Today I received my plaque for Top Gun. Last season I managed to not just play well, but won this over many months. For those of us in the 2-3 bracket I have proved I am a very good 3, beating 4s, 5s, and even a 6! Talk about a competitive rush!

I also realize that to those who don't play competitive pool, the paragraph above is pure gibberish. Like many areas of life, if you're not an amateur, journeyman, or expert in the area the slang is a complete mystery to the layman. However, it is a major source of pride to those of us who have invested our time, energy, and stubbornness to keep improving. Personally, my Top Gun took 8 years to achieve, and that's most definitely something that deserves a real feeling of accomplishment, even if it's the only time I manage to do this.

Part of the reason is the nature of the competition.

Getting credit for team competition is a delicate balance, where you have to try to maximize your team's points while creating the perfect match to the opponent's team. Sometimes you have to coordinate less-than  ideal-match-ups for the player and hope they won't be beaten. For the lower ranked players it can be very difficult and vice versa because of the handicap system. Both teams just hope they're shooting well enough that a match won't turn on a single mistake.
 
Despite the occasional necessary skill mis-match, most importantly for me, in a very selfish way, is that I finally stepped up for 10 weeks out of 14. I won 8 out of 10 matches no matter what rank I played last season. There have been other times I've done well, and there were some seasons that were equally terrible.

I can truly say I'm proud of myself.  It was an unexpected confidence boost each match when I won against opponents that normally would sweep me, and this was the icing on the cake. More than anything, though, sometimes you just need a win in your life. I was lucky to get one.