By ALBERT VILLEGAS
Special to the NEWS
For Jaiden Barbour, judging wins and losses in her past athletic activities didn’t always depend on a clock, as is common in many sports. Barbour has usually relied on learned technique, completing tasks, and self-discipline to measure her successes and failures.
She demonstrated her value as a former student-athlete at both San Benito and Harlingen public schools, ultimately graduating from Harlingen High School in 2019.
In her youth, Barbour frequently finished near the top, either with a team or individually, in track and field, softball, golf, and cheerleading.
Barbour, now in her twenties, is motivated by her competitive spirit in billiards. In fact, Barbour moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, last year to hone her skills and compete professionally in Pro Billiard Series events that are often streamed online.
Barbour is still in the first chapter of her billiards career. Last month, she won her first professional match while competing in the first round of the U.S. Open 10-Ball Championships at Griff’s Bar & Billiards in Las Vegas.
“My road ended early in the 10-Ball. In the next event, in the 8-Ball, I did better, finishing 25-32,” Barbour said. Along the way, she convincingly defeated one male opponent, 8-1.
Head-to-head competition can sometimes last more than two hours and draw a field of 64 in elimination rounds, noting that she feels humbled when she wins and remembers her losses.
“I don’t mind my results, considering the best players in the world are competing in these tournaments. I throw myself in the pit with the big dogs to improve my game whenever I get the chance,” said an optimistic Barbour, who often competes against men. “I was the only female in the one-pocket event.”
In describing her past, Barbour said, “If I had pushed myself beyond just my natural ability, if I had truly worked as hard as I could have, I believe I could have (eventually) been competing at the highest levels in those sports, maybe even the Olympics in track and field. Since graduating, that realization has stayed with me. It hurt to look back and feel like I didn’t fully take advantage of the opportunities I had.”
This is from a young person who, early on, earned the title of cheer captain at San Benito CISD’s Berta Cabaza Middle School (BCMS), and later received medals in different sports and qualified for regionals in track and field.
Ray Saldana, now retired, was her BCMS principal at that time.
“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard,” he said long ago. Those words still resonate with Barbour.
“I wish I had understood that fully when I was younger, but I carry that message with me now,” Barbour said.
BILLIARDS – THE BEGINNING
Barbour also credits her brother Jacob, a 2017 San Benito High School graduate, for introducing her to billiards.
“Pool was never something I thought would become part of my life. In fact, when I was younger, I thought it was kind of lame. Everything started when Jacob was at TSTC—Harlingen, and he played in pool tournaments there,” she said.
“He would come home with these little trophies he’d win from the tournaments, and I would tease him about it,” she recalled. “I had just graduated from high school a couple of years earlier, and I didn’t think much of the game at all.”
Soon after, Jacob bought a pool table for his father, Joey Barbour, to use at his home in Harlingen.
“For months, maybe close to a year, the table just sat there, and I barely touched it. My brother would invite his friends over to play, but I didn’t really care. One day, I finally picked up a cue. I thought I’d be good enough to beat everyone right away. Of course, that didn’t happen. My brother beat me easily and showed me how little I actually knew about the game,” Jaiden said.
“But that moment flipped a switch in me. The competitive side of me instantly wanted to improve. Not long after that, my brother took me to a bar where local pool leagues played. By then, I had only been playing for a couple of weeks, but I was already sinking balls pretty well. Someone noticed my shooting and asked if I wanted to join their league team as a beginner,” she recalled.
Jaiden remembers feeling excited that someone asked her to join a billiards team, making the game feel “real and competitive.” That person was Mike Vasquez, and the league match took place at Broken Tap in Harlingen. She won despite “barely understanding everything about billiards.”
A few days later, her brother took her to Eddy’s Tavern in McAllen.
“Jacob said, ‘You’ve seen the players on your team. Now I want you to see the level nines,” she recalled.
Jaiden says that in league play, level nines are the highest skill level, the best players.
“There were about five of them playing in a tournament. Watching them changed everything for me. They were making shots I had never even imagined. The way they controlled the cue ball, the confidence they had, the way everything looked so natural — I was completely mesmerized,” Jaiden said.
“Right then and there, something clicked in my mind. I told myself, ‘I want to be like them. I want to be better than them. I want to be a professional pool player,” she remarked.
Jacob introduced his little sister, and she was welcomed to compete at a Monday night tournament.
“At first, I lost, then I lost again, and again, but I kept coming back every week. I told myself I wasn’t going to stop showing up until I won, and even when I did win, I would keep coming back to compete against the best players I could find,” Jaiden remembers. “After about two months of playing those weekly tournaments, I finally placed third. For someone who had only been playing a short time, that felt like a huge accomplishment.”
STUDENT OF THE GAME
Ken Nguyen, one of the billiards players, started coaching Jaiden every Monday. She considers him a mentor.
Teaching is something Nguyen, a level nine competitor, continues to do to this day. He has been impressed by how much Jaiden has learned in such a short time. Both agree that having a good mental approach is just as important when competing.
“To this day, I truly believe he is one of the biggest reasons I am where I am now. Without him, I don’t know if I would have developed the mindset I have today or pursued becoming a professional player the way I have,” Jaiden said.
Before turning pro, the two joined others and traveled to Indiana to attend the annual Derby City Classic, one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world of pool.
The event, held at Caesars Southern Indiana Casino & Hotel, spans 12 days and attracts the best players from around the world to compete in 9-Ball Banks, One Pocket, and 10-Ball Challenge.
“That year, I wasn’t competing. I was just there as a spectator, but being in that room, surrounded by the best players in the world, was something I had never experienced before,” Jaiden said. “I had seen these players on TV, but seeing them play right in front of me was completely different. After that tournament, I went back home and made a promise to myself, if I was going to do this, I was going to do it the right way.”
Among the events Jaiden has competed in are the Predator Las Vegas Open Women’s 10-Ball and the U.S. Open events in 10-Ball, 8-Ball, and One Pocket.
Her father, Joey, understandably, follows along, even posting results on his social media pages.
“There’s a certain kind of pride only a father understands, the kind that comes from watching your daughter grow into everything you always knew she could be,” Joey said. “From the time she was little, running through the house with that spark in her eyes, it was obvious she wasn’t built like everyone else. She had something different in her — drive, fire, and a quiet toughness that showed up early.”
“And now she’s chasing what she loves most — pool, and I believe, with everything in me, that she’s on her way to becoming one of the best in the world, not because of luck, not because of talent alone, but because she’s always had that rare combination of passion and work ethic that separates the good from the great.”