About Me

Scott & I many years ago!

I started playing pool when I was 15 years old. Seems like a long time ago now! I skipped my first class (grade 10 math) to go and play pool at the local pool hall with friends. Playing pool became my passion, and I met my future husband Scott at a pool hall called Hot Shots back in 1992. He was the bar manager and we soon became best friends. He moved away to Guelph (and worked in more pool halls while he went to school) and I stayed here and started playing more competitively. I joined the CPA (Canadian Poolplayers Association) in 1993 and went to Las Vegas to play in the Nationals in 1996.

Joanna & I promoting the OWPT in 1998

In 1997 a friend and I joined forces to create the Ontario Women’s Pool Tour (OWPT) to help organize competitive women’s pool into one tour. Joanna and I had a great time together with her husband Steve who was our tournament director.

Scott & I got together in early 2000 after he had come back from Guelph to open Hot Shots, our first retail showroom, on Lakeshore Road in Port Credit. He opened the store with his dad John on December 4, 1999. Scott & I were married in 2003 and I wasn’t playing as much pool by then. I had gone to school at Sheridan College and was job searching for something in my field. Scott was getting busier and busier and in September 2003 we opened our location on Ridgeway. Since I wasn’t working, he put me to work at the Lakeshore location, getting it ready to close down in the New Year for the move to Ridgeway. It turned out it was so busy at the new location, I stayed on and have been here ever since!

In January 2004 Scott & I went to San Diego, California to do an Olhausen factory tour and decided to go back to Southern California that February for the sales training being offered by Olhausen. It was one of the greatest experiences we’ve had, being able to go down to the factory where our pool tables are manufactured and see how it was done. We received valuable sales training by Olhausen’s top sales trainer Steve Isbister.

Currently I’m still working at Hot Shots and have been in charge of our retail showroom for some time now. I also take care of the majority of the buying and keep up with new products being offered in both billiards and darts. Scott & I both go to the trade show in Las Vegas every year, to keep up with all the changes. Although I no longer go out and play pool, we try and do staff parties at the local pool hall! And I have discovered other outlets for my competitive nature!