Captain’s Log, May 11th, 2014

Welcome to the start of the Summer Session and the new APA calendar year. Summer is the session where we begin the process of qualifying teams to compete in the 2015 APA National Team Championships in Fabulous Las Vegas. At the beginning of Summer, no one is qualified and everyone is equal. However, the beginning of the Summer Session also takes place at the busiest time of the year. City Championships are just around the corner. Teams will be playing in the Blast this weekend trying to be the last teams to qualify for a trip to Las Vegas. The San Diego APA City Championships will advance four 9 Ball teams and five 8 Ball teams to the National Team Championships. Qualifying for Nationals is one of the main goals of every team playing in our league. One lucky San Diego team actually walked away from Las Vegas $25,000.00 richer when they finished in 1^st place in the 8 Ball event in 2002. Maybe this year it will be a 9 Ball team. Maybe one of our ladies teams will win the first championship under the new format. 2 Ladies teams will be advancing to Nationals this year. We are anxious to find out who this year’s winners will be. Come prepared to play and we wish you all the best of luck. For as much information about the City Championships that I can muster for all of our league members, pay close attention to the message board of our web site. I like to post as much info in there as possible about the City Championships and Nationals. There will be lots of good things to know to help you be fully prepared. It still comes down to making balls more than anything, but it doesn’t hurt to know all of the rules and procedures in advance. 

On the back of this newsletter is an explanation of how our new MVP program works. The new MVP program kicks off with this new session. It will all be posted on the web site soon, also.  

We have new teams playing this week and if you were one of the lucky teams scheduled against them, please make our new members feel welcome and please help them learn to keep score properly. We always welcome new faces and nothing makes your first APA experience a more positive one than helpful people that are happy to see these new members to our league. 

Congratulations are in order to Paul Langley for his 5^th place finish at the APA National Singles Championships in Las Vegas last week. Paul won $2000 in cash and prizes for his efforts. The skill level 7 bracket at Nationals is one of the tougher brackets in the entire country, and finishing 5^th is a major accomplishment. That’s the highest finish for anyone from our area in that tier. Congratulations Paul! Paul also finished 49^th in the 9 Ball event. Several other players participated in the event and the results for everyone are on our web site and on our Facebook page. 

The 8 Ball Blast is scheduled for Saturday, May 17^th at the Hungry Stick. The 9 Ball Blast will be Sunday, May 18^th. Schedules should be posted to our web site by Friday or Saturday. Ladies 8 Ball City Championships take place May 30 and June 1^st. 9 Ball City Championships are May 31^st and June 1^st and the 8 Ball City Championships are June 7^th and 8^th. All City Championship events will take place at the Hungry Stick. Dave Whitsell of Quality Billiards will be on hand for the Blast and City Championships for all of your cue repair needs. He does simple clean ups, tip replacements, removes nicks in your shaft and has all kinds of supplies on hand.  

We will have a limited supply of City Championship t-shirts available at the City Championships. This year’s design is really nice, and our designer really nailed what we were looking for. These are only available until sold out, so don’t delay if you want one. 

End of Session Prize Money- Okay, this is important. Prize money checks will be mailed out the week prior to the week your team plays in either the Blast or the City Championships. If you are playing in the Blast, they are being mailed out this week. If you don’t play in the Blast and you play in the City Championships on June 6^th, your check will be mailed out the week leading up to your match. Your team trophies or plaques will also be available on the weekend that you are scheduled to play. If you play in the Blast, your trophies will be there. If not, they will be at City Championships. 

MVP trophies, patches and perfect session trophies will be on hand for all 3 weekends and you can pick those up any of those days. I don’t recommend stopping in on Sunday, May 17^th, because we will only be available for a few hours that day.