Best Player With a Full-Time Job???

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Williebetmore

Member, .25% Club
Silver Member
Melissa,
If I'm not being too inquisitive (and if I am just tell me and I will eliminate this thread), are you now the best female player on the planet with a full time job??????????

Since I don't subscribe to any pool magazines, the lives of the pro's are pretty much a mystery to me. But as a person with a full-time job, I find it encouraging if not downright inspirational, that someone else with a full time job (at least from previous threads it sounds like you do) can rise to such a level. If you know anything about this issue, I'm sure many of us would be interested in hearing about it. Of course, that would bring up the issue of why the rest of us can't do as well - but "I'll think about that tomorrow."

Again, congratulations on a strong performance in New Mexico - keep up the good work (and maybe favor us with a cigarette smoking cessation update).
 
To tell the truth, I do not know which players have full-time jobs and which ones don't, so I cannot really answer that question. (But I would have to hazard a guess that I am right up there at the top of list...LOL).

I work 40+ hours/week...and sometimes on Sundays as well. I practice 2 or 3 times a week at night (Tues, Thurs OR Mon, Tue, Thurs) and then play for hours on Friday night, play tournament on Saturday with a practice session afterwards...and then on Sunday if I am not working or have plans. Sometimes, I get so busy with work that I cannot devote any time during the week to practice...and I have to play on the weekend only. I cannot tell you exactly why I have been successful despite my limited training schedule....but it might have something to do with the fact that I do not just bang balls around all the time. Especially lately...my coach has had me working on very specific skills....so even if I can only work on it for an hour or two, I still consider it a good practice session.

FYI: I once read a book where it said that the best practice is quality not quantity. It is better to completely focus on one skill and teach your body/muscles/brain to remember that one thing than to just randomly knock balls around for 8 hours. Here's an analogy....try and teach someone 5 new words. Have them look at them and repeat them over and over for 1 hour. They will remember them the next day....guaranteed. Now have them read a whole page of words. Even though they are getting more words...they will have a hard time remembering any of them because they tried to overload their system.

As for smoking - I am embarrassed to admit that I was not successful with quitting. I had stopped for about 2 months when I gave in. I then struggled with occassional smoking for a couple months (going for a couple days without...then giving in again). I am proud to say that after the US Open, I have renewed my commitment to quitting for good. I did not smoke during my matches or for at least 30 minutes prior to each match in Albquerque. (I realized that smoking during a break would give me the jitters.) So, when I got home, I finished my pack and have now been smoke-free for 3 days. I am hoping that I can really and truly kick the habit once and for all. I read somewhere that it takes some people 10+ tries to give it up forever...but I am hoping it won't be that way for me.

Thanks for all the support!

Melissa
 
Melissa,
Wow!! Thanks for the extensive reply and details, it is very helpful (not to mention encouraging) to hear your regimen. It sounds extremely well thought out. I have always felt that quality of practice (no matter the sport) is of vital importance - anything else is just wasting time. It does sound like you are still able to get in a fair amount of pool ( a good thing, because if you practiced a lot less than me I would have to give up all faint hope of improvement).

Good luck with the cigarettes, you learn something new with every attempt at quitting (it's like practice :) :) :) ).
 
Wow Melissa i did not know you held a full time job along with playing on the tour. My amiration and respect go out to you. I agree with everything that you say about practice i know my coach has me do specific drills.

P.S. good luck with the smoking my wife is trying to quit also but has been unsuccessful. Keep with it............
 
I told you once and Ill tell ya again. Once you are over the hump, you must not give in to the "just one" thing. It wont work. If you do-realize you will really be saying " i want to become a smoker again and im starting right now".

Dont drink alcohol for a while.
 
It really is a great achievement to accomplish as much as Melissa has while working full time, testament to her strong will and great work ethic. These days, the top players tend not to work, so those that do have it really tough.

By contrast, of the nine US Open 14.1 championships contested from 1969 through 1977, no less than six of them were won by two full time educators. Steve Mizerak, a full time seventh grade teacher in New Jersey, won four of them, and Tom Jennings, a professor at Middlesex county College, also in New Jersey, won two of them.

Bob Dylan was right, the times they are a changing.....
 
sjm said:
By contrast, of the nine US Open 14.1 championships contested from 1969 through 1977, no less than six of them were won by two full time educators. Steve Mizerak, a full time seventh grade teacher in New Jersey, won four of them, and Tom Jennings, a professor at Middlesex county College, also in New Jersey, won two of them.

Bob Dylan was right, the times they are a changing.....
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SJM,
Now you've done it; you had to mention the Miz who as you may remember is one of my all-time HEROES!!!! (thus forcing me into a semi-long series of reminiscences, mostly for my own benefit). I used to see him at the Hawk's Nest in Pittsburgh once a year in the early to mid-70's, in his prime, totally dominant - I only wish I had the knowledge then to reap some benefit from watching a master at work. Against Hopkins, Crane, Rempe, Marino and several others, I never saw him even come close to losing at straight pool. Yes, his elbow drops - and that messed me up for years trying to emulate it (as you have noticed I have enjoyed slightly less success than Steve).

OK, here's my only Miz anecdote that relates to full time employment. After his victory (I think over Johnny Archer) on a straight pool Accu-Stats video, Steve is asked if he got distracted by some disturbance/noise during the match. Steve responded that, "every little thing bothers me during a match... but I have an excuse." To paraphrase, he said that as a junior high teacher for all those years he, out of necessity, had to develop the ability to pay attention to every little noise, even in the back of the classroom so that he could maintain discipline. The habit carried over into his pool competition making him supersensitive to crowd noise and disturbances that usually don't bother other players.

I have been to the Louvre, the Met, the Rijksmuseum; but for me, watching the Miz carve apart a rack of straight pool, cluster by cluster is definitely a comparable experience - a true artist at work.

P.S. - You should have seen some of the racks that Danny DiLiberto ran, totally impossible layouts, and he ran them quickly and effortlessly - beautiful to watch. End of long, rambling, barely coherent, loosely organized observation.
 
Williebetmore said:
I have been to the Louvre, the Met, the Rijksmuseum; but for me, watching the Miz carve apart a rack of straight pool, cluster by cluster is definitely a comparable experience - a true artist at work.
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Yup, I've been to each of those at least five times. You're obviously telling the truth about your trip to the great museum in Amsterdam, too, for only somebody who has been there could spell it correctly. I recall stirring at Rembrandt's masterpiece "Nightwatch" for nearly fifteen minutes once.

As yu say, the Miz had artistry, too, but thread is about Melissa's artistry, and all of us on the forum delight in that artistry.
 
Congrats on quitting smoking. I finally was successful on my 3rd attempt. I used Bantron to help me but don't know if it is on the market anymore. That was 25 years ago.

The important thing to remember is that you are strong willed and you want to stop smoking. That is half the battle. Then look at a pack of cigs and you will notice that they no longer use the word "may". Now they just outright tell everyone that smoking WILL cause cancer. If you need further incentive next time you exit the shower and look in the mirror ask yourself which breast you are willing to lose. How about both of them?

Sorry to be so blunt but my wife had one removed due to cancer and I know several other women to suffer the same fate.

Also keep in mind that your weak willed friends will do everything in their power to get you to start smoking again. Misery loves company. Friends like that you don't need.

And being an ex nurse I can teach you the proper technique for a self breast exam. In fact when I was in nursing school I did a paper and lecture on that. So I am well qualified.

Not buying it are you? Oh well. It never worked as a pick up line in the bars either.

Jake
 
jjinfla said:
And being an ex nurse I can teach you the proper technique for a self breast exam. In fact when I was in nursing school I did a paper and lecture on that. So I am well qualified.

Not buying it are you? Oh well. It never worked as a pick up line in the bars either.

Jake
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Wow....I could not stop laughing when I read this part! I have heard many cheesy pick-up lines in my time...and some pretty creative ones as well....but this one is pretty special!

Thanks for the non-smoking tips as well! My grandmother had breast cancer....so I am very aware of the dangers and very conscious about regularly doing exams and visiting the doctor. (Not that you all needed to know that...but c'est la vie!)

All the best to you and yours -

Melissa
 
sjm said:
It really is a great achievement to accomplish as much as Melissa has while working full time, testament to her strong will and great work ethic. These days, the top players tend not to work, so those that do have it really tough.
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Thanks SJM -

I truly look forward to the day when I will be able to fully concentrate on pool...and NOT have to work a full-time job! It will be interesting to me to find out how far I could go if I could focus solely on pool for a little while. To be honest, it may not make a difference at all...but I believe in my heart that I could become a very familiar face in the TV rounds if I could practice the amount of hours that some other girls do.

Best Regards - Melissa
 
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