By Junelynn Tran
RICHMOND, Va. -- As one of the best underground pool players in Richmond, VCU-alum Mike Tran is at the top of his game. With nine years under his belt, he has never sought to become a professional pool player, but his name still resonates from Breakpoint of VCU to Murphy's Law Billiards in Midlothian.
"When I walked in a pool hall one day, I saw some good players playing pool, and I was just kind of interested in the way they were moving the ball," Tran said. "It just looked so neat, that I decided to pick up a pool stick and try it on my own."
Tran started playing pool at VCU in 2000. In 2003, he qualified to play at the Association of College Unions International, a collegiate organization that brings together different schools to compete in extracurricular activities, such as poker, bowling, billiards and spoken word.
Tran won third place in the regional tournament that year. With only three years of experience, nerves got the best of him at the national tournament at East Carolina University.
"My first draw was the defending champion and I hardly won," Tran chuckled. "I mean, I got him on the ropes, but then he came back. I had butterflies, I couldn't win -- but overall that year, I placed ninth in the nation."
Some of Tran's friends enjoy watching him play because they see it as a learning experience. Some also find it intimidating.
New friend Christopher Le said, "Watching him play... it's just like... kind of demoralizing, actually. You're like, 'How the hell can you ever be this good?'"
Tran's advice for potential pool players is persistence and practice. Practice makes perfect and so does a positive attitude.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
VCU students in the lead at regional billiards tournament
By Junelynn Tran
RICHMOND, Va. -– Two students from Virginia Commonwealth University won the championship in a regional billiards tournament last month, making them eligible to participate in the national tournament.
First-place winner Mitch Trainham, 23, and second-place winner Mark Lacson, 25, both students from VCU, competed against each other twice in the Association of College Unions International championship round after beating 46 male college students from five states.
The regional tournament was held at the University of Tennessee from Feb. 19 to Feb. 20, where colleges from Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina competed in recreational activities such as billiards, table tennis and poker. The top five billiards players qualified for positions in the national tournament, hosted by ACUI, a national organization that aims to connect universities through the idea of community.
VCU sent eight men and four women to UT to compete in separate divisions. The competition started with 10 tables of round robin, a small tournament in which each competitor played against every other competitor at their table. This method was used to eliminate 16 players, leaving 32 players to compete on the second day.
“It was hard,” Trainham said. “Once the brackets kept getting smaller and smaller, we had to play our own teammates and we eventually knocked each other out.”
Trainham has played pool since he was 6 years old. He learned how to play from his parents, and he owns a pool table in his home.
“Poolhalls aren’t place for kids,” Trainham said. “If I didn’t have a table in my house, I probably wouldn’t have ever picked up a stick.”
Trainham’s 17 years of experience helped him at the regional tournament when he won the championship to Lacson 11-4. It was Trainham’s first ACUI tournament.
“Mark was my biggest competition,” Trainham said. “I thought he was the one person who could beat me.”
Trainham disliked playing against his teammates because he wanted both he and his teammates to win, he said.
On the other hand, Lacson saw the competition as an opportunity to have fun. A pharmacy graduate student, Lacson will not be able to attend nationals because of rotations, where he will visit different practice sites to gain medical experience.
“I was just trying to have fun because I knew I wasn’t going to go to nationals,” Lacson said. “I didn’t have anything to lose. It was just for fun.”
Amy Anderson, the regional ACUI Leisure Programs Chair, says the date and location of the national tournament has not yet been released.
While Trainham’s only goal was to make it to nationals, and Lacson only wanted to have fun, their advice for practicing is as equal as their ambitions.
“Play everyday and dedicate your time,” Trainham said. “Add pressure and challenge yourself to help yourself get better.”
“Don’t take it too seriously,” Lacson said, with a grin. “It’s just a game.”
RICHMOND, Va. -– Two students from Virginia Commonwealth University won the championship in a regional billiards tournament last month, making them eligible to participate in the national tournament.
First-place winner Mitch Trainham, 23, and second-place winner Mark Lacson, 25, both students from VCU, competed against each other twice in the Association of College Unions International championship round after beating 46 male college students from five states.
The regional tournament was held at the University of Tennessee from Feb. 19 to Feb. 20, where colleges from Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina competed in recreational activities such as billiards, table tennis and poker. The top five billiards players qualified for positions in the national tournament, hosted by ACUI, a national organization that aims to connect universities through the idea of community.
VCU sent eight men and four women to UT to compete in separate divisions. The competition started with 10 tables of round robin, a small tournament in which each competitor played against every other competitor at their table. This method was used to eliminate 16 players, leaving 32 players to compete on the second day.
“It was hard,” Trainham said. “Once the brackets kept getting smaller and smaller, we had to play our own teammates and we eventually knocked each other out.”
Trainham has played pool since he was 6 years old. He learned how to play from his parents, and he owns a pool table in his home.
“Poolhalls aren’t place for kids,” Trainham said. “If I didn’t have a table in my house, I probably wouldn’t have ever picked up a stick.”
Trainham’s 17 years of experience helped him at the regional tournament when he won the championship to Lacson 11-4. It was Trainham’s first ACUI tournament.
“Mark was my biggest competition,” Trainham said. “I thought he was the one person who could beat me.”
Trainham disliked playing against his teammates because he wanted both he and his teammates to win, he said.
On the other hand, Lacson saw the competition as an opportunity to have fun. A pharmacy graduate student, Lacson will not be able to attend nationals because of rotations, where he will visit different practice sites to gain medical experience.
“I was just trying to have fun because I knew I wasn’t going to go to nationals,” Lacson said. “I didn’t have anything to lose. It was just for fun.”
Amy Anderson, the regional ACUI Leisure Programs Chair, says the date and location of the national tournament has not yet been released.
While Trainham’s only goal was to make it to nationals, and Lacson only wanted to have fun, their advice for practicing is as equal as their ambitions.
“Play everyday and dedicate your time,” Trainham said. “Add pressure and challenge yourself to help yourself get better.”
“Don’t take it too seriously,” Lacson said, with a grin. “It’s just a game.”
There's no price for determination
By Junelynn Tran
RICHMOND, Va. -– Before she landed in Virginia, native born Texan Jennie Lynn Price, 24, traveled across the country from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic on a quest to finish college. She hopes to pursue a career in print journalism, and currently works for the Gloucester-Matthews Gazette-Journal.
Price was born in Texas but raised in Duluth, Minn. She attended the University of Wisconsin-Superior and the University of Minnesota-Duluth before she was in an accident that sprained both her ankles. With no one to help her, Price had difficulty attending school full-time. Instead, she concentrated on her job as assistant manager to an independent record store called Electric Fetus.
Price met her husband, Joshua, while she worked in a small restaurant called Nutty Megs in Duluth, Minn. in 2004. They married on June 14, 2008. Her husband is in the Coast Guard, which led them to move to Gloucester, Va. They commute separately from Gloucester to Richmond every day to attend Virginia Commonwealth University.
“VCU is the closest four-year college that we’re willing to drive to that has the program we are interested in,” her husband said. Price is a print journalism major, while her husband is a broadcast journalism major.
Price’s business experience allowed her to create her own business – Olive Bunny Handmade – where she makes recycled journals and one-of-a-kind stuffed animals to sell through Electric Fetus stores and her online Etsy.com shop. Price enjoys real film photography and fixing old furniture from thrift stores. She also screen prints on a Japanese Gocco printing machine, on which she made her own wedding invitations.
“Mostly, I like to learn how to do hands-on things and be self-sufficient,” Price said.
Price said if she had her own show, she would name it “Parts on Hand,” where she and her dad would go out to a garage and build something entirely from the products in the garage.
Price’s husband describes her as “ambitious, motivated and willing to try anything.”
“She wants to be an expert in a lot of different things from sports to writing to sewing to cooking to working on cars,” her husband said. “She’s succeeded in most of the things she’s tried.”
Price works for the Gloucester-Matthews Gazette-Journal. She describes her position as “the one that does everything.” She has had experience making plates in the print room, copyediting, proofreading and writing small stories.
Price currently resides in Gloucester, Va. with her husband. They have a two-years-old dog named Mabelle that they rescued from the Humane Society, and a 10-year-old black housecat named Frances, who Price says is “extremely needy.”
Price has the ambition to try anything and everything like Wonder Woman. She might not have super-human strength like Wonder Woman, but she would not mind taking the role.
“I would have to be a superhero in the tradition of Wonder Woman, you know, snappy outfit and tall boots,” Price said. “No invisible airplanes though. That’s a little silly.”
RICHMOND, Va. -– Before she landed in Virginia, native born Texan Jennie Lynn Price, 24, traveled across the country from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic on a quest to finish college. She hopes to pursue a career in print journalism, and currently works for the Gloucester-Matthews Gazette-Journal.
Price was born in Texas but raised in Duluth, Minn. She attended the University of Wisconsin-Superior and the University of Minnesota-Duluth before she was in an accident that sprained both her ankles. With no one to help her, Price had difficulty attending school full-time. Instead, she concentrated on her job as assistant manager to an independent record store called Electric Fetus.
Price met her husband, Joshua, while she worked in a small restaurant called Nutty Megs in Duluth, Minn. in 2004. They married on June 14, 2008. Her husband is in the Coast Guard, which led them to move to Gloucester, Va. They commute separately from Gloucester to Richmond every day to attend Virginia Commonwealth University.
“VCU is the closest four-year college that we’re willing to drive to that has the program we are interested in,” her husband said. Price is a print journalism major, while her husband is a broadcast journalism major.
Price’s business experience allowed her to create her own business – Olive Bunny Handmade – where she makes recycled journals and one-of-a-kind stuffed animals to sell through Electric Fetus stores and her online Etsy.com shop. Price enjoys real film photography and fixing old furniture from thrift stores. She also screen prints on a Japanese Gocco printing machine, on which she made her own wedding invitations.
“Mostly, I like to learn how to do hands-on things and be self-sufficient,” Price said.
Price said if she had her own show, she would name it “Parts on Hand,” where she and her dad would go out to a garage and build something entirely from the products in the garage.
Price’s husband describes her as “ambitious, motivated and willing to try anything.”
“She wants to be an expert in a lot of different things from sports to writing to sewing to cooking to working on cars,” her husband said. “She’s succeeded in most of the things she’s tried.”
Price works for the Gloucester-Matthews Gazette-Journal. She describes her position as “the one that does everything.” She has had experience making plates in the print room, copyediting, proofreading and writing small stories.
Price currently resides in Gloucester, Va. with her husband. They have a two-years-old dog named Mabelle that they rescued from the Humane Society, and a 10-year-old black housecat named Frances, who Price says is “extremely needy.”
Price has the ambition to try anything and everything like Wonder Woman. She might not have super-human strength like Wonder Woman, but she would not mind taking the role.
“I would have to be a superhero in the tradition of Wonder Woman, you know, snappy outfit and tall boots,” Price said. “No invisible airplanes though. That’s a little silly.”
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