Captain’s Log, September 13th, 2015 

The deadline to sign up for the Southwest Challenge is September 12^th. We will still take sign ups at this time, but anyone signing up late will be at risk of their skill levels changing until we have all of your information. The skill levels do lock on the 12^th for everyone that paid their entry fee on time. The package price for the Southwest Challenge is $495 per team and pays for 1 room for 3 nights at the Westgate Hotel in Las Vegas, entry fee into the tournament and greens fees for open pool tables for the entirety of the tournament. The 9 Ball Southwest Challenge is a 3 person tournament with a handicap limit of 15 per team. The Southwest Challenge is a yearly tournament that takes place among most of the other APA leagues in Southern California, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico. It’s a really fun tournament and a nice little getaway weekend in Las Vegas with your pool buddies. The tournament takes place October 15-18. We already have close to 30 teams signed up from San Diego and there is room for more. 

The Junior Academy kicked off this past weekend (September 12^th). There is still room for students if you have interest. We currently have classes at La Bella in Chula Vista, On Cue in La Mesa and Locker Room Sports Café’ in Kearny Mesa. Call the office or email for more information. 

On the 8 Ball and 9 Ball score sheets, an extra column was added on the far right side of the score sheet to create a running total column. The first score box is for the score of the actual match played. For example, Brian beat Larry 5-0 in a race to 5, so the score in that first box would be 5 for Brian and 0 for Larry. In the second column is the amount of points the team earned for that match, and in this case, it would be 3 points for Brian’s team and 0 for Larry’s team. In the final column, you take the total of all of the matches played so far by each team to create a running total. In this case, Brian and Larry played 2^nd, and Brian’s teammate Tony beat Larry’s teammate Jim by a score of 5-4 (race to 5), creating a team score of 2-1 for Brian’s team. After 2 matches, Brian’s team is ahead 5-1. I like to circle my own team’s points to make it easier to decipher which team got points in each match since the winner of the lag decides position on the score sheet rather than team. 

We will begin mailing Summer Session prize money to the division champions and playoff winners on September 18^th. Blast schedules and rosters will be posted in the next week, also.

Membership fees are still $25.00 for anyone adding after August 15^th. These members will receive a prorated renewal of $15.00 in January that will be good for all of 2016, provided they renew before March 1st.  

The San Diego APA lost three very valuable members of our APA family in the past few months, and we are saddened by the loss. Tom McPhail was just a young 61 when he passed after a battle with Leukemia in July. Tom played APA in San Diego for many years along with wife Pam, and 3 children Amanda, Justin and David. He started playing APA in 2000 and he played 815 matches. Tom made it to APA Nationals in 2007 with the team Karmageddon. Tom played APA mostly out of Player’s Sports Bar and Hungry Stick on Clairemont Mesa, but played in other parts of the county before that.  

Deborah Gronvold passed away in early August after a lengthy battle with a brain tumor. Very soft spoken, but very competitive at the pool table, she was qualified to compete in the upcoming October Regional after having to get the qualification bumped while she attempted to recover from chemotherapy. She started playing APA in 2011 and logged 500 matches in our league, playing for Double Jeopardy team “Stuck In the ‘80’s/9BAHLERS” out of On Cue Billiards and Perfect Ques (Dani P’s in Oceanside). Deborah made it to APA Nationals in 2013 with Stuck in the 8E’s. Deborah was 64. 

Larry Foster was Deborah Gronvold’s teammate on Perfect Ques (Dani P’s) and he also passed away in August. Brought into the league by his son Jason back in 2006, Larry played 450 APA matches and was an absolute pleasure to compete against. He played 9 Ball for O’Side Shooters (Dani P’s), also. Larry was 68. Our hearts go out to the friends, family and teammates of these 3 league members. They will be missed.

Shoot Pool Good!