Cheryl aims for the top

With only a year of competition experience behind her, Cheryl Edwards is aiming for the top when she competes at the North Island Ladies 8 Ball Championships this month. Cheryl began playing pool in April 2006 at the Stratford Club, club nights. She admits that learning to play by the national rules sounded very difficult at first, but she said it soon got easier.
"After playing several games against adjunct members, I started to remember rules. There has been great support from the players at the Club to help me learn them."
In August 2006, Chris Reed and Cheryl entered the Coast to Coast 8 Ball Tournament held in New Plymouth.
"We both found it a huge learning curve and came out of it with great experience from a tough competition."
The adjunct ran competitions at the Club for mixed pairs, ladies' champion, pairs and Christmas drawn pairs throughout the rest of the year.
"With all of the experience I gained and long hours of practice I then became the ladies' champion after winning hard-fought games."
In October the club held its annual prizegiving and Cheryl not only won the Ladies' Champion Trophy, but also received the MVP Trophy for 2006.
Cheryl then started playing pool at the Empire Hotel and became a regular at the hotel's Wednesday night competition. She also played a few games at the New Commercial Hotel for different experience.
In early November, Cheryl joined the New Plymouth Club to further her 8 Ball experience and played against the men to help her get a better understanding of the game.
On the odd occasion, Cheryl would play the ladies, which she said was more of a coaching role than a learning role, but said the different style of learning/teaching still helped her game.
In February 2007 she entered the Classic 8 Ball Tournament held in New Plymouth and had many wins, only missing out by one frame to make the semifinal.
Cheryl was then approached to enter the Castlecliff Ladies 8 Ball Championships held in Wanganui in March.
"I was excited to play in an all-ladies competition and was really happy with the way I potted and felt really confident and focused on my game."
Cheryl won the Pairs Plate Final and the Singles Plate Final.
Cheryl's next competition is the North Island 8 Ball Championships in Tokoroa this month.
"Even though I will be away from home playing in huge competitions, I have had huge amounts of support from everyone in Stratford and would like to thank my family and friends for their great support and encouragement."
Cheryl also has the Rangitikei 8 Ball Tournament in Feilding in May or June and the Coast to Coast again in August.
Good luck Cheryl.