'It's poetry': How a Limestone student authored an amateur national pool championship

PEORIA — For Brayden Rogers, pool is art, one in which he created a masterpiece in winning the 2023 American Poolplayers Association Junior Pool Championship in late June in St. Louis.

The 16-year Peoria native and junior-to-be at Limestone High School is a rising star in the amateur ranks of 9-ball and 8-ball.

He studies professional players like Shane Van Boehning, the 2022 9-ball world champion, nicknamed "The South Dakota Kid." And Russian Fedor Gorst, "The Ghost," who was 9-ball world champion in 2019. And Josh Filler, a German who was 9-ball world champion in 2018.

"The game is poetry," Rogers said. "They make the game look like poetry, make it look so easy. It's satisfying to watch them."

And to play against them. Rogers, an amateur junior player, has played against professional world champions Van Boehning and Gorst. Right here in West Peoria, at a pool hall called Racks on the Rocks.

"I've played all of them," Rogers said. "I grew up playing with a couple pros. They'll help you learn, work with you to teach you how to beat them."

A broken stick and a bar stool

That journey began young for Rogers. It has always been pool for him. When he was 4 years old, his parents would take him with them to pool halls. He wanted to play, but he couldn't reach the table.

"So they pulled a bar stool up to the table and put me on it," Rogers said. "When I was 9, I started to play, and my dad had this new full-sized stick, but it was too big for me to handle. So he broke it in half.

"I grew up learning how to play while sitting on a bar stool and using a broken stick with no tip on it. Hey, I did OK with it."

And he fell in love with the game. He's never played anything else.

The 2023 APA Junior Nationals

The American Poolplayers Association is the sanctioning body for amateur players in the U.S. There were 263 players in St. Louis for the national championship events June 22-25.

The field included kids aged 7-18 and from 30 states and Canada, filling groupings based on skill, with a champion crowned for each. The championship match, with Rogers — called the White Tier — was live-streamed and included a broadcast crew providing commentary. The entire match can be seen online.

Amateur players are rated levels 1-7 in 8-ball, and 1-9 in 9-ball, much like different colored belts issued in martial arts based on skill.

Pool matches are decided on points, and include a handicap points calculation — much like bowling leagues — to level the playing field. So if a Level 6 player draws a Level 5 opponent, then the higher-ranked player is going to spot a certain number of points to the lower foe.

Rogers entered as a Level 5 player in the 9-ball tournament, but found himself giving up even more points during his run through the bracket when he graduated to a Level 6 rating during the event.

"I lost my first match, then I grinded my way back through it," he said. "And I won the championship match, 46-17. I found a gear and I just stuck with it. And it helped having friends and family there for support."

That support the pursuit of his dream includes his mother, Melanie Breen, his sisters, Madison Breen and Shelbylynne Breen, and his father, Scott Rogers. The 44-year-old Rogers is a pool player on a Peoria team known as "Don't Let Us Out," which plays out of Peoria pool hall Da Joint.

The elder Rogers is heading to the APA amateur World Championships in Las Vegas on Aug. 8-14.

Playing it forward

Brayden Rogers says he plays 5-6 tournaments a year and will include stops in Wisconsin and Las Vegas in the future. He is part of a local pool group called the Peoria Area Juniors, which he says has about 17 kids aged 7-20, all learning the game.

"I'm helping the juniors in my league right now," Rogers said. "If you can teach the game, you can play the game. I enjoy it. I've been on the competitive side of pool for 4-5 years now. The goal for me is to one day go professional. I want to be that good."

He works at a Dollar General, handles his business in school and throws himself into the pool hall, mostly Racks on the Rocks in West Peoria or Famous City Billiards in Creve Coeur.

And if you want to challenge him, it won't take a quarter plunked on the table.

"If there's something you want to learn, I can walk you through it," Rogers said with the confidence of a champion. "Everyone that stepped in and showed me my path, hundreds of people have made me the player that I am.

"The kids all show up at my matches. And when I win, that's a really good feeling."

Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: 'It's poetry': How Limestone junior authored 9-ball amateur national title