So today I played my first APA league. I was the youngest person there. While not a deal breaker I do feel a bit out of place.
There were some issues because of the coronavirus and people not showing up. The league was continuing from before coronavirus. I was a last minute add on. There were also some other issues because of covid. Like people not paying that night. All in all I had a good time. I will at least stick it out till this league season is over.
I wish instead of using pencil and paper there would have been an app for APA. Also would like it if they could take cards for payment instead of cash.
Thoughts?
Thanks
Good for you, don't let the youngest player thing get to you, it's the first night, I'm sure there are other young people, we have a ton of 20 somethings in our league.
They do have an app and it's in testing right now. I believe the 8B scoring app is up and running, the 9B is a bit harder to score so it's taking a bit longer. Our league operator (LO) is younger (30'sh?) and has a technical background so our league is doing some testing on the apps. We were supposed to start using it Monday, 2 days ago, but apparently it's not quite ready yet. I have not downloaded it yet to try it but will be doing that this week.
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.
Is league pool still popular? I last played 10 years ago (Denver) in a big table league. I started in APA and eventually the cap breaks up your team like in 1 session. This is a marketing feature to force teams to break up and recruit newbies. Most people you recruit had no interest in the first place and hate the pressure of playing anyone but another beginner. It is difficult to sit for hours watching 2 newbies take forever to complete a match. Or worse watching a 9 play a 2. Not fun for either player. Handicapping pool skill levels or anything is problematic. My last playoff for vegas left a *very* bad taste in my mouth for reasons I will not discuss other than I am still angry to this day. I ended up in BCA and PCL - never did VNEA.
I am getting back in pool again. Will likely just play alone or with friends. I have lost track with most of my old teammates and opponents. Several have died. Not sure when we will be free to play in a bar. I doubt I will fit in with the new kids. Very depressing. Oh well, back to the basement.
Skill level caps, IMHO, are there for two reasons. I think the primary reason, like you said, is to get new people as a revenue generator, the second reason is so teams don't stack up and walk through the division. As a 9 it gets hard to play, out of 10 matches this session I have played 2 and our SL1 isn't returning until covid is over, so maybe never?
I thought I saw that APA was using an app for scoring now. They have instructional videos about it on their YouTube channel. I guess it's not instituted everywhere yet. I play in UPA and that is pen and paper scoring.
As far as cash, yeah that sucks as I never have cash on me and always forget to stop at an atm beforehand.
See my reply right above this, they're working on the app. As far as cash goes, your captain can pay electronically via the app. When they go into the app there is a "Pay League Dues" button and it's easy from there. You can then pay your captain electronically as well via paypal, venmo, etc. Not ideal but it's a way to not have to pay cash.
I managed to play two sessions in regular APA last year as a 7/9. I was with a group from my work with an average handicap of about 4/5. They still play, but I simply couldn't do it anymore. As a team we were never going to win anything, so the only thing I had motivating me through the very long nights was the MVP race. I never bothered with scoring but I do know it was pencil/paper.
Once the second session started and the regular league captains knew their top guys weren't going to win, they started putting me up against 2/3's. Good strategy, and I'm not complaining in that regard. However, I wanted to play against the top guys. I'm in my later 40s, so I blended well in that regard but I grew tired of the constant player switching and ducking just in an effort to protect their strong players.
I have played in the APA Masters league for a handful of years now. Pencil/paper scoring, online app gets updated 28days later, (just before the next session..lol).
No handicaps, mixed set, and either other top players or guys who see the value in playing top players. It's actually funny at how most of our Masters league doesn't play the regular version.
I also started in the CCS (ACS) last year. BCA style handicapping, pencil/paper, but I'm with a bunch of long time buddies, and you get to play everyone. Enjoy it far more...
Me and my co-captain were just talking about winning, Vegas, etc. and we've found that it's either luck or sandbagging. Some of higher skill level players have the skills to sandbag but I honestly don't think the lower skill level players have that skill. I've never done it (in league
) and we won't allow our teammates to do it, we do plan out our night though to make sure we get the most points. Play lower skill players against higher skill, this guy against that guy, etc.
And as far as playing lower skill level players, I hate playing 1's, 2's and 3's, they've probably beat me, as a 9, more than anyone. If any of them get on any kind of run and make 6 or 7 balls they just grabbed 10, 20, 30% of their points? I played a 2 a while back, I broke and made a ball but scratched, she took that game, some good shots some lucky shots - either way she needed 9 more points to win and I needed 75! She won 18 to 27'sh...
I also play Masters (I'm actually the division rep) but it's new here so most of the players are regular APA players. A lot of the 5's and 6's are playing, they're not doing that great but they're doing it. There is one team that is made up of new APA players that came over from BCA and they are in first.
Generally speaking, I view APA vs BCA/VNEA/etc. like this - APA is for people that want the community and want to go hang with friends and family at the bar but they also enjoy playing pool while BCA is more about pool. I'm not saying they don't have a good community, but they are really only there to play pool. One of my main issues with BCA was driving across town and playing four games then going home. I can do that at home - for free. Another one of my issues with BCA is payout. Out of our whole area I took second in individual standings (it literally came down to my last game, I needed around 4-5 points and the guy ran out the table) and I received a whopping $107. And then there are the big tournaments (Vegas and Lincoln City around here), play all session then still have to pay tournament fees With APA you at least get the opportunity to play for entry into those tournaments.
The reality is - it really depends on your league operator for either league. Our APA LO is amazing, her and her man (don't think they're married) put in a TON of time for our league and help promote the sport and are friendly, I have met other APA LO's and was not as impressed. Adding those scoresheets at the end is a crock, ironically that's how the local BCA league operates (that's all I'm saying about that) and it's ridiculous - who the hell wants to wait until the end to figure out where everyone is at. Our APA LO has them in before the next week.
APA isn't for everyone but I believe it brings in more NEW pool players than any other league, and that's good for our sport.
