In a lot of significant ways, the pool-playing, Junior International Championships (JIC) family of competitors is like an All-Star baseball team made up of the top players in a league. The team has its batting-average stars and its second-tier players who tend to hit below-average but can often come up with a critical hit at an opportune time. It has its share of home-run hitters as well, who strike out a lot but have a way of hitting one out of the park at a dramatic moment. The team also features an ever-shifting group of first and second-tier competitors, who are part of the team but don’t get to play in every game. And, of course, as all teams must, they’re run by a fine manager in the person of one Ra Hanna.
It’s a unique team because it plays against itself. It’s also a team that by design, will lose some of its best players every year. Junior pool players have very short careers, though as they move on, their careers as adults can, and in some cases already have, flourished outside of their junior milieu. Into its third, and soon to be its fourth year as a team, the JIC family is about to lose some of its best players, as a very strict, qualification clock moves them toward their 19th birthday (as long as a competitor enters a JIC season when they’re 18, a 19th birthday in the middle of a season will not disqualify them from competition in that season). There is, within the JIC structure, a rather oxymoronic ‘senior’ division for the JIC’s junior competitors; the ProAm division, which allows mixed-gender competitors whose ‘clock’ has ticked past that 19th birthday to compete in that one division of JIC events. There’s even a clock in that division, but it’s ticking toward the age of 21.
And now, before this report ages out of its ‘relevance’ division, let’s move on to the 8th and final stop on the JIC’s 2023 season. It happened this past weekend (Sept. 16-17) at Wolf’s Den in Roanoke, VA (where it started back in January) and for the two 13U divisions and the single, mixed-gender ProAm division, it was the end of the road. The 13U boys and girls competed in both their final regular season tournament and their divisions’ invitational championship event. The ProAm division completed its regular season and awarded its top two competitors (based on total points earned at events throughout the season) free entry to Pat Fleming’s International Open (Oct. 30-Nov. 4) in Norfolk, VA.
Go to post
It’s a unique team because it plays against itself. It’s also a team that by design, will lose some of its best players every year. Junior pool players have very short careers, though as they move on, their careers as adults can, and in some cases already have, flourished outside of their junior milieu. Into its third, and soon to be its fourth year as a team, the JIC family is about to lose some of its best players, as a very strict, qualification clock moves them toward their 19th birthday (as long as a competitor enters a JIC season when they’re 18, a 19th birthday in the middle of a season will not disqualify them from competition in that season). There is, within the JIC structure, a rather oxymoronic ‘senior’ division for the JIC’s junior competitors; the ProAm division, which allows mixed-gender competitors whose ‘clock’ has ticked past that 19th birthday to compete in that one division of JIC events. There’s even a clock in that division, but it’s ticking toward the age of 21.
And now, before this report ages out of its ‘relevance’ division, let’s move on to the 8th and final stop on the JIC’s 2023 season. It happened this past weekend (Sept. 16-17) at Wolf’s Den in Roanoke, VA (where it started back in January) and for the two 13U divisions and the single, mixed-gender ProAm division, it was the end of the road. The 13U boys and girls competed in both their final regular season tournament and their divisions’ invitational championship event. The ProAm division completed its regular season and awarded its top two competitors (based on total points earned at events throughout the season) free entry to Pat Fleming’s International Open (Oct. 30-Nov. 4) in Norfolk, VA.
Go to post
Last edited: