…NOW IS THE TIME WE CAN REALLY SHAPE AND MOLD OUR NEXT GENERATION OF PLAYERS."

for the juniors after the BEF Junior National Championships. As soon as they age out, they’re thrown to the sharks. From the BEF’s perspective, we’ve created a 22&U category at the Junior National Pool Championships to attract college-age kids as well as provide another national stage for our young competitors to compete. Additionally, to help with their growth and development, we have structured the payouts of those events to be paid entry fees for professional events. While these juniors may not be ready and able to snap off a US Open or World Championship, we want to encourage their participation in this caliber of events so they can continue to track their progress of becoming competitive at the highest level of the sport. Now is the time we can really shape and mold our next generation of players to what it means to be an American cue sport athlete and represent the U.S. in the sport.

Why should retailers be optimistic about the future? How will the BCA continue to help them?

As a member organization, our largest segment are retailers and that’s no secret. They are the backbone to this association and we have tried many programs and services in the past so they can continue their success. One of our prides and joys is creating BCA Insider. I think it’s a very good product and gives our retailers specific information that they wouldn’t get anywhere else. It caters to them so they can continue to be successful. As an association, we need to continue to look at and evaluate other services and programs that will be beneficial to our retail members and help them sell more pool tables. We may look at a national advertising campaign, like “Got Milk?” or an unplug and play campaign to where we can add templates and ads that we just feed to our members and let them brand with their own stuff and they can use it on their social media or local radio broadcasts. My thought to help retailers is to find out what else they want from us. As a membership manager for 14 years, I feel like we’ve tried everything under the sun. From the Expo to web services, graphic design services, giving them a magazine, and direct coupons so they can deal with suppliers they already deal with. We want to serve retailers the best we can, so if there is something they want, we want to hear from them.

Are there any changes to the board that we can expect?

The bylaws recently got changed to change the dynamics. We recently lost a manufacturer seat and added a retailer seat. Now it’s five manufacturers, three retailers and a room operator. There’s going to be more input at the board level from retailers. Our board is very progressive. None of them were on the board when I started 14 years ago. They do want to get involved in play and create new programs.

Why?

For starters, the simple-yetunique design allows you to determine the shape of your tip, lifting the leather fibers without removing the surface of your tip.

And the lifetime guaranteed grit means you’ll never have to buy a new one.

The Brad Scuffer. Often imitated. Never duplicated.