The Greek Interpreter

I became the Events Secretary for the club after my first year. Participating in these events has enabled me to develop my skills further while making friends along the way; it's definitely one of the highlights of being a member here. Being a part of the University of Warwick Snooker and Billiards club has been an invaluable experience that has shaped my time at Warwick. Some other early modern sources refer to pall-mall being played over a large distance (as in golf); however, an image in Strutt's 1801 book shows a croquet-like ground billiards game (balls on the ground, hoop, bats, and peg) being played over a short, garden-sized distance. The poor girl, however, was herself a prisoner, for there was no one about the house except the man who acted as coachman, and his wife, both of whom were tools of the conspirators. Finding that their secret was out, and that their prisoner was not to be coerced, the two villains with the girl had fled away at a few hours notice from the furnished house which they had hired, having first, as they thought, taken vengeance both upon the man who had defied and the one who had betrayed them.

These two, finding that through his ignorance of the language he was helpless in their hands, had kept him a prisoner, and had endeavoured by cruelty and starvation to make him sign away his own and his sisters property. In-context commentary by pro player and pool writer Jerry Forsyth on rack 4: "What a beautiful layout for Immonen. He could not have asked for a better pattern to play. The first five balls are all down at the same end of the table; he doesn't need to make the cue ball do a lot of work; this is a road map". The club is run by enthusiastic committee members who always strive to make sure everyone feels included and supported. In fact, you never knew who you might spot at Racks. Racks MDB, the casual, unpretentious nightspot that brought billiards and beer pong to Central’s nightlife, is set to close its doors this weekend. I don't know when this happened but the Shark Club Billiards Hall in Canton, MI is closed and out of business. Hall has been a member since his freshman year and is now the social chair for the club. Sellers joined the club in the fall of his freshman year and is serving his first semester as club president.

The club hosts challenges Monday through Friday where players compete and face off against each other based on their rankings, Sellers said. The club has a document that calculates scores and determines rankings, said Matz. Hall said compared to other clubs he’s been in, members of JMU Billiards Club are very close. He also said the culture of playing pool is "pretty prominent" around campus because there’s a pool table in every residence hall he’s seen and he sees people in his hall playing pool all the time. "I believe it brings everybody together, even if you’re not good at pool," Hall said. In addition, having access to quality equipment such as cues, tables and balls makes practicing even more enjoyable - no matter what your skill level may be! Matz said the club "bridges the gap" between many different types of people, such as those from different majors, areas and even countries. The club competes around the state at colleges like Virginia Tech, Christopher Newport and Old Dominion, but also squares off with out-of-state colleges such as Carnegie Mellon and Dartmouth, Sellers said.

The club participates in competitions between other schools like Virginia Tech, ODU and out-of-state schools like Dartmouth. "We’ve been working to put on tournaments, mostly in Virginia Beach at a place called Q-Master, What is a billiards club which has been fun," Sellers said. Although Sellers said most members join "for fun," he also said joining the billiards club is a great way to build a community at JMU. "Anybody can join the club and get involved," Sellers said. "I just picked it up one semester and I just kept on playing it," Sellers said. She said club members come together despite their differences because of one common love: billiards. It was a simple story which he had to tell, and one which did but confirm our own deductions. "We all just bonded over a simple game," Matz said. Saturday night marks the end of an era, so you can expect a big turnout of the many people who called Racks home over the last five years. Went there on Wednesday April 18th expecting to shoot a few racks but only found "For Lease" signs in the windows.