Women at LaBelle mobile park rack up fun
Whispering Creek group takes a cue from the guys Monday nights
By Silvia Guzman
sguzman@news-press.com
Originally posted on March 18, 2007
Alice Tomassoni's interest in playing billiards started at 64 years old.
It was in 1991, when Alice and her husband, Tony, bought a place at Whispering Creek mobile home park in LaBelle, that she first spied — literally — the men playing.
"I used to peek through a window of the recreation center and watched while they played," she said. "I tried to play and found that it wasn't easy. After all the men left one day I asked one of the men to teach me, which he did, and I played on Thursday nights."
After Tomassoni realized the game wasn't as simple as she thought, she was more encouraged because she felt challenged.
Several men in the billiards group, however, did not want her to play with them. So in 1992 she started her own club just for women.
"The recreation committee laughed at me when I asked to form the group, but then we got a great response," Tomassoni said.
Since then, Tomassoni has been the chairwoman of the group.
A sign outside the billiard room at the recreation building reads, "Mondays — Ladies Pool Night, No Men Allowed."
The women, who range from 59 to 80 years old, spend the evening playing and teasing each other.
Sometimes they get loud enough that people in other rooms in the center have to shut their doors.
"We have more fun than a barrel of monkeys," said Grace Biles-Green, 68, a LaBelle winter resident from Canaan Valley, W.Va. "We don't just play, we socialize and tell jokes."
All of the team members are winter residents of LaBelle who live in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Canada the rest of the year.
The women play by the rules written by the Billiard Congress of America.
Most of them also do other activities in the center including shuffleboard, bingo and card games.
Alice, who also enjoys making crafts, embroidering and sewing, plays about 150 games a week with the men and women who live in the community.
"I love that she is active and still learning new things," said her daughter, Donna Tomassoni. "All these ladies are active, they are of different ages, and they all come walking here with their pool sticks."
Tony said Alice is the best player among the women, and the fifth best in the park.
"Only four men here play better than her," he said. "I am a poolroom widower."
The other women in the group have varying levels of expertise. Some are playing pool for the first time, while others had played in the past with friends or owned a pool table at home.
Pat Roy, 59, said she enjoyed playing pool at home in Goffstown, N.H., so as soon as she found out a group met at the recreation center in her winter home, she decided to join.
Jo Groom, 78, from Canada, is a winter resident at Whispering Creek and joined the women's pool team there when it was first formed.
Helen Dyke, 67, of Grand Rapids, Ohio, said she also played pool at home, but is not as skilled as before.
"We always played by the rules," she said. "Now, if I don't know the rules, I just ask Alice."
Dyke likes the game and the social atmosphere.
"This is also a really nice group, and here is a great group of friends, so in the winter it is like coming home for me."
Whispering Creek group takes a cue from the guys Monday nights
By Silvia Guzman
sguzman@news-press.com
Originally posted on March 18, 2007
Alice Tomassoni's interest in playing billiards started at 64 years old.
It was in 1991, when Alice and her husband, Tony, bought a place at Whispering Creek mobile home park in LaBelle, that she first spied — literally — the men playing.
"I used to peek through a window of the recreation center and watched while they played," she said. "I tried to play and found that it wasn't easy. After all the men left one day I asked one of the men to teach me, which he did, and I played on Thursday nights."
After Tomassoni realized the game wasn't as simple as she thought, she was more encouraged because she felt challenged.
Several men in the billiards group, however, did not want her to play with them. So in 1992 she started her own club just for women.
"The recreation committee laughed at me when I asked to form the group, but then we got a great response," Tomassoni said.
Since then, Tomassoni has been the chairwoman of the group.
A sign outside the billiard room at the recreation building reads, "Mondays — Ladies Pool Night, No Men Allowed."
The women, who range from 59 to 80 years old, spend the evening playing and teasing each other.
Sometimes they get loud enough that people in other rooms in the center have to shut their doors.
"We have more fun than a barrel of monkeys," said Grace Biles-Green, 68, a LaBelle winter resident from Canaan Valley, W.Va. "We don't just play, we socialize and tell jokes."
All of the team members are winter residents of LaBelle who live in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Canada the rest of the year.
The women play by the rules written by the Billiard Congress of America.
Most of them also do other activities in the center including shuffleboard, bingo and card games.
Alice, who also enjoys making crafts, embroidering and sewing, plays about 150 games a week with the men and women who live in the community.
"I love that she is active and still learning new things," said her daughter, Donna Tomassoni. "All these ladies are active, they are of different ages, and they all come walking here with their pool sticks."
Tony said Alice is the best player among the women, and the fifth best in the park.
"Only four men here play better than her," he said. "I am a poolroom widower."
The other women in the group have varying levels of expertise. Some are playing pool for the first time, while others had played in the past with friends or owned a pool table at home.
Pat Roy, 59, said she enjoyed playing pool at home in Goffstown, N.H., so as soon as she found out a group met at the recreation center in her winter home, she decided to join.
Jo Groom, 78, from Canada, is a winter resident at Whispering Creek and joined the women's pool team there when it was first formed.
Helen Dyke, 67, of Grand Rapids, Ohio, said she also played pool at home, but is not as skilled as before.
"We always played by the rules," she said. "Now, if I don't know the rules, I just ask Alice."
Dyke likes the game and the social atmosphere.
"This is also a really nice group, and here is a great group of friends, so in the winter it is like coming home for me."
