MANILA, Philippines - With less than a month left before the inaugural National Collegiate Billiards League kicks off, La Salle Greenhills has completed its team and is raring to do battle in the juniors’ class of the two-division tourney.
Leading the squad is Hadley Mariano, at 17 already the proud winner of the Makati Pool Players Association 9-Ball Summit last year. He is the son of Perry Mariano, one of the prime movers of the tourney simply called the B-League.
This early, the younger Mariano intends to carve his own niche in the green felt table, saying: he wanted to be a future national player.
The B-League opens shop on Nov. 20 at the Manila Ocean Park with Mariano, a senior, taking the cudgels for the team in the 9-ball competition. Fellow graduating Greenies Karlo Marcilla and Keno dela Paz will represent the team in doubles play while Paolo Darroca will compete in 8-ball. Marko Laya, the youngest in the team at 14, is the alternate.Organized by sportsman Reli de Leon and Hadley’s father, Perry, the inter-school billiards tourney will be held up to March of next year, with games set every Saturday and Sunday at the Star Billiards Center on Araneta Ave. in Quezon City.
The Greenies are being trained no less by Dennis Orcullo, one of the star players in Mariano’s Bugsy Stable.
Having played in various pocket circuits in the local scene, the younger Mariano is confident he can handle the pressure.