READY TO GO — Looking forward to competing this week in Las Vegas in the American Poolplayers Association’s 2020-21 World Pool Championships are members of the Weirton-based team Genesis. Competing in the 8-Ball World Championship set for Oct. 21-26 are, from left, area residents Kenneth Donley, Margie Weigner and her son, Colton Boyer, team captian Tim Purviance, Ed “Frog” Ilosky and Brennan Fife. Chris Martin also is a team member. -- Janice Kiaski

WEIRTON — The Weirton-based Genesis Pool team is heading to Las Vegas this week to compete in the American Poolplayers Association’s 2020-21 World Pool Championships.

The event includes the 8-Ball World Championship on Oct. 21-26 and the 9-Ball World Championship on Oct. 25-30.

The local team falls in the first category and will be competing against more than 700 teams from around the world.

Team Captain Tim Purviance sees it as a “Cinderella” story for the seven-member team that only got together about a year and a half ago during the pandemic and has come a long way in a short time.

“Most of the teams in the league have players playing for 12, 14, 16, 22 years,” Purviance said. “They fight to try to get an opportunity to get where we’re at. We never envisioned we’d have a chance, but somehow we pushed through. Nobody paid any attention to us, nobody knew who we were. We showed up at the Tri-Cup (tournament), and everybody looked at us like we were nobody, and we beat everybody, and we got their attention,” Purviance said in offering his explanation for the “Cinderella” analogy. “We still can’t believe we’re going.”

During a practice session Tuesday, Purviance reviewed the team’s origin and journey to the competition run by the APA, the world’s largest pool league.

Aside from Purviance, the team includes family representation with Margie Weigner and her 24-year-old son Colton Boyer, both of Paris, Pa.; Ed “Frog” Ilosky of Weirton; Kenneth Donley of Wintersville, formerly of Burgettstown; Brennan Fife of Pittsburgh; and Chris Martin of Weirton.

“We have all played pool for quite some time, but just in a local setting, a fun game of pool mostly or a family pool table in the basement,” Purviance said. “All but Brennan had stopped from time to time at Golds Club, now closed. Every player had one thing in common and that was a love of the game and all were very competitive. I was the captain of another team when we met, but the team was from Pennsylvania and only playing that season in West Virginia because the pool halls were all closed in Pennsylvania from the pandemic. I had been talking to the different people on my team now about joining, and we formed a new team. Brennan made the call to join in, and a new team was formed,” Purviance said of its beginning, which made the team’s name selection pretty easy.

“The league (APA) asked me for a team name, and I picked Genesis ­– new team, new beginning, the end of the pandemic was in sight, so it seemed to fit.”

Plus the team had been playing out of a new bar — Luckino’s Lounge.

“A great guy named Sam Luckino opened a new place and since we were a new team, it fit,” Purviance explained. “It’s a great little down-home bar, and we love the staff there,” he said, of what formerly was Ledo’s at 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. “I approached him and said we needed a place to play. He welcomed us and supported us. He has been a huge help.”

Luckino feels proud about Genesis’ success, “fortunate to have a team going to the world championship. They’re a great group.”

Purviance explained that the team struggled for the first part of the season, learning the APA rules and guidelines but then began putting together some winning matches.

“By the end of the first season we had climbed into a possible playoff spot but were knocked out of a playoff berth in the last match of the season. The only chance left was a random draw of a wild card team that gets back in, but that was a long shot at best,” he continued, “but a few days later I was notified that we won the spot. Unfortunately, we had to play a really tough team to get to the Tri-Cup Tournament but pulled off the win in the last singles match of the night, so it was on to theTri-Cup,” he said.

“The Tri-Cup is 16 of the teams that all won their divisions or won the playoffs from around the Northern Panhandle area. The event is single elimination, lose and go home, 16 teams play down to eight, then eight play down to four and those four teams advance to the APA world qualifying tournament,” Purviance said.

“The Tri-Cup was in Chester at the White Stallion, and we were unknown to everyone there and were definitely the underdogs, but what happened next shocked the entire tournament when we survived round one, and everyone played like they were born with a pool stick in their hand to give us the second win to advance,” he continued. “Even our team was surprised.”

Genesis moved on to the world qualifier which was held weeks later, also at the White Stallion. “It was single elimination with 16 teams playing down to eight, then eight playing down to four, then four playing down to two that would go to Las Vegas in October and represent our little piece of the world here in West Virginia,” Purviance noted.

“I don’t think any of my team ever experienced the intense pressure of every shot we took that day in their lives. Margie’s hands were shaking so badly, and she broke down in tears after pulling off a win. These teams were unbelievably good, but again, everyone stepped up and played like I had never seen them play — 13 hours of pool, but we won the day.”

The team members are practicing and preparing in their own way to some degree.

How do they practice and keep skills sharp?

“We have a number of different drills, we play teams, we go back and forth and the team advises each other, each player points out things the other person might not see,” Purviance said. “We have time-outs in our matches and point out options on the table to other players, but everyone is going to practice in their own way,” he said.

“We are all different skill levels — from a 2 to a 7, a 2 meaning you’re just learning to play, and a 7 meaning you’re probably one of the guys who should be on TV that you see playing,” Purviance said. “This team has no 6s and no 7s — we are all 5s or below, and we’ve won out of sheer determination, beating better players, being smart,” he said.

Team members on hand Tuesday shared some thoughts about being on the team and playing pool.

Ed “Frog” Ilosky of Weirton is a chef at Giovanni’s in Weirton, having worked previously for 28 years at DaPeppino’s in Wintersville before it closed.

He’s been playing pool since the 1970s, starting at the arcade he owned on Pennsylvania Avenue. It had two pool tables.

“I was there running the place and had two pool tables and someone would come in and say, ‘Hey — want to play pool?’ and another came in and showed me English pool and how to play positions and that’s what got me into playing better,” Ilosky said.

His strength, he said, is straight-in shots and “a couple bank shots.”

He likes being a part of Genesis. “It’s the excitement of being around people who know what they’re doing and come together as a team. We rotate, and we know our roles as a team and that’s what makes us a better team I think. No one is better than anyone else. We have fun and laugh and joke around.”

Margie Weigner has been a pool player for as many as 28 years, she figures, and encouraged Colton, the youngest of her three children, to shoot pool with her, which is how he started playing with interest.

Weigner said Purviance has “a heart of gold” and works hard as team captain, which involves various responsibilities. “He keeps us all in line,” she said.

She never dreamed they’d be going to Vegas to compete. “We went through a lot of raising money and driving each other insane — it was tough but worth it. It’s kind of scary — Colton has never flown,” she said.

Weigner said a tournament days starts at 7 a.m. and continues until 1 a.m. “Maybe I won’t want to play anymore (after that),” she joked of the time commitment.

She’s optimistic about the team’s potential.

“We have faith in us. I think we’re going to do good. I am so ready,” she said.

“We’re so excited, and I think we deserve it — we really do work hard,” Weigner added, noting she’s looking forward to sharing such an experience with her son.

Boyer explained why he likes pool. “It’s relaxing to me, and more or less the angles I guess. There is a little bit of math involved and other than that, I just enjoy playing it.”

The team has enjoyed its share of luck throughout the qualifying process. “I guess more or less it’s all luck but it all depends how the balls are laying on the table,” he said, adding the team members work together and “try to do everything right for the team.”

His advice when it comes to playing pool includes “slow down, don’t hit too hard and if you get ahead of yourself, you either don’t leave yourself the next shot, miss the next shot or scratch. It’s more or less a chain reaction. You’ve got to think what happens if you miss and try not to leave them (your competitor) a shot.”

Brennan Fife of Pittsburgh said he’s trying to play pool less, not more, in anticipation of being in the championship.

At first playing pool constituted a night out every week, he said, “but I played so much it was almost like a second job, playing five nights a week.”

His thoughts on going to Vegas? “It was like eventually always a goal to get there, but with this team it happened so soon since we just got together.” That surprises him a little bit, he said.

But he’s not nervous or over-thinking things.

“You’re just playing against another team, another night of the week. If you start thinking about it, you get nervous,” Fife said.

Kenneth Donley of Wintersville said he’s been shooting pool since he was 10 or 12.

“I like to beat people,” he said of his interest in the game.

He’s surprised the team has the chance to go but isn’t feeling nervous about competing.

“Since I started shooting over here in Weirton with this team, I’ve really improved my skills better.”

The team has matching black Luckino’s Lounge T-shirts, the backs of which sport their nicknames. Margie is “Crazy Chick;” Ilosky is “Frog;” Donley is “Biker Sniper;” Boyer is “Coal Train;” and Fife is “Shaft.”

“Chris (Martin) we call ‘Sleeper’ because he’s always late for everything and he’s not here right now for the same reason,” Purviance said with a chuckle.

“They call me ‘Time Out Tim’ because I’m the captain and call time-outs on people, and they don’t like it in the middle of a match,” he said.

Asked what he thinks the team’s chances are, Purviance responded, “We’re one out of 750 teams from around the world. It’s a single-elimination tournament so you lose once and you’re done. I can’t say it can’t happen. I can tell you this shouldn’t be happening for us to be here, so we’re just going to go give it hell. You never know what’s going to happen. I know the other teams will be as nervous as we are about being in that format,” Purviance said.

The competition will be streamed live on the Internet, Purviance anticipates. “They’ll put it up on the American Poolplayers Association site. The streaming channels will be announced where you can go to see it. The first day is 750 teams, and they have 400 pool tables that were brought into this convention hall, all side by side. Obviously they can’t film every room but I’m sure as it gets down to smaller groups of players it will be more pronounced on TV,” he predicted.

It’s no secret in the community that the team is heading to Vegas, according to Purviance, who said residents and businesses have supported fundraisers to help with trip expenses.

“You win prize money but it’s not enough for hotel and travel for seven days so we did a big fundraiser. We have three players still not back to work since the pandemic but are able to go because the community stepped up and helped us out, and it was a really good deal,” Purviance said.

“The money starts paying out at 226th place in the tournament, a couple thousand dollars. First place only comes out with $25,000. There’s a lot of other things that come with it, prizes and things like that and pool sticks. Bragging rights really is what it’s all about. We’re not going to be rich,” Purviance said.

“There’s no bigger tournament. This is it. The reason there’s so many teams is the pandemic canceled the event last year, so teams from last year are coming this year, and it’s doubled up,” he said. “Normally, it’s a double-elimination tournament, but they made it single elimination, making it even harder to win,” Purviance added.

Asked to identify the top three skills needed to play pool, he said, “The main thing is ball control where you leave the cue ball up until you shoot. Making the shot is one thing — leaving it where you want it is the other. Second, being smart and not leaving your opponent a shot. And third is don’t knock the 8 ball in by accident.”

The world championship in Vegas will pit Genesis against hundreds of teams from across the country and the best pool players in the United States, according to Purviance with Oct. 21-26 billed as one of the largest 8-ball tournaments in the world.

“Although the team is nervous about the tournament, we have been able to get by that so far, and we have high hopes of winning as much as we can — we’re going to give it hell,” he added. “It’s really a true Cinderella story — there are others who are not happy about our success, but in sports, you can’t have winners unless you have losers.”