Collegiate Billiards Clubs/Universities/Anyone involved in pool .. READ PLEASE!

CSykes24

CSykes24

www.coreysykes.com
Silver Member
VA Tech Wins UMTPC!

Hi everyone, my name's Corey Sykes and I'm both a sophomore and a current member of VA Tech Billiards Team. I wanted to make this thread even though I don't post very often on the forum, because I want to discuss a few things with everyone that has knowledge of pool, mainly involving collegiate competitions and raising funds.

This is the 2nd straight tournament we've won, but it's only the 2nd one we've played in an entire year. Are there any other collegiate clubs or universities that hold tournaments as we do here at VA Tech (VTTPC) or the University of Michigan (UMTPC)? I find that these are the only two tournaments in a year of college that are actually happening, other than ACUI Nationals, which is an individual 9-ball event.

This also raises another question, mainly because we get almost ZERO funding from our school, even though our pool club is comaparably good to other colleges. This means we have to pay for table time, entry fees, hotel, travel, and all these other expenses that really add up, even though we're only going to a few a year. We're finding dwindling numbers in club as well, so I've come to ask for some opinions on how to turn things back around. What can we do to get funding/get members involved in club?

Thanks for reading and taking time to post here, I apologize it doesn't go into too much depth, but I expect things to unfold as it goes on. It's really appreciated.

-Corey
 
Try adn go out and get sponsers.. Its the only way to raise yourself money. Either that or go to the Dean with a well put together proposol..
 
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Better yet you could ask teh members on here if they woudl like to make some donations for your team.

There are plenty of loving and caring people on this board that im sure would make a donation for your team. Myself included :grin:

I know a lot of tournament directors raise money for different causes (Cancer.. Heart.. Premmies) adn give back to the community so you might wanna try soemthing like that :wink:
 
It would be very good for this sport if universities supported Billiards as a competition sport between universities. It would also IMO be quite successful and popular for spectators and participants alike relative to the amount of money that would need to be put into such a undertaking.

In the world of university sports, pool would be a litteral drop in the bucket with regards to funding compared to the football team. It takes no stadium, the university simply has to own a few tables. They can run tournaments in public areas in roped off sections where students can watch the action for free and get an idea of the game when properly played.

Most sports in universities across North America are contrary to the point of higher education. Many of the sports and their stars in university are there for one thing, to play that sport and become a pro. And the level of knowledge and skills those sports stars "graduate" with more often then not (there are rare exceptions) show where their focus was.

It is a sad thing. Most people who go to university for the right reasons (a secondary education) actually have little access to most of the extracurricular activities. Billiards would offer a extracurricular activity that the average people of the campus could actually have a chance in taking an active part in.

Very different from the true students simply watching the games and having no direct role. Tell your Dean or the President of the university that you are trying to create something that can lesson this problem because what university sports have become such as NCAA was "not" what they were originally intended to be. They were supposed to be atheletic competition that the common student body took part in, not an offset of high school atheletes who come in and monopolize the positions on those teams for the sole reason of moving on to the professional level and who could not care less about ECON 101.
 
Celtic said:
It would be very good for this sport if universities supported Billiards as a competition sport between universities. It would also IMO be quite successful and popular for spectators and participants alike relative to the amount of money that would need to be put into such a undertaking.

In the world of university sports, pool would be a litteral drop in the bucket with regards to funding compared to the football team. It takes no stadium, the university simply has to own a few tables. They can run tournaments in public areas in roped off sections where students can watch the action for free and get an idea of the game when properly played.

Most sports in universities across North America are contrary to the point of higher education. Many of the sports and their stars in university are there for one thing, to play that sport and become a pro. And the level of knowledge and skills those sports stars "graduate" with more often then not (there are rare exceptions) show where their focus was.

It is a sad thing. Most people who go to university for the right reasons (a secondary education) actually have little access to most of the extracurricular activities. Billiards would offer a extracurricular activity that the average people of the campus could actually have a chance in taking an active part in.

Very different from the true students simply watching the games and having no direct role. Tell your Dean or the President of the university that you are trying to create something that can lesson this problem because what university sports have become such as NCAA was "not" what they were originally intended to be. They were supposed to be atheletic competition that the common student body took part in, not an offset of high school atheletes who come in and monopolize the positions on those teams for the sole reason of moving on to the professional level and who could not care less about ECON 101.
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I can't even describe how on-point this post is...I completely agree with you on every possible aspect of the situation.
 
good on you Corey

for your team, I'd suggest going to your alumni assoc and get an article in their newsletter regarding your achievements and funding needs

for the sport in general, go to the NCAA and rattle some cages

with the success of the Mosconi Cup (and Davis Cup/Ryder Cup), it wouldn't surprise me if billiards makes it into the Olympics as a team sport in the near future... at least try and sell it that way anyway
 
Hard Times Billiards in Sacramento has sponsed a High School Senior class on Pocket Billiards for the last 10 years.

Every day the Seniors from Del Campo High School come to Hard Times for a class (Physical Ed elective) to learn how to play pocket billiards. They are tested on improvement and knowledge of the rules.

At the end of the school session, they have a 9 ball double elimination tournament. There is High School teacher and Billiard Instructor present durnign the 90 minute class that meets 5 days a week.

I personnally know of at least 6 of these HS students that have continued their education in college and also still compete in weekly tournaments.

http://www.aausports.org/ at one time (in the early 50 and 60s) were involved with Snooker and 14.1 of the pocket billiards' diciplines.

Pool Rooms are a good source for some sponsorship money. I remember getting 4 players to agree to play a young high school player $5 per A on his report card for every quarter of his Jr and Sr grades... that kid busted us all.

He's now doing great in Sac State college. BTW Sac State just recently lost to UC Davis in a Pocket Billiard club match.
 
Are you the player I met at league night at Charbel's last year? If not, do you know who might play in the league in Salem, VA? I'm coming to town soon and want to play with someone.
 
easy-e said:
Are you the player I met at league night at Charbel's last year? If not, do you know who might play in the league in Salem, VA? I'm coming to town soon and want to play with someone.
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No, if you look at the photo from my posted article im the second from the right. You probably met Mike Robertson, I know he shoots in a league down there, not sure if it's APA or what. When you do come just give a shout, there are a few that would play.
 
I went to Cal State Long Beach and was fortunate that our Student Union paid for all of our expenses, a lot of other schools do not, my friend who won regionals twice could not afford to go to nationals, some schools don't care, especially with budget cuts they wont even consider, even though with budget cuts, CSULB still pays for the pool players because the money actually comes from the student union (games center) which makes its income from arcades and pool time.
 
This may not be of much help because all of these schools are very far away but many of the big universities in Texas have college club teams that have been active for years and have a full schedule of tournaments each year. University of North Texas, University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M, Texas State (there are probably more but I have been out of college for many years so I don't know all of them now) all host an event every year and sometimes every semester. They are usually cheap entry fees and prizes are only for trophies or product like cues or cases and I believe they earn points for their teams in the process. But if your team is interested in traveling I am sure they would be happy to add you to their invitation list.

I don't know how other universities went about getting additional funding from their universities but I can tell you how it was structured when I went to UNT in Denton, TX. The university determined the funding for each club based on the number of students that were official members of the club. We were fortunate to have a poolhall in the student union that gave us free practice time one night per week to hold the club meetings so although only about 20 students would travel to the tournaments, we had hundreds of members because other students enjoyed the free practice time on that one night per week. So we were actually one of the largest clubs on campus because we consistently had a high membership and received a good amount of funding from the school. This may not be how your school works though but in general, higher interest from students usually yields better results for sponsorship. The clubs around here will often bring in pro players to do exhibitions or give mini-lessons which makes it more fun for the students rather than just playing once a week.
 
Tom In Cincy said:
Hard Times Billiards in Sacramento has sponsed a High School Senior class on Pocket Billiards for the last 10 years.

Every day the Seniors from Del Campo High School come to Hard Times for a class (Physical Ed elective) to learn how to play pocket billiards. They are tested on improvement and knowledge of the rules.

At the end of the school session, they have a 9 ball double elimination tournament. There is High School teacher and Billiard Instructor present durnign the 90 minute class that meets 5 days a week.

I personnally know of at least 6 of these HS students that have continued their education in college and also still compete in weekly tournaments.

http://www.aausports.org/ at one time (in the early 50 and 60s) were involved with Snooker and 14.1 of the pocket billiards' diciplines.

Pool Rooms are a good source for some sponsorship money. I remember getting 4 players to agree to play a young high school player $5 per A on his report card for every quarter of his Jr and Sr grades... that kid busted us all.

He's now doing great in Sac State college. BTW Sac State just recently lost to UC Davis in a Pocket Billiard club match.
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Sacramento Hardtimes supports the pool scene more than any other pool hall I've been to. There are more than a few people, including me, who owe you guys a big thanks.

UC Davis created the pool club in the last few years, wish it was around when I was there. Maybe I'll have to go to grad school.
 
CrisDeLaGarza said:
This may not be of much help because all of these schools are very far away but many of the big universities in Texas have college club teams that have been active for years and have a full schedule of tournaments each year. University of North Texas, University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M, Texas State (there are probably more but I have been out of college for many years so I don't know all of them now) all host an event every year and sometimes every semester. They are usually cheap entry fees and prizes are only for trophies or product like cues or cases and I believe they earn points for their teams in the process. But if your team is interested in traveling I am sure they would be happy to add you to their invitation list.

I don't know how other universities went about getting additional funding from their universities but I can tell you how it was structured when I went to UNT in Denton, TX. The university determined the funding for each club based on the number of students that were official members of the club. We were fortunate to have a poolhall in the student union that gave us free practice time one night per week to hold the club meetings so although only about 20 students would travel to the tournaments, we had hundreds of members because other students enjoyed the free practice time on that one night per week. So we were actually one of the largest clubs on campus because we consistently had a high membership and received a good amount of funding from the school. This may not be how your school works though but in general, higher interest from students usually yields better results for sponsorship. The clubs around here will often bring in pro players to do exhibitions or give mini-lessons which makes it more fun for the students rather than just playing once a week.
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This is really interesting. Kinda sucks that Texas is like 20 hours away from where our school is, but it's definitely something we'll look into. Our club used to have 40+ members but now we're down to like 15 or 20. It's starting to dwindle, so we're trying to look for alternatives to get people out to the pool hall and shoot with us. It's on campus and has ... 20 tables? It's a really nice place, all tables have simonis 760, and we have one diamond.

Zirroe said:
I went to Cal State Long Beach and was fortunate that our Student Union paid for all of our expenses, a lot of other schools do not, my friend who won regionals twice could not afford to go to nationals, some schools don't care, especially with budget cuts they wont even consider, even though with budget cuts, CSULB still pays for the pool players because the money actually comes from the student union (games center) which makes its income from arcades and pool time.
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I wish our student union paid for our table time. We only practice once a week, and it's only for two hours. It's basically just to get together and hang out, because we're all good friends. Speaking of club, I have to get to it now, I'll bring up some ideas there and see what we can come up with.

Just wanted to take the chance and say thanks to everyone for the posts so far, it's good to get some perspective on how other colleges work. Your posts are appreciated!
 
There are some successful High School programs, some I think are in TX/San Francisco, and you also might contact some of the BCA (Billiard Congress of America) instructor academies. Also, contact Laura Smith who's involved with the BCA Jr. Program, her office I'm pretty sure is in Lafayette CO. Sounds like you got the bug, now comes the real work, best too ya.
 
CSykes24 said:
No, if you look at the photo from my posted article im the second from the right. You probably met Mike Robertson, I know he shoots in a league down there, not sure if it's APA or what. When you do come just give a shout, there are a few that would play.
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I'm pretty sure I met the dude in the middle in that photo. He's a nice guy and pretty good player!
 
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