Suffolk County APA - American Poolplayers Association

Summer session starts next week, woohoo!

Monday league: June 6
Tuesday: June 7
Thursday: June 9
Sunday: June 12

Regionals are around the corner - good luck to everyone playing!

First round: Saturday, 10 a.m., at Olindys Bowling Lanes in Quincy
Second round: immediately following the first round
Finals: Sunday, 1 p.m., at Polish American Citizens Club Boston

Our friends at Polish American Citizens Club Boston are now offering free pool for all APA members and their friends every Saturday, open to close! As always, it's only $2.75 for Bud Light drafts, too! 🎱 🍻

Reminder: the city of Boston has a mask mandate in place so please ensure that you are wearing yours at our partner bars!

Happy New Year, and welcome back, Teams!! A few brief announcements are below.

We are allowing two ghost players per team, per match, for the first four weeks of this session because of COVID. Please make sure to review the ghosting rules in their entirety.

Additionally, the weekly Team fee has been raised from $40/Team to $50/Team to compensate for the fact that we did not have a Summer Session last year. This increase will ensure that we will have enough money in the Players Fund to send two Teams to Las Vegas for Nationals in May.

Good luck to everyone in the start of the new session!

Addressing racism and intolerance of any kind is an important and timely issue. Many of us are dealing with strong feelings surrounding the recent tragic deaths of several people of color and calls for systemic changes to our communities. We want to extend our support to all of our players during this time and beyond.

*The Suffolk County APA denounces, and maintains a zero-tolerance policy towards, racism in all forms. Our Teams consist of diverse members from all walks of life, and we welcome and respect all races, genders, ages, and abilities.*

As a quick update on getting back to the tables, bars will not be opening until phase 4, no earlier than July 20. When they do reopen, we don't know if they will be allowed to have the pool tables open (or, some locations may not want to give up the space with expected limits on capacity). We hope to know more once it's announced that we're moving to phase 4. We look forward to getting back to our normal weekly play as soon as we are able so, until then, please stay safe. Please keep your eyes on the Member Services app, too, for more details as they become available.

Dear APA Family,

Let me start by saying I hope all our APA members and their families, as well as our Host Locations and their families, are staying safe and healthy. We’ve missed our Suffolk County APA family more than we can express!

Our ability to restart league play will be driven by regulations in Massachusetts and Boston (for all leagues other than Revere). Pursuant to Governor Baker’s phased approach to re-open Massachusetts, the restaurants will be allowed to open no earlier than June 8, and bars no earlier than June 29, with restrictions for each. I will be working with the host locations to determine the best approach for getting the league up and running when we can.

That being said, I know you will all have a lot of questions. We will do our best to share the information we have, but in addition, please download the APA App and turn on your notifications. We will also share information with all of you on our page.

Here is what we know right now:

1. APA Headquarters has rescheduled the World Pool Championships to take place Saturday, November 28, through Sunday, December 6, 2020.

2. APA Headquarters has also rescheduled the Showdown Series events that were scheduled to take place at the end of April/beginning of May to this August. We will share more information on this as it becomes available.

3. For those of you who qualified for the 2020 Poolplayers Championship (Vegas Singles Tournament), the plan is to hold that event in conjunction with the 2021 Poolplayers Championship. For those who qualified for the Regional Singles Tournament, it will be rescheduled from October 2020 to Spring 2021.

4. Locally we will restart our Spring Session 2020 as soon as possible, and we will share information regarding the new schedule and regulations when available. We will also look into scheduling more singles qualifiers when we can.

5. We anticipate our World Qualifier (Team Regionals) will be played late August/early September. Please be patient with us, as this date and location may change depending on capacity limits, etc.

6. We will be reaching out to all of our amazing Host Locations to determine when they are able to re-open and what regulations/protocols may be in place regarding having league matches at each location. We will share more information regarding Host Locations as it becomes available, and please check the APA App and our page for updates.
--IMPORTANT: When we do return, if you have the means, please do your best to purchase food and drink on your first night back. APA would not exist without our Host Locations, and they are hurting right now - they need our support more than ever!

7. We want to talk to all of you! That said, we also want to get you information as quickly as we can, so please use your Division Reps and Captains as a source of information when you need an answer fast, as they will be our “point of communication” as we navigate the restarting of play. You may also contact anyone on the Board of Governors for updates: Rachel Askin, Lauren Campbell, Jon Jablon, Emma Kruskal, and David Rothenberg.

I cannot thank all our APA members and Host Locations enough…for your patience through these trying times, and your patience as we navigate our restart. We are so excited to see you all again, and we will very soon!

Thanks again, and please stay safe!

Rick Burt
APA League Operator

Just another update provided by your friendly neighborhood APA league! 🕷

Tomorrow, March 26, at 4:30 p.m., American Poolplayers Association - APA will be hosting a demo of the new scorekeeping app, which will be released soon. All players should watch it, if you're available at this time. 📱

If you have not yet set up a Member Services account at poolplayers.com, now is a great time to do so! You can access your stats, team schedule, announcements, etc. via the app, which is available for iPhone and Android devices. 📲

Our local Qualifying Tournaments and our Team Regional tournament will be rescheduled as soon as we are able to communicate with our host locations. This cannot be done until April 8, at the earliest (and, pending further developments of coronavirus, could be delayed). However, players should continue to form teams in anticipation of these being rescheduled in the future. 🙌

Stay safe, healthy, and wash your hands!! 🙏

We hope you're all staying healthy and safe during this trying time, and that you aren't missing pool *too* much!

Two quick scheduling announcements:

- The League schedule has been updated, please make sure to check it out for dates we plan to resume play. Of course, this may change as COVID-19 news continues to develop.

- We will work with our local bars/restaurants to reschedule tournament dates once the locations are able to reopen. Please continue to stay tuned to this page as details are determined.

Keep your wits about you and keep washing your hands! 💪🏻🎱

An update on League status: