So she married a pool player.
In 1976, Teri Norfolk married a pool shark. Armed with needles and yarn,
she'd set out for the poolroom to crochet while her husband played. Little
did she know it was the beginning of the end for tea cozies and solitary crafts.
Six months later, she turned in her needles and found herself at a state
championship for pool. Today she is a competitive player.
"I used to sit there and crochet. The [owner] of the place got so sick
of watching me crocheting. It drove him crazy! So, he said to me, 'How would
you like a part-time job? Since you're here anyway, you may as well get paid
for doing something.'
"So, I ended up going and working for this gentleman....That way, my husband
could come down after work and he'd play....I ended up getting to the point
where I got to know the customers and started watching how to play the game,"
she says.
With a little coaxing, a fellow player got Norfolk to attend a state championship.
"She said, 'This would be good experience for you.' It had a $10 entry fee
and I ended up taking third place!" remembers Norfolk.
Decades later, Norfolk can not only shoot like a shark, she
can talk with the best of them as well. Half the game, she explains, is being
able to psych out the opponent.
"Well, it's a mind game too. When I know I'm going up against someone that
is a break-and-run player and their handicap average is higher than mine,...I
feel pressure about them, and I start joking with them. Especially if I'm
breaking. I say, 'Look, take it easy. We're not playing for money here. Let's
have a good time here,'" says Norfolk.
Sometimes mind games get out of hand. To be a pool shark is a good thing
-- it means you're a good player. To be caught sharking someone is a bad thing
-- it will gain a player a reputation for being a loud mouth. Intentional
sharking, says Norfolk, is just plain rude.
"Some people get the attitude that they can't be beat and that they're
just too good, and they know they're good. People don't like people like that.
Some people do have a short temperament, and the first thing that comes to
the brain comes out the mouth."
After all these years, she's learned to deal with the rude behavior that
often comes with the territory. "I've been around pool players long enough
to know they can talk all they want and it doesn't phase me, because I don't
take it personally. When I get up to a table, I'm not playing against you,
I'm playing the table. I'm playing for me," she says.
Bill Cooper, a director with a billiards and snooker association, says
that players' rugged personalities pose a problem for the sport. He explains
that the problem is especially elevated in the game of snooker, because pro
players won't work as a team to develop a code of ethics for the game. Everyone
seems to have an individual goal.
"We'd like to have everything under one umbrella, but it's unrealistic
to expect to be able to do that because no two people can agree about the
way to go," he says.
But while the lack of team spirit disappoints him, the game remains an
important part of his life. "I've been playing 35 years. I'm a national caliber
snooker player. I've been to the nationals and I'm going there again this
year," he says.
Cooper is active in sport, beyond just shooting stick. He sits on the board
of directors, runs tournaments and attends meetings to determine association
policies. He would not, however, recommend it as a profession. Keep it fun,
he advises. "Only [play] as a hobby," he says.
The good news is, anyone can take it on. According to Cooper, pool is not
innate. You won't find any special pool playing genes in the pros. "It's not
something you're born with the ability to do, so anyone can learn to do it,"
says Cooper. "No one's born with the ability to play pool."