Afternoon pool entertains few at senior center

Most afternoons, it is just the three of them.

Lining up shots, calculating angles and then finally hitting the ball.

A crack sounds as the cue ball strikes the striped ball.

Don Jones and Tim Anson were at the Golden Hour Senior Center's billiard room again, trying to perfect their shots. Their friend didn't want mentioned in the paper, but he was still playing pool just the same.

Anson was preparing for an upcoming league tournament, while Jones was just playing for the fun of it.

"League pool is a pretty big thing in Sweetwater County," Anson said. "There's some pretty good pool players in Sweetwater County. I am not one of them."

Anson said it is really something to see 30 pool tables in the Sweetwater Events Complex building, which is where the singles and doubles pool competition took place. Anson was excited to play in the singles portion of the tournament.

When he is not playing at the league tournaments, Anson is showing his skills at the senior tournaments, which GHSC hosts.

For the past 30 years, Anson has been playing pool, while Jones has been playing since his retirement from Pacific Power in 2006.

"I've only been playing league pool off and on for 15 years," Anson said. "I'm slowly getting back into it."

"What I like about playing down here is it gives me an opportunity to be social," Jones said. "The games are tough and it keeps my mind sharp."

Jones looks at the game with a different perspective.

"In my old job I worked with angles a lot. Trigonometry and all kinds of different angels," Jones said. "Pool gives me a chance to use angles."

"It's getting me out of the house; and gives you something to do," Anson said.

Both Anson and Jones agreed they would like to have more people playing pool in the afternoons, but they understand a lot of people want to play in the morning and get on with their days.