Early in the first semester, friends Leo Alcantar-Hernandez ‘26 and Jayden Gomez ‘26 were at the Corral when they stumbled upon the unused pool tables and began to play, not knowing what they had just started.

“[We] would come here every Wednesday, and the [employee who] was there saw us and told us about [Jessica Colon],” Alcantar-Hernandez said. 

Gomez and Alcantar-Hernandez soon got to meet with their new sponsor, Colon, who was excited to help start, lead, and mentor Billiards Club with her knowledge and experience of the game.

“I played competitively for five years, and I went to school here [at LT],” Colon said. “I knew that there was no Billiards Club, so we decided to start one.” 

The club started holding activities during the first few months of the first semester. They would have them on Wednesdays and Thursdays every week after school in the Corral. Going from 3-5:30 p.m., meetings consisted of practice, free play, and community interaction. Later on, games and tournaments would happen, providing a competitive yet fun and enjoyable atmosphere for everyone involved.

“It’s a game that everybody knows,” Colon said. “Everybody’s seen it. But now they’re learning the details, the actual play, how to hold the cue, how to wrap the balls. Skills like that.”

Initially, there were concerns about not finding enough players to start the club, Colon said.

“I needed 26 [members] to get it started, and I was nervous, how do I get all these people?” Colon said. “How can I get North and South campus people to know about the club? How do I show them that they’re able to do it?”

However, the number of people who joined the club actually became one of their strengths, with around 70 people signing up in total. With their present success, the Billiards Club hopes to build a promising future, hoping to expand their competitions beyond just the corral. 

“I’m waiting to hear back from [Activities Director] Kris Cotopoulos, Colon said. “She’s checking to see if there are other schools in our association that have billiards clubs, so we can potentially have tournaments and matches between other schools,”

Billiards can be a competitive, intense, and mentally demanding sport; however, it doesn’t take away from the club’s core values of community and the building of relationships.

“Honestly, the sole reason that we wanted the club was just to have people meet others and to have fun while doing it,” Gomez said. “Right now,  you see different people playing the game, teaching each other how to play, incorporating each other, building character, teamwork, and important friendships.”