Pooling their talents a winning formula
It was their best result yet at the Southern Trust New Zealand Masters games as three Tokoroa pool players brought home a combined 19 medals.
Pockets 8 Ball members Wiki Tamati, Jeff Bullus and Lucretia Goodwin went into the tournament with doubt playing on their minds.
‘‘It was certainly not foreseen,’’ Bullus said.
Tamati and Bullus have already had a successful run in pool with more than 60 years of experience between them.
Both have won national titles before but sometimes lack confidence.
‘‘I swear to give it up every time because I’ve lost form and can no longer pot,’’ Bullus said.
But success like this has reignited their drive to keep going.
The event was played in pairs which meant Bullus was randomly teamed up with other players. Goodwin and Tamati played together.
Every second year they are able to make the event in Whanganui thanks to sponsorship from their club.
‘‘We owe a great debt of grati- tude to Pockets.’’
The masters competition is part of a 10-day series of more than 55 sports which brought in about 5000 people.
It alternates between Dunedin and Whanganui every year and the pool competition caters to those who are 40 and over.
For Goodwin, the pool world is fairly new.
After moving from Turangi about four years ago she joined to make friends.
It didn’t take long to find her place, in fact Tamati said she is now ‘‘part of the furniture’’.
It seems that Goodwin went to the right place because the sport is well known as a social one.
Bullus described it as a fraternity and said events like the masters were also a chance to reminisce about old friends.
‘‘We take it as a moment to share stories.’’