Becker rising senior Alex Schermer recently captured the VNEA International Junior Championship in the Scotch Doubles billiards category in the ages 16-20 division.

The event was held in Sioux City, Iowa, and Schermer teamed up with long-time friend PT Baxter to win the title.

Schermer started playing billiards when he was just five years old, and he had several top five finishes in previous years before finally getting his championship trophy.

“It felt awesome,” Schermer said of winning the tournament.  

He and Baxter had to defeat a team from New Zealand along the way, and they also had a very impressive feat against a team that included the player who had won the singles tournament.

In that contest,  Schermer and Baxter broke the rack and then “ran the table”, meaning they didn’t miss a single shot and never surrendered control of the table to their opponents.  

“I would say that was pretty insane because it’s a pretty rare feat,” Schermer said.

Schermer has always been attracted to the sport of billiards because of the challenge and struggle of the sport.

“One day I can be almost perfect and the next day I can’t make a ball,” Schermer said.  “It teaches a lot of perseverance.”

The soon-to-be senior says that the sport takes some knowledge of very basic geometry, but that he also learns a lot about shots by watching Youtube videos.