Brian Latour of Brunswick Home and Billiards sets up the new tables. (Photos by Lisa Aciukewicz)

Two muscular men carrying 200-pound slabs of slate recently shared the Bromfield halls with teachers bustling to department meetings. While teachers assembled curriculum packages, the men assembled two billiards tables in the first-floor industrial technology room, as all prepared for the first day of school.

Bringing a billiards program to the school is the brainchild of Harvard lawyer Roy Pastor and a Bromfield art teacher, Sharon Chandler. Through generous equipment donations and their equally generous volunteer commitments, Chandler and Pastor envision billiards at Bromfield as a sport, a curriculum aid, an after-school program, and a community resource.

“Pool is a lifelong sport,” said Pastor, who has been instructing young people and organizing a youth league program in Ayer for the past five years. “I would have loved to have had a league, something like this, when I was a kid,” added Pastor, who taught himself from a book and by playing with friends at the Boys Club when he was growing up in Queens, New York.

Pastor, known about town as a former member of the Board of Health, is also a certified Billiards Congress of America (BCA) instructor, teaching youth and adult classes. During the past two years, he has organized the only BCA Junior League qualifying tournament in the Northeast, attracting some of the best young players in the United States, including Bromfield senior Mike Girard and seventh-grader Kevin Sun.

Mike Girard breaks in the new pool table.

Left to right: Mike Girard, Sharon Chandler, Roy Pastor,Talia Mercandante, and Donald Girard watch as Kevin Sun prepares to sink the eight ball.

Some time ago, Pastor and Chandler discussed the sports and curriculum potential of a high school pool program. After Chandler received permission for a program at Bromfield, including space for the tables, Pastor went to work finding equipment.

“The response was immediate,” he said. “I sent out an email to the BCA board of directors after breakfast on Father’s Day. By 11 a.m., I had an offer for tables, and by Monday, the president of Brunswick Billiards had agreed to donate them.”

Calvin Moore, owner of Moore Lumber and the Billiards Café in Ayer, built and donated a cabinet to hold cues and balls. Iwan Simonis Inc. donated durable table felt. The Harvard Rotary Club, the Billiards Education Foundation, and private donations paid for equipment.

“Billiards as a competitive school sport is popular across the Southwest,” noted Pastor. “Like most sports, playing well requires discipline, practice, and proper technique. It is similar to golf. It is a sport that anyone can play and one that those who apply themselves can master.” He hopes to encourage surrounding towns to develop similar programs. Pastor also hopes that the broader Harvard community will benefit through Harvard continuing education classes.

Chandler, as student advisor, is initiating an after-school Billiards Club with Bromfield senior Mike Girard. “I am a Bromfield graduate and I remember the excitement when Dorothy Andrews made science come alive,” Chandler said. “I also loved geometry. I have a personal passion to offer kids innovative opportunities.” A measure of that passion is that Chandler’s time is completely volunteered.

This will not be the first time that Chandler has taken an out-of-the-box approach to engage students. Last year, her seventh-grade art students created papier-mâché gnomes that were exhibited at the Lowell Revolving Museum.

Girard is excited about the new school club, which he hopes will allow students to learn the sport and improve their game. “Pool teaches you a lot,” he said. “A big part of it is not allowing yourself to get frustrated—a skill true to the sport and in life. Concentration and competitive strategy is big. You have to think out several plays ahead.”

Girard started in Roy Pastor’s Junior League in Ayer and moved to the adult league and Tuesday night tournaments as his game improved. A BCA Junior Nationals qualifier, Girard sees the game as healthy competition and easily played. He expects the new Billiards Club to attract beginners and experienced players alike, and he will be offering instruction to help young people improve their game. “No one starts out a skilled player,” he said.

Several teachers are embracing the learning opportunities. Geometry teacher Peggy Zimmer sees a unique opportunity to engage students in understanding planes and angles. Physics teacher Gary Menin plans to illustrate conservation of motion and elastic collision principles at the tables. Assistant Principal Scott Hoffman recognizes the possibility for students to connect math and science to real-life applications.

With a 600-pound slate bed each, the new billiards tables should be in place for a long time, long enough for a future graduate to remember that pool made geometry and physics come alive.