At the start, pool careers tend to work off a long fuse. It’s lit the first time a competitor wins cash, generally on a regional tour. The fuse goes through stages where it sparkles brightly, and then, can sometimes dim to a small, orange glow, as it sizzles its way toward the ‘explosion;’ a first major tournament victory. The confidence force of that event lights another fuse, headed for a second tournament victory, during which confidence can ebb and flow its way through the realization that you can’t win ‘em all. Progress in pool can generally be measured in the length of recurrent fuses, as confidence builds, muscle memory settles into a comfortable routine, and the distance between the major victories gets shorter and shorter. And of course, the cash flow increases, aiming for a point in time when it becomes common sense to declare it a career and settle in to keeping it that way.
The first time that Catskill, NY’s Rachel Lang recorded a victory (with AZBilliards in 2015), she made it all the way to the hot seat match in a mixed-gender event on the NYC metro-area’s Tri-State Tour. She put up a double-hill fight against a veteran Tri-State competitor, Miguel Laboy, who was looking for his second Tri-State Tour victory of that 2015-2016 season. Laboy prevailed but was defeated in the finals by Richard Ng, who’d survived an almost-double-hill match (7-5) against Lang in the semifinals.
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The first time that Catskill, NY’s Rachel Lang recorded a victory (with AZBilliards in 2015), she made it all the way to the hot seat match in a mixed-gender event on the NYC metro-area’s Tri-State Tour. She put up a double-hill fight against a veteran Tri-State competitor, Miguel Laboy, who was looking for his second Tri-State Tour victory of that 2015-2016 season. Laboy prevailed but was defeated in the finals by Richard Ng, who’d survived an almost-double-hill match (7-5) against Lang in the semifinals.
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