Students have a new opportunity to meet people, play new games and improve their pool skills when they join Felipe Flores’ pool school.

Flores, a junior from Marietta, started the club last September and so far has a membership of around 20.

Many of the members said just coming and playing with each other once a week has improved their games.

“We are just trying to get people to play better,” Flores said.

Along with the traditional games like 8-ball and 9-ball, members play a game called Bowliards, a new game that combines billiards with the rules and scoring of bowling.

The club encourages members to play in the tournaments organized by the Tate Student Center Game Room. In these tournaments, first- and second-place winners get a medal and a gift certificate to the Georgia Square Mall in Athens.

The previous 8-ball and 9-ball champions were both members of the pool school.

What Flores said he really likes to do with his club is organize tournaments with other universities.

Since the club is still relatively young, he has only been able to organize a meeting with Emory.

The tournament was last November, and Emory won the team match, but Georgia redeemed itself in the individual matches. The top three winners in the tournament were all Flores’ pool school’s members.

“We won first, second and third,” Flores said. “I think they got fourth. It was just for fun. We invited them, and we bought pizza and drinks for everybody. It was just to get to know them.”

He has a meeting in February with representatives from Emory, Georgia Tech and Georgia State to set up future tournaments.

One of the few girls in Flores’ pool school is Dana Aft, a sophomore from Roswell. She said that she would definitely recommend the club to anyone.

Aft said Flores’ club is “cool” and that it’s “creating love” in that students get to meet new people.

“I think it’s definitely something the school needed,” said Keith Harris, a senior from Athens and manager of the Game Room.

The club meets every Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Tate Center Game Room. It is open to faculty and staff and is free to join.