On Cue! The Journey of Jeannie Seaver (by Jeannie Seaver)

In her own words, Cocoa resident and Nationally Ranked pool player Jeannie Seaver tells her story of making it to the top of her game:

Born in Minot, ND, I was a military brat and got used to visiting many countries at a young age. Attending schools in different countries versed me on different cultures so going into young adulthood with eyes set on becoming a professional pool player, I practiced to compete with the best, knowing most of them would be from different countries.

That didn’t happen until I was 19 when my older sister took me to a pool hall to play pool for the day. That’s all it took and I was hooked, hook, line and sinker. Within 3 years, I became #1 in the state of Florida. That same year, I played in my first professional tournament with the WPBA at the U.S. Open. Surprised myself and turned some heads as I went double hill with Jennifer Chen (but lost) and won 9-0 against a former U.S. Open winner, Belinda Calhoun (back then she was Campos). Finished 17-24th and went home to FL to practice more, but with help. Charlie Williams, Luis Viera, Adam Wheeler and as few other top players took me under their wings and gave me tips and drills that I sponged in. Then one day, Charlie Williams asked me to take his friend around whenever she would come into FL, if I could, and thankfully she played pool, too! She still does, actually, but mainly stays in Asia since pool in the states has declined, significantly. Ga Young Kim and I traveled the world for many tournaments for a few years. She lived with me at my mom’s house for around 2 years but we were on the road for tournaments more often than being home. I would also go to the Philippines and train with amazing players and coaches for 2-3 months at a time.

In 2009, Ga Young became #1 in the world and my top ranking was 13th female $ maker in the world but 17th female in the USA. Figure that one out 🤣 in those few years of traveling the world with GYK, I had my first televised match on ESPN against Allison Fisher. I was sooooo nervous, most of my attempted shots rattled the pocket and stayed hung in the jaws. I finished 4th there while Ga Young had her eyes on the big guitar trophy, and she won the event. From Hollywood we had to fly straight to Taiwan for the 9-Ball World Championships. I finished 3rd place. I had a chance to move into the finals but I missed the 8-ball double hill against Ga Young, then she continued into the finals and won her first World Championship title. From there we went back to Florida where I decided it was time for me to live a semi-normal life and get a normal job that I could rely on for bills, instead of hoping to do well or get lucky enough to win some cash. 2010 was the year I went to nursing school and I currently work as a nurse. Every now and then, I’ll accept an invitation to a tournament but now I mostly focus on being a nurse or the orchid nursery biz. My last big tournament was the 2016 US Open where I finished 5/6th.

My first match that tourney was against Ga Young!!! I got the rolls and won but when it became the final 8, it became single elimination, where I lost to Monica Webb, convincingly. Ga Young came back from losing first round and won that event, also 🤣 I look forward to the next tournament I accept an invitation to!