when I won the championship," Campos said. "There was a big expo there (at the tourney), too. The guy from Hustlin USA said, 'Come to my booth,' and he gave me a bunch of stuff. He said, 'Keep wearing it. You're making my stuff look good.' "

As for her trash-talking opponent? The tactic backfired in a big way. I mean, to call someone a gimp and then lose to her must be pretty unnerving.

"On this particular occasion, it had some effect," Barrett said.

Her vanquished opponent failed to play her way back into the championship bracket and earn a rematch with Campos. Perhaps she didn't want one.

"I ran into her later," Barrett said. "She seemed humbled."

Jeff Jardine's column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays in Local News. He can be reached at jjardine@modbee.com or 578-2383.

What a champion... :D

Russ
 

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Belinda

JAM said:
I want to extend a big welcome to Noel Campos to AzBilliards. She recently won a big tournament in Vegas and beat some top-ranked players. Today, she is a force to be reckoned with. I look forward to her continued participation. Please, everybody, give Noel a welcome post.

Now, Noel, to answer your question on the other thread, I don't play pool anymore today. I am a railbird and pool enthusiast who loves pool. I take a lot of heat on this forum for not playing pool and being a railbird, but I don't care anymore. They can make fun of me if it brings them pleasure, the way I look at it.

I used to play pool years ago on the Busch League. I was a 6 out of a 7. We played mostly 8-ball. I enjoyed playing the leagues. I made a lot of cool pool friends. I still see them from time to time. It is because of these cool pool friends that I met my boyfriend years later at a pro tournament in Maryland. I live in D.C.

My boyfriend is a pool player from California, like you. His name is Keith McCready. He plays with a custom-made Jack Madden cue. It weights over 20 ounces, has a skinny butt, and a long professional taper. His shafts weigh over 4 ounces, and he likes a medium or hard Moori tip. I don't know what all that means, to tell you the truth. The only thing I can tell is how much a cue weighs. I like a 19-ounce cue. :)

Tell us about the tournament you just won. Were you nervous, or did you know you were going to win? What was going through your mind right before you sunk the winning ball?

JAM
Click to expand...

Any relation to a Belinda Campos? Womens pro.
 
You really know how to make a gal feel welcome:)

Thank you all for the warm welcomes. JAM's boyfriend is in a lot of ways my inspiration. I was trying and trying to correct my right arm. People kept telling me that I need to straigten my elbow. Well, I have been watching Mr. McCready for years. If anybody shows that you can play this game side armed it is him. Then I started working on my game instead of my elbow. Seems like we're always working on some part of the game doesn't it.

SL2P
 
SheLoves2play said:
Thank you all for the warm welcomes. JAM's boyfriend is in a lot of ways my inspiration. I was trying and trying to correct my right arm. People kept telling me that I need to straigten my elbow. Well, I have been watching Mr. McCready for years. If anybody shows that you can play this game side armed it is him. Then I started working on my game instead of my elbow. Seems like we're always working on some part of the game doesn't it.

SL2P
Click to expand...
Welcome and look forward to hearing more from you. :)
 
SheLoves2play said:
Thank you all for the warm welcomes. JAM's boyfriend is in a lot of ways my inspiration. I was trying and trying to correct my right arm. People kept telling me that I need to straigten my elbow. Well, I have been watching Mr. McCready for years. If anybody shows that you can play this game side armed it is him. Then I started working on my game instead of my elbow. Seems like we're always working on some part of the game doesn't it.

SL2P
Click to expand...

Did you ever get your picture with Shane emailed to you? If not ill straighten up that Marissa and get that pic out asap!!!
 
SheLoves2play said:
Thank you all for the warm welcomes. JAM's boyfriend is in a lot of ways my inspiration. I was trying and trying to correct my right arm. People kept telling me that I need to straigten my elbow. Well, I have been watching Mr. McCready for years. If anybody shows that you can play this game side armed it is him. Then I started working on my game instead of my elbow. Seems like we're always working on some part of the game doesn't it.

SL2P
Click to expand...

Hey, Noel. My girlfriend showed me this thread tonight, and I am really, really proud of you beating those girls. That is quite a feat to do what you did, but you know what? You woke up a lot of people, I'll bet, winning that 6,000 dollars. How does it feel? Did you get out of the hotel with the money? I hope you did. It's tough for me to get out of the casinos with money, especially if I won $6,000. I'd have to take a $2,000 shot at something. LOL.

The side-armed stroke came to me at an early age. I was so small, I actually stood on boxes starting out playing pool with my father when I was 8 years old. I believe the side-armed stroke is the way to go, and it looks like you have one too. Ralph Greenleaf, who was way before our time, also had a side-armed stroke and was noted as probably one of the greatest players that ever lived. Wimpy Lassiter told me that himself. That goes way back. Ha-ha.

There's a lot of people that have to stand straight up and down and don't ever get over the ball properly. They get body-hooked! We have an advantage on them. We're side-winders. We're able to get down on the ball better. ;)

One tip that you may want to use, if you don't use it already, I like to twirl my fingers on the hand that holds the cue and twist the cue around sometimes. Don't hold the cue tightly. You can experiment with a lot more shots when you twirl. It helps a lot with your spin shots, top right, top left, low right, and let's not forget about your inside lefts. Keep twirling, and you'll find that you can get to feel these shots a lot better and make them with a lot more ease, once you master all the twirl feels. Trust me, I did it all the time when I was experimenting in practice. It really works.

If you have any questions that I can help you with, feel free to contact me. It takes a lot of heart, dedication, and hard work to win that tournament. Hope you win another one. Let me know if I can ever help you. I'd be more than happy to. :)
 
I remember seeing you at the tournament Noel. I was talking on the phone by the pool and passed you as you made your way into the Riveria. Glad you won the event. Good job and Congratz.
 
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I've seen Noel play in this tournament for several years. I am glad she won - I watched her play a few matches early in the tournament this year and by the way she was playing, it doesn't surprise me she won. She was playing great!

When I saw her later with her 1st place plaque, I congratulated her. To win first place is an amazing feeling and accomplishment; I'm very happy for you!

CONGRATULATIONS! "2008 BCA Women's Open National Champion!!" Damn that sounds good! :D
 
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welcome Noel!

Welcome Ma'am!

Nice to have another lady on the forum. The ladies here are outnumbered but certainly not outgunned by the men.

I have to admit a bit of jealousy already. That is quite a mentor you have picked up as soon as you got on the forums. Keith's post was outstanding and I am sure completely sincere.

Congratulations too on your big win and your move to the masters ranking. Both are very special.

Hu
 
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