UPA to Send billiard Players to World 8-ball Championships
The United States Professional Poolplayers Association (UPA) will be sending three of their top billiard players to Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, from April 18-25 to participate in the World 8-ball pool Championships being held at the Fujairah Exhibition Center. The three players attending this year’s event will be 2007 Inside pool Magazine’s Player of the Year, Shane Van Boening; Corey Deuel; and Ronnie Wiseman.
This event will host a total field of 64 players that will be divided up into 8 groups. The play will consist of races to eight, double elimination, alternate breaks. The top four players who qualify from each group will move on into the final 32. At that point, 16 players will be seeded upon performance results, while the remaining will be drawn at random to compete against the seeded individuals.
The President of the UPA, Frank Alvarez, would like to send special thanks to the BCA trade organization for helping provide the means for the players to have the opportunity to travel overseas to represent the United States in such a prestigious event.
If you would like to learn more about the UPA organization, their website is located at UPAtour.com. To contact them directly with questions, please call 480-353-6747 or e-mail info[at]upatour.com.

UPA Names Van Boening 2007 Player of the Year
The United States Professional Poolplayers Association (UPA) has officially declared its 2007 Player of the Year. The tour would like to congratulate Shane Van Boening for his accomplishments within the course of this past year and for representing the tour with such professionalism.

Van Boening has brought to the table an exceptional skill/talent and vast determination for perfecting the game. Along the road to success in 2007, he picked up many coveted titles and/or placed exceptionally high in many exclusive events both nationally and internationally. Included in this list of events are the following:
UPA Pro Tour Championship - 7th place
Enjoypool.com 9-ball Championship - 2nd place
Predator World 10-ball Championship - 1st place
World Summit of pool - 2nd
2007 U.S. Open Championship - 1st place
2007 World pool Championship - 17th place
Mosconi Cup Team Member - 2nd place
Upon receiving the news of this award, Van Boening commented that This title is an honor for me. All of the players are tough on tour. I am thankful for the UPA’s help and encouragement.
The UPA sends its best wishes to its newest Player of the Year and looks forward to watching Shane advance his career in the future. If you would like to read more about this player, look for him as the feature article in our upcoming UPA Magazine release.

United States Professional Poolplayers Association Reveals UPA Magazine

The United States Professional Poolplayers Association (UPA) and Eclipse Media Group, LLC have been working diligently in the past few months to provide a comprehensive source for UPA members, sponsors, and spectators that is both informative and entertaining. The day has finally come to unveil the UPA Magazine, which will launch in early 2008. This magazine will be published bi-monthly and delivered to the subscription list. It will provide up to date facts and statistics concerning the happenings within the UPA organization and on tour.
We are motivated by personal determination to positively influence and elevate the organization, said Mark Cantrill of Eclipse Media Group. This publication is UPA specific and will provide tour information and updates to its members and subscribers.
This free publication will offer its readers many interesting features including player profiles; player stories and organization updates; tips and instruction from the professional players; letters from the president of the organization; current rankings/seedings; tour and event schedules; along with features on the venues the tour frequents.
All tour members (professional and standard) will automatically receive a subscribed as part of their membership benefits. All other contacts and those who have signed up with UPA News and Updates will have their choice of an online or a print version of the magazine. For those of you who are interested in becoming a member of the UPA or would like to renew your membership, Click Here. If you are not that are not currently recieving our UPA news and updates, please take a moment to visit our website where you will then locate the Sign Up Here For News and Updates section on the homepage, provide your email address and submit. If you know of anyone that may be interested in the magazine, please forward this release to them as it will direct them on how to acquire a copy.

If you would like to learn more about the UPA organization, our website is located at Upatour.com or to contact us directly with questions, please call (480) 353-6747 or email info[at]upatour.com.
For media and advertising opportunities, contact Eclipse Media Group, LLC (480) 361-1316 or email media[at]MyEclipseMedia.com

Ireland and Luethi Sweep Doubles billiard Event
Tri-State Tour / Queens, NY

by Rick Davis
The Tri-State Tour drew in 12 teams for their 9-ball doubles event that took place at Master billiards in Queens, NY. The team of Jim Ireland and Chris Luethi were unstoppable as they took the event undefeated over the December 1-2 weekend.
Fighting their way to the hot seat match were team Jan Aleria and Marvin Malapit, but they fell just short of team Ireland/Luethi, who defeated them 7-6 to advance to the finals. On the one-loss side the team of Ron Mason and Jimmy Martinez ousted the team of Mike Amaya and Luis Rios by a whopping 7-2 in the quarterfinals but were tripped up in the semifinals, where team Aleria/Malapit eliminated them 7-5.
Back in the finals it was a rematch as team Aleria/Malapit sought revenge from their earlier defeat, but Ireland/Luethi kept just out of reach and once again defeated them 7-6, this time to claim the event.
Results:
1st Jim Ireland/Chris Luethi
2nd Jan Aleria/Marvin Malapit
3rd Ron Mason/Jimmy Martinez
4th Mike Amaya/Luis Rios

Rocket Rodney Morris Named UPA Representative

Phoenix, Arizona
The United States Professional Poolplayers Association (UPA) recently made some administrative transitions to, in effect, renew the association and its presence in the pool community. One of those positive changes was to name Rocket Rodney Morris (arguably one of the most recognized male pool players internationally) as the individual to take over the role of UPA’s Lead Player Representative.
Mr. Morris replaces former representative Frank Alvarez, who is now president of the association. Rodney is quoted as saying, I believe in the UPA; I believe in its leadership and goals. At this stage in my career I want to do my part in giving back to the industry by representing player interests.
The UPA player representative serves as not only a representative to the association’s touring professionals but also for the organization on behalf of the players. Representatives also include world-class players Tony Robles and Tony Crosby.
If you would like to learn more about the association, their website is located at www.upatour.com (http://www.upatour.com/). To contact us directly with questions, please call 480-353-6747, or e-mail info@upatour.com (mailto:info@upatour.com).