Junior International Championship Stop 2
Junior International Champions Aiming For Showdown in October Parents Playing a Major Role in Development
T
ime was, junior pool players from all across the nation had what amounted to a single ladder to climb toward growth and development. While it’s true that personal coaching and training venues have been available all along, and some prominent pool leagues have offered junior divisions, basically, juniors would get to compete for the Billiards Education Foundation’s Junior National title by first, competing in a qualifier held at various locations and dates throughout the year. Those
that qualified would compete in the Junior Nationals in six separate divisions; Boys and Girls/18 & Under, Boys and Girls/16 & Under, Boys and Girls/14 and under. BEF added two categories recently to accommodate an emergent class of ever-younger competitors – Boys and Girls/11 & Under. Champions were crowned and qualifying competitors would advance to the World Junior Nationals, wherever they happened to be. Not a bad ladder to climb, but given the increasing number of juniors looking
to compete, the rungs were getting a little crowded. Within just this past couple of months, two separate entities have stepped in to offer extra ‘ladders’ for junior competitors to climb toward professional competition. As with any sport, not all of those who take their first steps on these ladders will actually get to compete professionally, but more and more, as participation appears to be growing, opportunities are increasing to meet the challenge. In January, On the Wire Creative Media launched a series of eight Junior International Championship (JIC) qualifiers for a junior finale, set to coincide with Pat Fleming’s International 9-Ball Open, presently scheduled for October 22-30 in Norfolk, VA. In February, the Maryland-based Billiards Sports Network put up their own junior ‘ladder’ by initiating a series of tournaments, under the ‘umbrella’ title of the Dynaspheres Cups, that began with a junior event, the first of two. In March, On the Wire Creative Media held its second (of the eight) junior events and as we go to press, their third is a couple of weeks away – April 16-18 at Racks on Rocks in Peoria, IL.
Lazaro Martinez III
24 | Billiards Buzz • April 2021
Though, as noted, the numbers are growing, the juniors are still something of a tightly-knit group, very familiar with each other. Of the 12 winners crowned thus far in 2021 (two in the Dynaspheres Cups and five each in the two JIC events), three of them are former BEF Junior Champions; Laza-
