Jennifer Barretta

"Drowned Alive"

For all of you who thought you saw me in David Blaine's "Drowned Alive" special, well, you did!  It was pretty cool, and these pictures don't really do it justice, but I'll post them anyway!

In the tank

Meditating in preparation for the breath hold

Stuart Scott (BOOYAH!) getting ready to go live

In chains...and lot of them

About 5 minutes with no air

Out of the tank for the first time in a week.  What you can't see is that his lips were purple, and his hands and feet pure white.

The 2006 World Tour is over!!

After a month on the road I'm happy to say I'm home! Well, for 3 days anyway.  In the past month I was in Verona, NY, Rocky Mount, NC, Taipei, Taiwan, and Michigan City, IN.  I took lots of photos which I will now share with you!

Tiffany Nelson, Melissa Herndon and me, the road warriors at the players meeting in Taiwan.  We look pretty good for having arrived that morning.

Melissa and me hanging out in the Shilin night market.

Apparently a lot of Americans have Chinese tattoos that make about as much sense as this T shirt.  I know Chinese lettering looks cool, but make sure it means something.

Mmmmm...a delicious assortment of body parts. 

Melissa Herndon, Jennifer Chen and I during a drunken night of Karaoke.

I think the best part of the 2006 World Tour is a new bond with my road partner, Melissa Herndon.  Here's a shout out to you, girl!

My favorite photos!

These are some of my favorite photos!

This is me in Taiwan with someone's dinner wrapped around my neck.  Poor fella.

Dear Mr. Lobster, I'm sorry I ate you.   I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.

This is my dog Tucker (the driver) and his buddy Rufus.  And you think your dog is smart.

Alex did his first trick shot.  He made all three balls at once!

Fellow pro, Romana Dokovic, Magic Johnson and I at a charity event a couple of years ago.  Magic was a pretty good pool player!

England tour

I've just returned from another Riley's UK tour!  It was the 3rd tour this year, and also the shortest...I was there 5 nights visiting a different club each night.  As usual, I brought my camera!

I stopped by Lillywhites, a famous sporting goods store, to pick up some football (soccer) jerseys for Christmas presents.

As we drove by this I said, "What building is that?"  The driver said, "Buckingham Palace".  Boy, did I feel like a dumb American.

This is me and the DJ at Colchester.  I'm wondering if I really smelled that bad...

This is me surrounded by the staff at Colchester.

Tomorrow I'm off to Vermont for a looooong vacation.  Of course I'll bring my camera.  Happy Holidays everyone!!!!

IPT

This week I was in Orlando, FL watching friends and idols (yep, I'm a fan, too!) compete in the first International Pool Tour event.  It was amazing to be surrounded by the legends of the game both old and new.  Of course I brought my camera!

Me & WPBA pro Miyuki Sakai, hanging out in the lobby.

Me, Tony Crosby and WPBA pro Sarah Ellerby, hanging out by the espresso bar.  I guess I did a lot of hanging out, but I also managed to watch a lot of pool!

Me & ESPN World Champion, CJ Wiley.  We actually got to play some at the local pool hall!  If you're ever in Dallas, TX stop by his club, Carsons LIVE!

Marlon Manalo and Johnny Archer play a televised match in the IPT Mothership. 

Hope you had a fun week, too!

Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  My husband, dog and I drove up to our place in Vermont with some friends where I cooked a huge dinner.  We all spent the weekend eating, snowboarding and relaxing.  This was Tucker's (my dog) first time in Vermont so I took lots of pictures.

Our friend Derek and Tucker bringing in some firewood.

Check out the vanilla sky!

Tucker playing some fetch in the parking lot.

That's Devil's Fiddle and Outer Limits (snowboarding trails) in the background.

Chilling with some hot apple cider and my adorable dog.

Tucker hanging out on the porch.

He'd never seen snow before!

Dominican Republic

Yes, even pool players take vacations sometimes, and mine happened to be in the Dominican Republic.  The weather was incredible, even though there were hurricanes just about everywhere else in the Carribean, and I spent my days reading, lounging in the sun and swinging on the trapeze.  Here are some photos...

This is me doing my Robert Blake impersonation, or "Barretta as Baretta".

p.s.  look how blue the water is!!!!

This is me throwing splits on the trapeze.

Here I'm catching a straddle whip.  Look at how bad my form is!  (I'm going to have to work on that)

Oh well, I guess it's back to work now.  Hasta la vista!

UK tour

I've just returned from my second UK tour with Rileys. This time around I visited 12 clubs over 14 days and I had a great time!  Here are some photos!

This is me, Bee is on the left and is an aspiring pro, and Kaush, one of the regional managers who has become a good friend of mine.

This is Crewe Hall, and amazing hotel that I stayed in.  It was once a 160 room mansion for the Crewe family, built in the 1600's.  At one time it was even used as prisoner of war camp for high ranking German officials!

These are the gift bags they gave out to everyone who played me.  They were filled with Sky Sports hats and polo shirts and WKD (an awesome vodka based drink) merchandise.

Do I make you horny, baby?  This was one of the WKD promotional items!

Manchester United stadium.  How cool!

As you can see, I had a great time across the pond, and I'm looking forward to my next visit!

Back from Peoria

Well, although I had a decent finish in Peoria (9-16), I'm extremely disappointed in the way that I played. Through the whole tournament I felt unfocused and nervous, and couldn't get comfortable. For some reason I couldn't get that feeling of being "lined up" with the shot so every time I shot a ball it was a guess. Normally I'm so immersed in the game that I see every shot very clearly, but I couldn't seem to get into that zone no matter what I tried.

I've been searching for a reason for why I felt this way, but can't seem to find one, so maybe I just have to chalk it up to "one of those days". I'm not going to beat myself up over it, and my coach and I actually had a good laugh about it after the fact. The sad thing is that if I had won my last match I would have gotten to ESPN again. <sigh> I guess it just wasn't meant to be.

In other news, I will be doing an exhibition in Bakersfield, CA on August 18 at the Olhausen Store.  If you're in the 'hood, stop by and play me a few games!

Getting ready for Peoria

These are the two weeks of my life before a tournament!

I normally practice 6-8 hours a day, maybe 2-3 hours alone and 4-5 sparring with people, but the two weeks preceding a tournament I step things up a bit. I'll usually practice 8 hours a day with about 4-5 of those hours alone doing drills on the areas of my game that need work.

On Tuesday I drove down to Qball Billiards in Vineland, NJ to squeeze in one last practice session with Jose Garcia to sharpen up my stroke fundamentals and get help on the things that I've been struggling with.

I always try to make time for visualization, but in the last two weeks before the event I put aside 30 minutes to 1 hour a day to just meditate and picture myself in the tournament and playing well. I try to make it seem as real as possible. It's amazing how much this helps confidence.

The final weekend before the tournament I usually go away somewhere, to the beach or Vermont, where I don't play any pool, and I just try to have fun and completely relax. I continue with my visualization (usually just before bed so it's my last thought before I fall asleep).

On the Monday and Tuesday before I leave I only practice 4 hours a day, all of it alone, to build up the desire to play. I don't want to over-practice, I want to come to the tournament with a fresh, open mind. On Wednesday morning I leave for the tournament and, when I get there, I practice on the tournament tables for a couple of hours until I feel like I'm stroking the balls really well.

Last, and maybe most important part...I go to be early, get 8 hours sleep, wake up early, have a light breakfast and get into the tournament room when it opens which gives me one hour of quiet, uninterrupted practice. I do this every morning while I'm still in the tournament. Once I'm out of the event, I use that time to watch the top players, and try to learn from them.