Ewa Mataya Laurance
Encyclopedia
Women's Professional Billiard Association
The WPBA is a professional women's billiards tour based in the United States. It was originally founded in 1976 as the Women's Professional Billiard Alliance by players Madelyn Whitlow and Palmer Byrd, as well as Larry Miller ....
nine-ball tour, a sports writer, and more recently a sports commentator
Sports commentator
In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
for ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
. In 2004, she was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America
Billiard Congress of America
Billiard Congress of America is a governing body for cue sports in North America , the regional member organization of the World Pool-Billiard Association...
's Hall of Fame. She has been nicknamed "the Leading Lady of Billiards" and "the Striking Viking".
Playing career
Laurance has been playing pool since she was 14 years old. She moved to the United States in 1981 after competing at the New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
World Championships.
Laurance has won numerous major women's pool titles, including the WPA World Nine-ball Championship
WPA World Nine-ball Championship
The WPA World Nine-ball Championship is an annual, international, professional nine-ball pool tournament, founded in 1990, sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association , and principally sponsored and organised by Matchroom Sport...
, US Open Nine-ball Championship
US Open Nine-ball Championship
The U.S. Open Championships is an annual professional pool tournament that began in 1976 at Q-Master Billiards in Norfolk, Virginia. Today, it is held in the Chesapeake Conference Center, Chesapeake, Virginia...
, WPBA
Women's Professional Billiard Association
The WPBA is a professional women's billiards tour based in the United States. It was originally founded in 1976 as the Women's Professional Billiard Alliance by players Madelyn Whitlow and Palmer Byrd, as well as Larry Miller ....
National Nine-ball Championship, International Trickshot Championship and the Swedish and European 14.1
Straight Pool
Straight pool, also called 14.1 continuous or simply 14.1, is a pocket billiards game, and was the common sport of championship competition until overtaken by faster-playing games like nine-ball...
Championships.
In 2005, Laurance bested three of her peers, WPBA tour members Allison Fisher
Allison Fisher
Allison Fisher is an English professional pool player.-Biography:Fisher grew up in Hadlow, Kent. She won her first world title at the age of 17. To date, she has won over 80 national titles and 11 world titles in total. She even entered the men's snooker rankings, but never progressed into the...
, Dawn Hopkins, and Gerda Hofstatter
Gerda Hofstatter
Gerda Hofstatter , nicknamed "G-Force", is a professional pool player and nine-ball champion. She won the World Nine-ball Championship in 1995; She is European Champion ten times; 1997 U.S. National Champion; and won the Austrian Championship seventeen times...
, at the Women's Trick Shot Challenge held at the New York Hotel Casino in Las Vegas
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, pocketing US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
25,000 as the grand prize. Animated and expressive, she played to the audience and the cameras, "a true showperson in her element and a wonderful example to all trick shot artists."
Television
She was the co-host of the GSNGame Show Network
The Game Show Network is an American cable television and direct broadcast satellite channel dedicated to game shows and casino game shows. The channel was launched on December 1, 1994. Its current slogan is "The World Needs More Winners"...
original game show Ballbreakers
Ballbreakers
Ballbreakers is a pocket billiards game show that began on the Game Show Network on July 18, 2005. The hosts were Sal Masekela, Ewa Mataya Laurance, and Adrianne Curry. GSN cancelled the show in 2006.-Play:...
. She has hosted the Ultimate Pool Party on ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
. She has also been a model, appearing in TV commercials for No Nonsense brand pantyhose, and appeared on National Bingo Night
National Bingo Night
National Bingo Night is an American game show hosted by Ed Sanders which premiered on ABC on May 18, 2007 with a six-episode order. Sanders is known for his work on another ABC show, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition...
on June 1, 2007. She frequently acts as a color commentator on ESPN telecasts of nine-ball tournaments, usually along with her husband Mitch Laurance. She has recently been featured on commercials featuring Dick's Pawn Shop in Myrtle Beach, SC.
Writing
She has authored three books, The Ewa Mataya Pool Guide, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pool & Billiards, and Quick Start Guide to Pocket Billiards. She has also written monthly columns for Pool & Billiard magazine.Private life
In 1982, at the age of 17, she married the colorful pool pro Jimmy MatayaJimmy Mataya
Jimmy Mataya is an American professional pool player, nicknamed "Pretty Boy Floyd".In 1982, Jimmy Mataya, 31, wed Ewa Svensson, 17, of Sweden , forming pool's first "power couple". Their daughter Nikki was born in 1985, but they later divorced.Mataya enjoys other games of stake...
, fourteen years her senior, forming pool's first power couple. They have a daughter, Nikki, born in 1985, but later divorced, with Ewa retaining the surname Mataya, as she was already professionally well known by this name. In 1994, she married actor Mitch Laurance, later also pool commentator for ESPN and twin brother of actor Matthew Laurance. For over a decade, she used the name Ewa Mataya Laurance, but by 2010 transitioned to simply Ewa Laurance.
External links
- Her official web site
- "Ewa Mataya Laurance" profile, at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
- Ewa Laurance instruction column at poolmag.com