florida spirit tour

[SUPERSTAR]

Barb, let me just say right off the bat, that you have a lot of heart.

With as many times as this "Pro's in qualifiers" has been debated, my head would have exploded by now. Hence, the quick "LINK IT" fix in the LAST thread about this topic.

You are definitely a trooper.

But if i may add something.

You said that since you implemented that the WPBA Pro's aren't allowed to play, that there has been a drop in attendance.

While there might be some correlation to the pro influence, i think it's probably something a lot easier.

I along with several area room owners have observed a decline in pool interest and enthusiasm over the course of the past few years.
Business has been down for a while, at a steady decline.

Right now there are a lot of rooms that i know of that are struggling not only with the summer season where everyone wants to be outside, but an overall decline in business.

I would have to think that it is by coincidence that the Pro's not being there, mirrors the decline in women participating in your events.

AND, THAT IS NOT TO SAY that pool is dying everywhere, but as far as the Northeast that is the JPNEWT tour's stomping ground, there has DEFINITELY been a decline.

It might not have anything to do with the pros at all.
There aren't enough women in the next generation of would be pro's to make up for the ones that have either quit, or achieved their status.
Good luck with all of it.

 

[KBP]

The women that play on the KBP Ladies Tour, after they get their game really good do go and play against the men on the KBP Amateur Tour. They love that they go from one to the other and then go on to play even better. It does seem to work and they enjoy it. I have a lot of women that will play both just to work on their game since I have the KBP Ladies on Saturday and the KBP Amateur on Sunday on most of the stops. The women love the Saturday events so they can either go home or stay over and play on Sunday. Some travel with their husbands, boyfriends or other to stay and play. Its a good weekend for both.
Kay

 

[KBP]

Barb, let me just say right off the bat, that you have a lot of heart.

With as many times as this "Pro's in qualifiers" has been debated, my head would have exploded by now. Hence, the quick "LINK IT" fix in the LAST thread about this topic.

You are definitely a trooper.

But if i may add something.

You said that since you implemented that the WPBA Pro's aren't allowed to play, that there has been a drop in attendance.

While there might be some correlation to the pro influence, i think it's probably something a lot easier.

I along with several area room owners have observed a decline in pool interest and enthusiasm over the course of the past few years.
Business has been down for a while, at a steady decline.

Right now there are a lot of rooms that i know of that are struggling not only with the summer season where everyone wants to be outside, but an overall decline in business.

I would have to think that it is by coincidence that the Pro's not being there, mirrors the decline in women participating in your events.

AND, THAT IS NOT TO SAY that pool is dying everywhere, but as far as the Northeast that is the JPNEWT tour's stomping ground, there has DEFINITELY been a decline.

It might not have anything to do with the pros at all.
There aren't enough women in the next generation of would be pro's to make up for the ones that have either quit, or achieved their status.
Good luck with all of it.

Hey Super,
I know what you mean when you talk of the decline. I felt it with the gas prices and now with summer. I try not to book too many events during the summer because the numbers do decline a great deal. The KBP Amatuer Tour keeps its head up and keeps going. I travel sometimes 4 to 5 hours to run an event so the players will have a tour to play in and they seem to love it. My numbers are still good but down this year by about 10 players per event. I don't know if its anything to do with the economy or pool is just in a slump (I hope not) but we will keep going as long as we can. Barb does a good tour and I have been told that I do a good one too so hopefully we can keep this up.
Kay

 

[Barbara]

Thanks SS! I really do have to make some changes for the betterment of the tour, not just what I want. A lot of good opinions and discussions have come of this thread from people who are experienced with various Regional tours.

It all comes down to what the players want, and if that means barring a majority of WPBA Touring Pro players from all but the State Events, then so be it. Personally, I'll miss the competition, but majority rules.

And yeah, you're right on the nose when you talk about a decline in general. Also, KBP has a point about summer events, but usually the ROs will schedule summer events just to bring in the bodies.

Barbara

Barb, let me just say right off the bat, that you have a lot of heart.

With as many times as this "Pro's in qualifiers" has been debated, my head would have exploded by now. Hence, the quick "LINK IT" fix in the LAST thread about this topic.

You are definitely a trooper.

But if i may add something.

You said that since you implemented that the WPBA Pro's aren't allowed to play, that there has been a drop in attendance.

While there might be some correlation to the pro influence, i think it's probably something a lot easier.

I along with several area room owners have observed a decline in pool interest and enthusiasm over the course of the past few years.
Business has been down for a while, at a steady decline.

Right now there are a lot of rooms that i know of that are struggling not only with the summer season where everyone wants to be outside, but an overall decline in business.

I would have to think that it is by coincidence that the Pro's not being there, mirrors the decline in women participating in your events.

AND, THAT IS NOT TO SAY that pool is dying everywhere, but as far as the Northeast that is the JPNEWT tour's stomping ground, there has DEFINITELY been a decline.

It might not have anything to do with the pros at all.
There aren't enough women in the next generation of would be pro's to make up for the ones that have either quit, or achieved their status.
Good luck with all of it.

 

[facets58]

Hey Barbara,

Just curious why you would set the cut off at the top 32???

The only time the WPBA uses the number 32 is for seeding. It would only be by chance that there happens to be 32 touring pros at any given time. There have been more than 32 touring pros for many years (I'm guessing at least 10). At this point there are 39 touring pros not including Xiaoting Pan who just got her pro status but doesn't have 80% participation yet. There are 40 players including Pan... also on the list all active pros - Liz Ford, Candi, Vicki, Maureen Seto, Darlene Stinson, and Anna Kostanian (needs one more pro point). So there could be closer to 46 Touring Pros.

Maybe I missed why the Touring Pros should be split into 2 groups...I haven't followed all of the threads.

Have a good weekend,
facets--

 

[sjm]

The only time the WPBA uses the number 32 is for seeding. It would only be by chance that there happens to be 32 touring pros at any given time. There have been more than 32 touring pros for many years (I'm guessing at least 10). At this point there are 39 touring pros not including Xiaoting Pan who just got her pro status but doesn't have 80% participation yet. There are 40 players including Pan... also on the list all active pros - Liz Ford, Candi, Vicki, Maureen Seto, Darlene Stinson, and Anna Kostanian (needs one more pro point). So there could be closer to 46 Touring Pros.

Maybe I missed why the Touring Pros should be split into 2 groups...I haven't followed all of the threads.

Have a good weekend,
facets--

An active pro is a former touring pro that has not maintained sufficient performance to retain touring pro status. A touring pro is guaranteed an invitation to all WPBA events. An active pro can possibly be denied an invitation if a WPBA field is filled (or nearly filled) by the touring pros, qualifiers and sponsor spots combined.

In view of this, I'm of the opinipn that active pros should always be allowed to play in the qualifiers.

 

[Johnnyt]

All you have to do is look at who won the FIRST FIVE Spirit Tour stops. All pros. Johnnyt

 

[facets58]

Hi Stu,

My question wasn't about Active Pros...It was why the Touring Pros should be cut into two groups according to Barbara. The top 32 would not be allowed to play in qualifiers and 33 on would be able to play (that's what she was talking about). It doesn't make sense why some Touring Pros would be allowed to play in qualifiers and others wouldn't be allowed to play, just because of their ranking (example: top 32).

BTW, the AP / TP is a participation based and not a "sufficient performance" as was stated earlier. It is a 50% participation for AP and 80% for TP, both having 2 pro points.

facets--

 

[sjm]

My question wasn't about Active Pros...It was why the Touring Pros should be cut into two groups according to Barbara.

Sorry, I misinterpreted you. I could see a distinction being made between Top 16 WPBA pros and the rest. In WPBA land, the top 16 are the elite players, seeded so they can't meet each other in the first two winners bracket rounds, the undeniable stars of women's pro pool. The next group, in my view would be "all touring pros," the group of those already guaranteed spots in every WPBA event. I agree that making a distinction between a Top 32 touring pro and the other touring pros doesn't make sense.

 

[hi-lighter]

This is like the biggest pissing contest of a thread I have ever read.
Suck it up, if you don't want to be a pro, or aspire to be one, then stay away from them. Just play in the local bars and small pool halls that have NO 'A' players tournaments. You should do ok in them.

 

[Barbara]

Sorry, I misinterpreted you. I could see a distinction being made between Top 16 WPBA pros and the rest. In WPBA land, the top 16 are the elite players, seeded so they can't meet each other in the first two winners bracket rounds, the undeniable stars of women's pro pool. The next group, in my view would be "all touring pros," the group of those already guaranteed spots in every WPBA event. I agree that making a distinction between a Top 32 touring pro and the other touring pros doesn't make sense.

You're right, I should make a cut-off at the line between Touring Pros and Active Pros - those who have an invite and those who don't.

Barbara

 

[9balllvr]

This is like the biggest pissing contest of a thread I have ever read.
Suck it up, if you don't want to be a pro, or aspire to be one, then stay away from them. Just play in the local bars and small pool halls that have NO 'A' players tournaments. You should do ok in them.

I believe you are missing the point entirely - this is NOT about playing the professional women, it is about the process of getting on the WPBA tour. As a man, you can pay $100 and you are a "professional" player and can play in the events, it is not that easy for women. You have to chase around qualifiers throughout the US to simply get on the tour - winning one qualifier gets you there, but you have to continue to win qualifiers (at your own expense) just to get to the tour. Ask any woman that has been there (and there are many), the process is brutal and quite expensive without much of a purse to keep you going. So, until you have been there, I don't think you can simply dismiss this thread. The thread has actually been quite helpful and a great sounding board to the regional tour directors and members out there now.

9balllvr

 

[alinco]

I haven't played in your tour, so I was wondering about the women's event on Sunday. Is it because you have a men's event on Saturday and Sunday?

We have a tour like that in Texas and it's so difficult to get home on a Sunday night and back to work Monday morning when I live so far from the event (well, this only matters if I place well).

What time does the women's event start on Sunday morning?

Melinda

Hi Melinda,

We switched to a Sunday only event for 2 reasons:

1. It allowed us to trim our 2 day Open division down to 16 or 24 players that are all in the money by using all available tables on Saturday.
2. It boosted our Women's division field because they enjoyed just committing to one day and being able to play all day without waiting on Open division matches for tables.

We do lose some potential "further away travellers" like 9balllvr that might travel 3 or 4 hours and have an awfully late Sunday night getting home. The east coast is certainly more compact than the big state of Texas and most of our players are only about an hour from the events.

There is another benefit in that some of the top ladies take advantage of a discount entry fee into the Saturday Open event. If they do really well, the just continue playing in the Open on Sunday and skip the women's event.

The women's event starts at 11:00 am on Sunday.

Andy