Episode 159 of the Snooker Scene podcast is out and can be found here.
Dave and Michael discuss two main themes: the ranking system and the BBC “Gods of Snooker” series.
Regarding the rankings, basically they believe that the current system is too top-heavy and that, with Barry Hearn retiring, now is a good time to maybe reconsider it. I agree.
David Hendon actually comes up with a proposal, and here it is provided I understood it correctly:
Each event should be classed in a category, depending on the prize money available for the winner of the event. A category or “band” woud be associated with a “range” of prize money. For instance: “500000 or more”, “200000 to 499999”, ect …
In Dave’s proposal, each category would be associated with one of the snooker colours, the black category being the most prestigious, the yellow category the less prestigious.
Within a category, all events would carry the same amount of ranking points at every stage, in effect “decoupling” the ranking points and their repartition from the prize money. The idea being to make the system less top heavy and to have a certain level of harmonisation between events when it comes to rankings.
I would be 100% in favour of that, with one additional “twitch”: the bands should not be solely about the money but also about the format and matches length. Similar efforts should be rewarded in similar ways. If some lunatic were to offer one million to the winner of the Shoot-out it wouldn’t make the event worth of the “Black band” with huge ranking points in my views, mind you, it would not change my opnion that it simply should never be ranking.
Also, first round losers should still get some money, as they did contribute to the tournamen, did bring value to the sponsor and broadcasters. At the very minimum, playing should not cost them. “Decoupling” money from ranking points may help to get this idea through as giving them something for their work and efforts would not impact the rankings in any way.
Their other main subject was the BBC “Gods of Snooker” series which they praised. I managed to watch all three episodes and I agree: it’s interesting, with lots of material I had never seen before especially in episodes 2 and 3. Also, for once, Alex Higgins wasn’t presented as a “victim” of the system. Whilst his impact on the sport can’t be denied – he changed snooker, and its image foerever and made it what it is today – as a person he was far from “great” and Michael McMullan, who is Northern Irish himself was clear about his opinion that Alex Higgins went away with a lot, far too much actually. I can’t agree more.
Despite its obvious qualities, this is yet another BBC feature focusing on snooker’s past and David was left wondering how and why the BBC always refused to do a feature about Ronnie for instance.
Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins was seen as the wild man of snooker in the 1980s
Is there a more dreary game to watch than snooker?
Men dressed as waiters push little balls around a table in dead silence for days at a time; as a sleeping aid, it’s probably second only to being hit with a tranquilliser dart while listening to Douglas Ross read Atlas Shrugged.
Yet, in the 1980s, snooker was more rock’n’roll than even rock’n’roll. Well, it was the days of Spandau Ballet.
Gods Of Snooker was a fantastic look at the years when seemingly everyone, high on colour televisions, became obsessed with the parlour pastime.
There seemed to be something about the game that sent the players slightly snooker loopy.
Alex “Hurricane” Higgins wielded a cigarette more than he did a cue, and sank more lagers than he did difficult pinks.
His rival, the more successful and rather dull Ray Reardon, complained nobody talks about him any more, while Higgins is still hailed to this day.
It’s no wonder. Staggering round the table playing cavalier snooker – well, as much as snooker can be described as such – Alex was prone to a rampage away from the table.
Slurred resignations, throwing cues at spectators and threatening to have rivals shot; current snooker wildman Ronnie O’Sullivan looks like Cliff Richard in comparison. They don’t make ’em like this any more.
This isn’t a review, it doesn’t say much about the feature itself and it’s taken as an opportunity to disparage the sport we love. and I’m not sure that the author watched beyond the first episode, if that. I’m the one who put the “bold” highlight.
Judd is rigth that there is too much focus on the past, and on the UK, and it showed as well in the features WST did in the building of the Q-School: they were mainly about over-40 yo British players trying to regain their tour card. If the sports want to grwo global, and have a future, the focus should be on young aspiring players, and not just the British ones.
Michael White: My game is better than ever, I don’t want to go back down that road
Phil Haigh – Tuesday 25 May 2021
Michael White is on the path to recover former glories (Picture: Getty Images)
Michael White is heading to Q School this week confident that his game is better than ever and he is ready to, not just regain his place on the main tour, but make a fresh assault on the upper echelons of snooker.
The 29-year-old has had a rollercoaster career so far, showing immense promise as a junior and amateur before turning professional at just 15.
A World Championship quarter-final on debut in 2013 was followed by ranking titles at the Indian Open and Paul Hunter Classic, with the Welshman into the world’s top 16 in 2015.
Then things changed as White’s form deserted him in the 2018/19 season to the extent that he fell off the tour last year and was forced to compete as an amateur over the last campaign.
It was a surprise to snooker fans to see one of the brightest talents in the game seemingly ebb away but the man known as ‘Lightning’ has revamped his lifestyle off the table and is ready to bounce back in style.
He is in a better place mentally than he has been for years and believes his game is in the best shape it has ever been, which is a frightening prospect.
‘Better than ever, definitely,’ White told Metro.co.uk of his game at the moment. ‘I’m looking forward to Q School. I strongly believe I can get back into the top 16.
‘I feel like I’m stronger mentally after going through the things I’ve been through. I was quite young getting into the top 16 – 23, 24 – so I’m a lot more experienced now, not just snooker-wise but in the way I conduct myself. I know more things that work for me and against me, I’m more wised-up on that side.’
White has won the Paul Hunter Classic and Indian Open (Picture: Getty Images)
White has been looking for answers on why his game slid away from the peaks he achieved early in his career, when he was viewed as a future world champion at a very young age.
‘I definitely had a lot of pressure on me more than other players would have done,’ he said. ‘The only other player I think had as much pressure as I did at a young age was Judd [Trump].
‘I won the world amateur title at 14 so everyone’s saying I’m going to be world champion by 20, but it’s never going to work out that way, the way the game is. You’re a big fish in a small pond. The standard now is better than it’s ever been, anyone can beat anyone.
‘I sat myself down. Jack [Lisowski] and Kyren [Wilson] are the same age as me, pretty much. They’re in the top 16 and I was definitely as good as them growing up, if not having the edge on them. I sat myself down and thought, “Why are they where they are and I am where I am?”
‘I was going through it: break-building, safety, bang, bang, bang, and it was only one thing, lifestyle. Now that’s in good nick then there’s no reason I can’t get back to where I got to. If not further, but one step at a time.’
White’s major lifestyle change has been to cut out drinking, which he feels has been the main reason behind his slump in form over the last two years.
The Welsh star has spoken about struggling with depression in the past and he got into a downward spiral of hitting the booze to try and feel better, but that only made things worse.
There were some dark days for White over the last couple of years, but he has quit drinking and feels that his life, and his snooker, has turned around completely.
‘I’ve changed my whole lifestyle around basically, obviously from me going from top 16 to coming off the tour, there are reasons behind that,’ he explained.
‘I’ve stopped drinking completely. To be honest I had a bit of a problem with alcohol. It stemmed from a lot of things really, I put a snooker room in my house, which wasn’t a great idea. I wasn’t practicing for events, I was turning up, getting beat, going back and I was a bit depressed as well at the time. I was turning to drink, but I’m 11 weeks sober now.
‘It probably started about two years ago and, to be honest, I turned up to a lot of tournaments where I hadn’t practiced at all. My head wasn’t in a good place at all, I probably should have left snooker and sorted myself out properly. It crossed my mind, it got to the stage where my health was coming into it and my life, to be honest with you. I was drinking four or five days at a time, from morning to night.
‘The turning point for me was when I left my mother’s house four years ago, I went and bought my house on my own and I had so much time on my hands. Before you know it, it catches up with you. I’m looking back and I think: “There’s no wonder that I am where I am now.” But I didn’t see it at the time.
White is looking to regain his place on tour at Q School, starting this week (Picture: Getty Images)
‘But I’ve only had two or three days off snooker since the World Championships, not drinking at all and I’m in a better place now than I ever have been. Q School this week and I’m looking at the bigger picture. I think my game’s in better nick now than it ever has been.’
White’s recovery off the table is an impressive one and his snooker is certain to feel the benefit as he is relishing practicing again and cannot wait to compete.
‘I’m just more disciplined now in everything I’m doing,’ he said. ‘I’m enjoying practice which I haven’t done for two or three years. I’m playing five hours and it seems like half an hour, I’m really enjoying it.
‘I’m playing really well at the moment. I’ve got a different outlook on snooker now, from where I’ve been at, being depressed, I’m looking at snooker like more of an escape or a relief. More like a hobby like it was when I was a kid, rather than, “God, I’ve got to win!”
‘I’ve got no reasons to go back there [to drinking]. When I look at any positives coming out of it, there aren’t any. In the end there was no enjoyment, it was self-medicating, I was escaping from life in general, having a drink and I’ve got nothing to escape from now so there’s no reason for it.
‘It never ends well for me, I can’t guarantee when I’d stop. Most people can go out and have two beers, I probably could do that, but I can’t guarantee I’d stop there. Then everything goes out the window: discipline, plans the next day, even the day after that. Then it multiplies, the anxiety, depression and I don’t want to go back down that road.
‘When I went a month of stopping completely, then I started to really see the bigger picture and I feel good about everything.’
Q School gets underway on Thursday 27 May with 14 tour cards up for grabs and White very confident of claiming one.
This comes as no surprise at all to me. The signs were there for all to see: the weight gain, the complexion, the demeanour. Also the problem started well earlier than 3-4 years ago. It was already budding when I was around the circuit around 2013/14/15. Unfortunately there is a strong drinking “culture” in the UK and if you don’t drink you are seen as asocial. What Michael describes, the inability to stop once he starts drinking, is the true mark of acoholic addiction and it never goes. The body instead of sending the signal “you had enough” sends ” you want more… and more … and more”. There is only one answer to that: going teetotal. I do hope for Michael’s sake that people around him, on and off the tour, will respect his efforts and help him to stay abstinent. The last thing he needs is being surrounded by persons who bait him into drinking.
I’m wishing Michael the very best at the Q-school and beyond.
Judd Trump may be the only player in Michael’s generation that had as much expectations on him as he did, but the phenomenon is nothing new.
The young Ronnie certainly had enormous expectations on his shoulders even before he turned pro, and when left on his own devices, when his father and mother were sent to jail, he got off the rails completely and has been battling addictions and depression for years. It’s a fight that’s never definitely won.
Alex Higgins and Jimmy White also to cope with very high expectations. Both could and should have won more. They probably would have if it wasn’t for alcohol, drugs and gambling. Jimmy has turned the corner, but Alex has self-destructed and caused a lot of harm around him because of his addictions. And it’s NOT because nobody helped him: many tried and he spat in their face, acting dishonestly and diverting whatever help he received to feed his habits of drinking and gambling.
La Q-School est à nos portes. Parmi les aspirants professionnels se trouve un jeune Français, Brian Ochoiski, qui a impressionné plus d’un cette saison alors qu’il jouait comme “top-up”.
En ce momemt même Brian s’entraîne ferme, à la “Ding Academy”, et reçoit les conseils éclairés de Nigel Bond, un joueur expérimenté s’il en est!
Son papa, Stéphane, a représenté la France dans de nombreuses compétitions internationales au cours des 30 dernières années mais se concentre maintenant sur le coaching et le développement du sport qu’il aime avec passion dans son pays. Dans cette interview, nous parlons snooker, coaching et promotion/développement du sport en France et en Belgique Francophone.
The Q-School is upon us and, amongst the hopefull there is one young French lad, Brian Ochoiski, who has impressed playing as a top-up in various events this season.
At the time of writing, Brian is practicing had at Ding’s academy, and seeking advice from the vastly experienced Nigel Bond
His father Stéphane, represented France in various competitions over the last 30 years, but now mainly devotes himself to coaching and developping the sport he loves in his country. We have been talking about his hopes, his approach to coaching and how to promote snooker in France and in the French-speaking part of Belgium
La version originale en francais …
Bonjour Stéphane et merci d’avoir bien voulu répondre à ces quelques questions. Avant d’entrer dans le vif du sujet, peux-tu te présenter brièvement ?
Bonjour Monique, je suis Stéphane Ochoiski. En octobre 2021 j’aurais 50 ans, je vis en couple avec Céline depuis 15 ans et j’ai deux fils : Brian 22 ans et Mateo 12 ans. Les deux jouent au snooker depuis leur plus jeune âge. Ma mère tenait une affaire où il y avait un billard américain, au Nord-est de la France à Saint-Avold. C’est là que j’ai découvert le billard : le billard américain d’abord, d’autres disciplines ensuite. J’ai commencé le snooker en 1990 après l’avoir découvert à la télévision sur Canal+. Je fus un joueur amateur de bon niveau ; j’ai remporté de nombreux titres en France – j’ai été champion de France à six reprises – et j’ai représenté mon pays 39 fois dans les compétitions internationales. Mon meilleur résultat est une 5ème place aux championnats d’Europe. Je suis président bénévole d’un club associatif depuis 1990. J’ai occupé différentes fonctions de dirigeant aux niveaux régional et en national. Et en 1995, j’ai créé la première école de snooker en France. J’ai initié et entrainé de très nombreuses personnes au billard et au snooker : surement plus d’1 millier durant ces trente années. J’ai aussi été consultant/commentateur sur Eurosport. Je suis avant tout ça un passionné de billard et en particulier de snooker. Depuis de nombreuses années je mets en place des actions de promotion pour mon sport.
Comment/pourquoi as-tu évolué de joueur à coach?
J’ai évolué très rapidement, car j’ai toujours aimé transmettre mes connaissances. J’étais tout d’abord un joueur qui donnait des conseils dans mon club, ensuite je me suis formé spécifiquement au coaching. Je pense que le coaching a un peu ralenti ma carrière personnelle de joueur mais si je devais recommencer je ne changerais rien. De plus, je n’ai commencé à jouer au snooker qu’à l’âge de 19 ans ce qui est très tard, mais j’ai quand même été à deux matches de passer pro dans un tournoi qualificatif en Europe. Je pense toutefois que je suis meilleur coach que je ne fus joueur.
As-tu suivi une formation de coach?
Oui, j’ai suivi plusieurs formations, tout d’abord pour perfectionner mon niveau de jeu, ensuite pour devenir coach.
J’ai 3 diplômes :
Le brevet d’état d’éducateur sportif (diplôme officiel en France remis par le ministère des sports)
Le diplôme de coach européen – EBSA coach – passé avec Wayne et Terry Griffith
Le diplôme de coach mondial WPBSA niveau 2 passé avec Chris Lovell, Andrew Highfield et Steve Davis
Quelle est ta méthode de travail? Comment approches-tu le coaching en fonction du profil du joueur ?
Je coaché à différents niveaux: amateur dilettante, joueur de ligue, jeune avec des ambitions professionnelles. Avec les années j’ai beaucoup amélioré ma méthode de travail. Tout d’abord, j’analyse complètement les besoins de mes élèves grâce à une interview orale, des test techniques et des documents d’analyses divers. C’est très important de bien connaitre ses élèves et leurs objectifs. L’aspect psychologique est essentiel dans le coaching. En fonction de leur niveau et de leurs attentes j’ai différentes formules tarifaires. Je préfère les formules où je fais un suivi sur plusieurs mois, saisons… Il faut du temps pour améliorer son niveau de jeu, au snooker particulièrement. Après chaque séance mes élèves reçoivent un rapport écrit et/ou une vidéo, ainsi qu’un un programme d’entrainement suggérant des routines adaptées à leurs niveaux et objectifs. Je m’occupe aussi de joueurs de pool anglais et de billard américain. J’ai de très vastes connaissance techniques et tactiques dans ces différentes disciplines de billard, mais je suis essentiellement un spécialiste de snooker. Je me suis aussi beaucoup formé et spécialisé dans le domaine de la préparation mentale. J’ai des outils adaptés au billard que j’ai utilisé moi-même en compétition de haut niveau : la visualisation mentale (sophrologie) et la programmation neuro linguistique par exemple. Pendant ces trente années, j’ai emmagasiné beaucoup d’expérience et j’ai suivi de nombreux joueurs en compétitions régionales, nationales et internationales. Aucune théorie ou vidéo YouTube ne peuvent remplacer l’expérience sur le terrain.
Comment évalues-tu les progrès, en collaboration avec l’élève?
Au début d’une nouvelle collaboration, on se fixe ensemble, de commun accord, des objectifs à atteindre à court, moyen et long terme. Ces objectifs sont consignés dans mon rapport initial. Ensuite j’ai créé des documents de suivi et d’analyse tant pour les entrainements que pour les compétitions, mais, en fin de compte, les résultats de mes élèves sont le meilleur baromètre.
Penses-tu qu’une approche différente est nécessaire afin d’encourager plus de jeunes filles/femmes à jouer au snooker? Si oui laquelle ?
Non pas vraiment : j’évalue à 20 pourcents le nombre d’élèves féminines que j’ai formées en tout. Evidemment, il faut parfois, utiliser d’autres techniques je m’adapte aux différentes morphologies. J’ai remarqué une chose importante par contre : souvent la lecture des trajectoires pose un réel problème au début de l’apprentissage chez les filles. Travaillant beaucoup en milieu scolaire et avec des enfants je peux affirmer que les filles adorent le billard, mais l’histoire nous induit à penser que le billard est un jeu de café pratiqué essentiellement par les hommes. Il faut se débarrasser de ces préjugés. Comme coach, Je suis vraiment pour l’augmentation du nombre de joueuses féminines au billard et au snooker. J’ai été ravi d’appendre que les deux meilleures joueuses du circuit féminin recevront désormais des cartes sur le « Main Tour ».
Collabores-tu avec d’autres coaches? Lesquels, comment, pourquoi?
Oui je collabore avec d’autres coaches.
Tout d’abord avec la WPBSA : ils nous offrent un relai, et ils nous envoient régulièrement des informations. Avant la crise, on était tous conviés à venir dans les tournois pros et tenir le stand de coaching dans la « cue zone » . Je viens de participer au premier séminaire à distance de la WPBSA, il y a quelques jours. L’objectif de cette réunion était une présentation de Wayne et Terry Griffiths concernant un nouveau site où un système sur handicap équivalent au golf a été étudié et mis en place. Je trouve que c’est un travail fabuleux et je vais surement m’affilier à ce dispositif. Je m’entends très bien avec Wayne et ce depuis que j’ai passé mon examen européen au Pays de Galle. Durant ce meeting on a aussi eu droit de poser des questions à Chris Henry qui a placé deux de ces joueurs en finale des derniers championnats du monde.Je suis en relation très étroite avec Chris depuis plus de 20 ans, on s’appelle souvent et j’utilise certains de ses procédés dans mes cours comme l’outil d’entrainement révolutionnaire « the balls ». J’observe et je collabore avec mes collègues tout simplement pour m’informer et m’améliorer, je ne veux copier personne, j’ai pris ce que j’estime bon chez certains et j’ai adapté et créé ma propre méthode en m’inspirant de tous les coachs que j’ai pu croiser au cours de ma carrière de joueur et de formateur. J’ai aussi organisé des camps de préparation par équipe pour préparer les joueurs français aux compétitions internationales avec la Belgique et la Pologne. Voici dans l’ordre les coachs avec qui j’ai collaboré et appris : Alan Stocker, Paul Coldric, Chris Henry, Pj Nolan, Garry Baldrey, Del Hill, Wayne et Terry Griffith, Nic Barrow, Alan Trigg, Barry Starck, Mukech Parmar, Dany Moermans, Bratislav Krasev (Brando), Villius Schulte et Tom Limor. J’espère que je n’ai oublié personne…. et je les remercie tous.
Quels sont tes espoirs ? Tes ambitions ?
Mon meilleur élève reste mon fils Brian. Ce n’est pas facile tous les jours de coacher ses propres enfants mais je pense avoir réussi à transmettre ma passion à mes deux fils. J’espère sincèrement voir Brian réussir dans ce sport, et voir son frère aussi plus tard, s’il le désire bien entendu.
Désormais je ne joue quasiment plus donc je suis vraiment concentré sur mon job de coach. Je suis très volontaire et toujours passionné ; je veux partager mes connaissances. Un de mes grand projet est de mettre en place des outils écrits et/ou en vidéo, en langue française, afin d’ aider les gens intéressés à mieux comprendre le billard et le snooker. Tout ceci est en cours de réalisation, je vous réserve de belles surprises très bientôt Ma grande ambition aussi serait de coacher des amateurs de haut niveau et des joueurs professionnels et de les aider à s’améliorer et remporter des titres. Je voudrais devenir un coach plus reconnu au niveau international et participer ainsi au développement de ma passion, le snooker.
As-tu souffert de la crise sanitaire « covid » ?
Avant la crise sanitaire, j’avais décidé de me consacrer à mon activité de coach à plein temps et ça commençait très bien pour moi. Mais la fermeture des clubs et l’arrêt des compétitions a mis un coup de frein à mes ambitions de vivre sereinement et pleinement de cette activité. Je travaille actuellement à l’usine pour gagner ma vie.
Quel avenir vois-tu pour le snooker en France et en Belgique francophone ? Actions concrètes à entreprendre, promotion ?
L’avenir pour le snooker en France s’annonce très compliqué selon moi tant qu’on sera sous la tutelle d’une fédération théoriquement multi-discipline mais décidément pro-carambole dans les faits et je pèse mes mots. Je connais bien le problème, je lutte depuis des années pour la promotion du snooker en France et je suis très déçu par cette situation. Il faudrait aussi que les commentaires sur Eurosport France soient confiés à des spécialistes : c’est un peu ridicule de mettre des gens qui ne connaissent même pas les règles sur un sport aussi complexe et difficile à comprendre de prime abord. Mais, surtout, il faudrait plus de tables, plus de licenciés, un centre de formation, des stages d’initiation (avec mini-snooker pour les plus jeunes) et du travail de détection de nouveaux talents en milieu scolaire, une meilleure communication, des tournois dignes de ce nom, des évènements internationaux et un tournoi ranking professionnel en France. Il faudrait aussi qu’en France le snooker soit reconnu comme sport de haut niveau comme le sont le trois-bandes et la carambole. Si un ou plusieurs joueurs français parvenaient à devenir professionnels et visibles, cela pourrait changer bien des choses. Pour la Belgique je vois plus d’avenir qu’en France : le pays a plus la « culture snooker » et je pense sincèrement que Julien Leclerc va beaucoup apporter au snooker francophone en Belgique.
Un message pour conclure …
Je vais tout faire pour continuer à promouvoir mon sport et ma passion au travers de toutes mes actions comme je le fais depuis 30 ans. J’écris aussi des articles sur ma page Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stephane.ochoiski Dès que possible, je vais recommencer à me déplacer partout en France et dans le monde pour aider les joueurs passionnés à mieux comprendre le jeu. Je te remercie beaucoup, Monique, pour tout ce que tu apportes au snooker aussi.
Hello Stéphane and thank you for answering these few questions. Before getting to the heart of the matter, can you briefly introduce yourself?
Hello Monique, I am Stéphane Ochoiski. In October 2021 I will turn 50, I have been living as a couple with Céline for 15 years and I have two sons: Brian 22 years old and Mateo 12 years old. Both have been playing snooker from a young age. My mother ran a business where there was an American billiard table, in the North-East of France in Saint-Avold. It was there that I discovered billiards: American billiards first, then other disciplines. I became interested in snooker in 1990 after discovering it on the Canal + television channel. I was a good amateur player; I have won many titles in France – I have been French National champion six times – and I have represented my country 39 times in international competitions. My best result is a 5th place at the European Championships. I have been the benevolent president of an associative club since 1990. I have held various leadership positions at regional and national levels. Also, in 1995, I created the first snooker school in France. I have introduced and trained many people to billiards and snooker: probably more than a thousand during these thirty years. I was also a consultant / commentator on Eurosport. Above all, I am passionate about billiards and snooker in particular. For many years I have been actively promoting my sport.
How / why did you evolve from player to coach?
I evolved very quickly because I have always been keen to pass on my knowledge. At firts, I was a player giving advice in my club, then I trained specifically in coaching. I think coaching came in the way of my personal playing career a bit, but if I had to start over again I wouldn’t change a thing. Also, I only started snooker at the age of 19 which is very late, but I was still only two games away from gaining pro status in a qualifying tournament in Europe. However, I think I am a better coach than I was a player.
Have you taken a coaching training?
Yes, I have taken several courses, first to improve my level of play, then to become a coach.
I have 3 certificates:
The sports educator’s state certificate (official diploma in France awarded by the Ministry of Sports)
The European coach certificate – EBSA coach – passed with Wayne and Terry Griffith
The WPBSA Level 2 World Coaching certificate passed with Chris Lovell, Andrew Highfield and Steve Davis
What is your working method? How do you approach coaching based on the player’s profile?
I coach at different levels: amateur, league player, young person with professional ambitions. Over the years I have improved my working method a lot. First, I fully analyze the needs of my students through an oral interview, technical tests and various analysis documents. It is very important to know your students and their goals. The psychological aspect is essential in coaching. Depending on their level and their expectations, I have different pricing formulas. I prefer formulas where I follow the student’s progresses over several months, seasons … It takes time to improve your level of play, especially in snooker. After each session my students receive a written report and / or a video, as well as a training program suggesting routines adapted to their levels and goals. I also deal with English pool players and American billiards. I have a very broad technical and tactical knowledge in these different billiards disciplines, but I am mainly a snooker specialist. I also trained a lot and specialized in the field of mental preparation. I have tools adapted to billiards that I have used myself in high level competition: mental visualization (sophrology) and neuro linguistic programming for example. During these thirty years, I have accumulated a lot of experience and I have followed many players in regional, national and international competitions. No theory or YouTube video can replace field experience.
How do you assess progress, in collaboration with the students?
At the start of a new collaboration, we jointly set goals to be achieved in the short, medium and long term. These objectives are documented in my initial report. Then I create monitoring and analysis documents for both training and competition, but in the end my students’ results are the best barometer.
Do you think a different approach is needed in order to encourage more young girls / women to play snooker? If so which one ?
Not really: I estimate the number of female students I have trained at 20 percent of the overall total.
Obviously, sometimes you have to use different techniques, I adapt to different body types. I noticed one important thing, however: often reading trajectories is a real problem at the start of learning for girls.
Working a lot in schools and with children, I can say that girls love billiards, but history has led us to think that billiards is a pub game played mainly by men. We must get rid of these prejudices.
As a coach, I am very much in favor of increasing the number of female players in pool and snooker. I was delighted to hear that the top two women’s tour players will now receive “Main Tour” cards.
Do you collaborate with other coaches? Who, how, why?
Yes, I collaborate with other coaches.
First with the WPBSA: they keep us uo-to-date, and they regularly send us information. Before the crisis, we were all regularly invited to come to pro tournaments and to run the coaching in the “cue zone”. I only recently attended the first WPBSA remote seminar a few days ago. The objective of this meeting was a presentation by Wayne and Terry Griffiths regarding a new site where a golf equivalent handicap system has been conceived and implemented. I think it’s a fabulous job and I will definitely join this scheme. I get along very well with Wayne since I took my European certificate in Wales.
During this meeting we also had the opportunity to ask questions to Chris Henry who h two of these players in the final of the last world championships. I have been in a very close relationship with Chris for more than 20 years, we often call each other and I use some of its methods in my lessons like the revolutionary training tool “the balls”.
I stay in touch and collaborate with my colleagues quite simply stay in the loop and improve myself, I do not want to copy anyone, I have taken what I think is good from some and I have adapted and created my own method taking inspiration from all the coaches I have met during my career as a player and trainer.
I also organized team training camps to prepare French players for international competitions with Belgium and Poland.
Here are in order the coaches with whom I collaborated and learned: Alan Stocker, Paul Coldric, Chris Henry, Pj Nolan, Garry Baldrey, Del Hill, Wayne and Terry Griffith, Nic Barrow, Alan Trigg, Barry Starck, Mukech Parmar , Dany Moermans, Bratislav Krasev (Brando), Villius Schulte and Tom Limor. I hope I haven’t forgotten anyone…. and I thank them all.
What are your hopes? Your ambitions ?
My best student remains my son Brian. It’s not easy to coach your own children but I think I managed to pass my passion on to my two sons. I sincerely hope to see Brian succeed in the sport, and to see his brother doing the same later too, if of course he wishes.
Now I hardly play anymore so I am really focused on my job as a coach. I am very strong-willed and always passionate; i want to share my knowledge. One of my major projects is to put in place written and / or video tools, in French, to help people interested in better understanding billiards and snooker. All this is in progress, I have some nice surprises in store for you very soon
My main ambition would be to coach top amateurs and professional players and help them to improve and win titles. I would like to become a more internationally recognized coach and thus participate in the development of my passion, snooker.
Have you suffered from the “covid” health crisis?
Before the health crisis, I had decided to devote myself full-time to my coaching activity and it was starting very well for me. But the closure of clubs and the end of competitions put the brakes on my ambitions to live serenely and fully from this activity. I currently work at the factory for a living.
What future do you see for snooker in France and in the French-speaking part of Belgium? Actions to be taken, promotion?
The future for snooker in France looks very complicated in my opinion as long as we are under the ruling of a theoretically multi-discipline federation but actually decidedly pro-carom and I am mean my words. I know the problem well, I have been fighting for years to promote snooker in France and I am very disappointed with the situation.
The commentary on Eurosport France should also be entrusted to specialists: it is a bit ridiculous to put people who do not even know the rules to commentate on a sport as complex and difficult to understand as snooker is for new viewers.
But, above all, we need more tables, more players, more training facilities, introductory courses (using mini-snooker for the younger children) and ways to identify new talents in schools, better communication, worthy tournaments, international events and a professional ranking tournament in France. Snooker should also be recognized as a top-level sport in France, like three-cushions and carom are. If one or more French players managed to become professional and gain visibility, it could/would change a lot of things.
For Belgium I’m more optimistic about the future than in France: the country has more of a “snooker culture” and I sincerely believe that Julien Leclerc will bring a lot to snooker in the French-speaking parts Belgium.
A message to conclude …
I will do everything in my powerto continue to promote my sport and my passion through all my actions as I have done for 30 years. I also write articles on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/stephane.ochoiski
As soon as possible, I will start traveling all over France and around the world again to help keen players to get a better understanding of the game.
Jack Lisowski: I want to be world champion to give hope to people in the position I was in
Phil Haigh – Thursday 22 Apr 2021
Jack Lisowski wants to inspire those who are suffering as he did (Picture: Getty Images)
Jack Lisowski has found a higher purpose in snooker, no longer just motivated by money, trophies and personal success, but to inspire those who are going through the horrific ordeal he faced as a teenager.
Lisowski is steadily becoming a consistent force at the top of the sport, but he has had to overcome more than most to reach this point after suffering with Hodgkin’s lymphoma as a 16-year-old, a form of cancer originating in white blood cells.
The disease took hold immediately after Jack left school and his life was put on hold for a year as he fought through the terrifying situation.
‘It was like I had a tennis ball in the middle of my chest, a massive lump’ Lisowski told Metro.co.uk. ‘I had a biopsy then they cut a lymph node out of my neck, the white blood cell count in my blood was off the scale, which normally indicates a stage four cancer.
‘That was where I was at for about seven days, thinking it was the most serious cancer, then I met my doctor in Cheltenham who pretty much just said: “Look I’m going to cure you.” That was it from there. I just had that mindset from that point, I had to find a way through.
‘The chemo was the worst thing ever. Every two weeks I had to go and for eight months it just broke me down.
‘My whole body was so weak. All my hair, my eyebrows come out, my skin went a different yellowy colour. I’d have a big blast of chemo and I’d look at my veins the next day and they were stained red, all the way up your arm you have a red spider’s web.’
Jack’s doctor was right and they did win the fight against the illness, allowing Jackpot to resume his promising snooker career, which seemed to take no time to get back on track despite what he had gone through.
‘Your body starts healing so fast, you start becoming your old self again, it’s amazing,’ Lisowski explained. ‘I think it took about a year until I was feeling strong again and then before I knew it I was in Sheffield getting the Paul Hunter Scholarship.
‘That let me play snooker every day against these pros, people like Ding [Junhui]. A year there and then I was a pro. It was all a bit of a blur. I was 16 getting ill one day then the next year I was turning pro. The last 15 years have been a bit of a blur to be honest. It’s weird.’
Lisowski plays with, what looks like, a care-free attitude around the table, with a relentlessly attacking brand of snooker delivered in the most stylish of manners.
An obvious narrative would be that overcoming what he did as a teenager has allowed him to adopt a relaxed attitude to knocking balls about on a table, and while he says that is true to an extent, things have changed for him recently.
Lisowski is now as motivated as ever to succeed because he wants to be an inspiration to anyone who finds themselves in a similar position to his as a 16-year-old going through an awful illness.
The 29-year-old was inspired during his own ordeal by the story of Lance Armstrong’s recovery from cancer and, while the cyclist has seen his sporting reputation tarnished, he wants to provide inspiration to others as the American did to him.
‘I think I’m naturally quite relaxed but it did help me to think that it is just a game of snooker,’ said Jack. ‘But at the same time it’s made me want to do well. I’ve realised this recently I really want to do well because I want to help people in the position I was in when I was 16 and I was sick.
Lisowski is at the Crucible this year as the number 14 seed (Picture: Getty Images)
‘When you’re ill you need things to give you hope and be positive about. When they told me I was sick, straight away I was like: “Who’s that guy? That biker that was going to die from cancer but got over it?” It was Lance Armstrong and I read everything about him.
‘When you’re sick you need to see that people have recovered so you can see the way yourself. To believe that it’s possible.
‘I feel that’s what I want to do more than anything. To be a person that one day if someone is sick they can say, “look at that guy Jack or look at Ali Carter [who has recovered from cancer twice], they were in my exact position and overcame it.”
‘How cool would it be to give someone hope when they’re sick? That’s what I’m learning. It would be amazing to win tournaments for myself, to realise my dreams, but that’s not the coolest thing for me to do.
‘What would my legacy be? I could win some tournaments, it is what it is. But in 50 years or whatever someone could say to me, “you helped me when I was sick” that would be a life goal for me. That would be the coolest thing for me to achieve and have some meaning in my life.’
Life in the pandemic has given everyone a bit more time to think and Lisowski has allowed himself to get deep and meaningful with himself and come out with this incredibly positive attitude.
He has had the best season of his career, reaching three finals, but is still hunting that elusive first ranking title, a search that will not end at one, but continue for many years so he can be the most inspirational role model possible.
‘I never really realised it until the last few months, but deep down that’s what I really want to do,’ he said. ‘That’s the frustrating thing when I’m losing because I don’t want to…not let those people down but I want to use the second chance that I’ve been given to inspire people if I can.
Lisowski is aiming for the very pinnacle of snooker (Picture: Getty Images)
‘Look, it’s not what I wake up and think about first thing every morning, but if I’m going deep, that’s my deep goal in life. I want to be world champion because that would be the coolest thing for me to help people.
‘I’d call it a higher purpose. When you get deep you think, “what am I doing here on this planet?” I think that’s mine and it gives me a bit of pressure a good kick up the backside sometimes. I don’t want to be an average snooker player, I don’t want to not be learning, not improving, just getting to last 16s, last 32s.
‘My first goal was to pay my bills, then get a load of money, then nothing really changes so you think, “what’s it all about?” I could win a title, so what? There’s loads of players below me who have won one title. I really want to be a great player, not just a flash in the pan and win as many as I can and inspire people at the same time, It’s easier said than done, but that’s my motivation.
‘I do some stuff with the Teenage Cancer Trust, I’m an ambassador for their charity. I would love to do more but I’m…not embarrassed, but I’m only just top 16, I want to be doing stuff for them as world champion, world number one, that’s what I want.’
Lisowski knows first hand that this kind of inspiration can be the difference between life and death after Armstrong’s story helped him get through a spell of his own illness that seemed impossible at times.
‘I had eight months of chemo and four or five months in it was really breaking me down,’ he said. ‘That’s when I read Lance Armstrong’s book and I can remember he had some words for people going through that.
‘People can slag him off now but that inspired me to keep going. He basically just said how hard it is to get through and you need to keep fighting. I felt like he was speaking to me and that gave me the motivation to keep fighting.
‘At one point I didn’t think I could do it because it was that bad. I was getting so sick for days after. He has no idea who I am but that guy did that for me at that point so that’s what I want to do for someone else at some point, that would be the coolest thing ever.’
Lisowski is hoping that the World Championship this year will be a giant leap towards becoming that inspirational figure for people around the globe.
Jackpot battled past his good pal Ali Carter in the first round to set up a clash with Neil Robertson in round two, where he will be going out to attack the former world champ.
Sometimes criticised for his gun-slinging approach to the game, he says it is an innate drive to play this way, and while he is trying to holster his weapons sometimes, it is a constant battle against himself to do so.
‘I think I was always going for my shots, before I was sick,’ he said. ‘It’s something I was born with, I’ve never been that astute tactically. It’s easier for me to just see the ball going in a pocket rather than think: “If I play that shot then in two shots time he’ll have to play that.”
‘I’m not into the game of chess, I like the shoot out, firing away shots at each other. If I miss I can tell you why, not because I’ve been out thought or anything, they just didn’t go in today.
‘I’m not scared of missing, that’s for sure. It would kill me to play safe and lose a match on a bad safety shot rather than going for one. I’d rather go down swinging if I lose.
‘I’m just learning to do it under pressure. I’m not going to say my bottle is as good as John Higgins because it’s not, at the moment, but I’m learning that. I can definitely do it and it’s coming.’
Lisowski is a current and future star of snooker and is loving the journey he is on, which will hopefully end with a full trophy cabinet when he finally breaks his title duck.
He is relishing that challenge, appreciative of the life and career he has and the opportunity to help both himself and others.
‘It’s a great sport, it’s taught me so much, given me an amazing living, teaching me a lot about life as well: perseverance, discipline, hard work. I’m 29 and it’s a great career,’ he said.
‘It’s like the ultimate test. People putting your job under the microscope. If you play football, you can have a bad game and the team wins so no one cares. Even golf there’s no camera right in your face when you’re putting. It feels like the ultimate test. Have you got the bottle? Can you learn to be a machine under that much pressure?
‘It’s not like I wake up every morning and say, “I’m so lucky to be here,” but we do take things for granted and I am on a second chance so I’m having fun, my life is good.
‘It’s been the worst year for everyone with coronavirus, but when things get back to normal it’s all sweet. I really enjoy being a snooker player, I love it. I’m literally living my dream.’
I wanted to share this interview because it touched me profoundly. Without going into details, let me just say that I have been there too. It wasn’t the same illness but I was a teenager too, even younger than Jack, and it was life threatening and cripling. It was a fight that lasted over many years of unspeakable pain at times. Such things change you forever. They make you or break you. They give you perspective. You realise that very few things are really that important. You realise that anything can be taken away from you in an instant, just like that.
What keeps you fighting is different for everyone I suppose, but deep down it always come down to keeping your dreams and hopes alive, finding something that makes the fight and pain worth it. For Jack it was his snooker dream and Lance Amstrong story. Now he wants to give back and help others. He wants to inspire by becoming World Champion. (*)
Good luck Jack! I sincerly hope that you will lift the ultimate trophy one day … but, you know what? You are an inspiration already, just by being there, alive, at the table, keeping fans on the edge of their seat, and doing it with a smile on your face.
(*) for those interested or curious … Me, I wanted to be the next Schliemann. I ended up becoming a mathematician 🤨 Don’t ask.
I have deliberately waited before going for this one until the rage and “word war” have come down a bit on social media. It all turned about two main issues.
Issue 1 – the studio discussion about the “snooker behind the brown”
During the 2021 World final and in the aftermath of it, there was a lot of criticism targeting the Eurosport coverage, and a perceived “anti Selby” bias.
Ronnie O’Sullivan has said it “ain’t right” that Mark Selby was able to benefit from a controversial re-spot in the World Snooker Championship final against Shaun Murphy.
Selby got a taste of his own medicine during the 19th frame of the World Snooker Championship as Murphy had him in a world of trouble with a very sneaky shot with the cue ball rolled in behind the brown, leaving a horrible snooker.
…
But after three misses on the tricky snooker from an extended ‘spider’ and ‘swan’ rests, Selby was strangely suddenly able to use a normal rest to eventually get out of the shot at the fourth time of asking.
Using freeze-frames in the Eurosport studio, experts O’Sullivan and Neal Foulds made it clear that the re-spot was not correct and the normal rest should never have been a possibility to get out of the original situation.
In O’Sullivan’s mind, it clearly was not right that Selby was suddenly able to play the shot with the different rest – and he was shocked that Murphy did not get out of his chair to flag the incorrect re-spot.
“If the white was put back where it was originally, this shot is just not possible,” O’Sullivan told Eurosport. “Because you can’t hit enough of the white, and if you did, you would probably miscue and the white would go towards the yellow.
“So if this shot was playable in the first place, he would have done. But even still, even when the white has moved [from the re-spot] quite considerably, really, he still couldn’t hit enough of the white to come that side of the red.
“So that shot was just never possible. You try not to blame the players, but in that situation, if the player has got the spider out originally and then he is using the rest, surely they should be able to use the technology to see the balls are not right. Because if they were right, you [Selby] would still have the spider in your hands. So maybe they should have used the technology to get it right.”
…
Foulds added: “Listen, you don’t want to get too involved in blaming players, but the balls were not put back correctly, we know that because we saw how they were put back and it was not correct, so the referee, the marker and the player at the table really have the responsibility. Murphy didn’t leave his chair; he will always take it on trust from the other player, but I’m a little surprised that happened the way it did because the shot was not on that he ended up playing.”
…
The images above show the situation on the table, before Mark Selby’s first attempt, and before the last one. It’s obvious that the brown is sticking out more on the right side of the white in the second image.
The ES pundits were definitely right in their assesment of the situation. No player would have taken the extended spider or the extended swan-neck if they could reach with the extended rest. Originally Mark Selby needed to cue “on top” of the white because he wasn’t seeing enough of it to cue on the side.
Well, I will say that surely in this case Selby should have seen it, or at least questioned why he was suddenly able to play a shot that wasn’t on before. Yet, I haven’t seen anyone branding him “a cheat” on twitter.
To summarise my sentiment about this incident: it was not a case of being “anti-Selby”, even less a case of being “Selby haters”, it was a relevant question, and discussion, about a controversial table situation, and it is puzzling that Mark Selby didn’t question the replacement of the balls. This is a non-issue.
The article is quite really a long one and it’s mainly nonsense.
Mark Selby plays to his strength, he’s out there to try his hardest and win and it’s what he has to do. As a fan, you may or may not like to watch it, but it’s clever, skilful and within the rules, unlike what Ebdon did during the 2005 World Championship QF against Ronnie, where is was plain time wasting. Clearly Desmond doesn’t like it. I’m not a great fan either, but I disagree with the article all the same.
Desmond quotes various pundits/commentators to support his own views:
Quoting Ronnie:
O’Sullivan compared his old rival to a “boa constrictor” on Eurosport in his ability to tighten his grip on opponents with balls welded to cushions and Murphy left frozen in some sort of snooker Siberia.
“Selby is keeping balls tight on the side cushion,”
Davis – who was hardly the life and soul of the party himself back in the day – rather cruelly compared Selby to a villain from the Harry Potter canon of fiction called the Dementor, a sort of grim reaper figure. They are said to “glory in decay and despair, they drain hope and happiness out of the air around them” which pretty much summed up Selby’s mightily effective, but soul-destroying dismantling of fellow Englishman Murphy
…
One for the purists? Most definitely. One to win a popularity contest? Most definitely not.
Mark Selby adequately answered those criticism
“What’s the point of going out there just to entertain the crowd if you keep losing? It doesn’t make sense to me. Look at your CV,” he said.
I DON’T WANT PEOPLE SAYING ‘HE WAS GREAT TO WATCH, BUT HE DIDN’T WIN ANYTHING’. IF YOU THINK I’M BORING, WATCH CORONATION STREET.
Quoting Stephen Hendry
“The claws are in and they are in deep, Mark Selby is like a snooker vampire. He sucks all the life and adrenaline out of you,” opined Hendry, the record seven-times Crucible holder.
Stephen Hendry is probably the one who really struggles to see positives in Mark Selby’s game because himself played the exact opposite uncompromisingly.
Also, although Eurosport got all the stick, it’s worth noting that Davis and Hendry don’t work for Eurosport. they work for the BBC. Yet, I didn’t see any criticism aimed at the BBC for those comments and, to my knowledge, no one suggested that they were “anti Selby”.
Quoting Graeme Dott
“I don’t think that is a good advert for snooker tonight,” said Dott. “That is just my personal opinion. I don’t like being involved in games were lots of people are actually leaving.
IT IS NOT SO MUCH PUTTING ME OFF. YOU JUST DON’T GET RHYTHM. IT IS LIKE KILLING THE GAME. IT IS THE EQUIVALENT OF A FOOTBALL TEAM PUTTING 11 MEN BEHIND THE BALL AND NOT ATTEMPTING TO COME OUT. IT IS JUST THE WAY MARK PLAYS.
Now those quotes date back to January 2013… people were leaving indeed, but surely, the fact that Ally Pally is a rather isolated place, that it was freezing cold and snowing and that the last busses were about to depart had something to do with it. I would know, I was there, duly missed the last bus and caught the mother of all colds.
Desmond also brings in Judd Trump:
“All the players need to do their job and make the sport as exciting as possible“
Well, for me, one of the beauties of snooker is diversity and not everyone is “excited” by the same things. At the risk of being branded an “odd ball”, I’m not excited by Judd Trump’s game, and certainly would not watch the sport anymore if we had 128 “Judd Trump” clones on the tour.
And Stuart Bingham:
“It was gruelling. It’s tough to lose a close game like that,” said Bingham. “Funnily enough, it’s the same sort of player, time in, time out, who plays slow. Does he do it on purpose or what?
“I want a free-flowing game. Everyone knows there was one shot which took three minutes. It’s close to gamesmanship.”
So, regarding this issue, for me the main question is: is it a “Eurosport” view, or a “Desmond Kane” view? And should Eurosport distance themselves from the article, if they think it’s going too far, and doesn’t reflect accurately their position as a brand?
Journalists should have the freedom to express their opinion, as long as they stay factually correct. They are the ones responsible for those opinions. The media for which they work should have the possibility to distance themselves if they think things are going too far. I’m not a fan of censorship. In this case, my sentiment is that this article reflects Desmond Kane’s views, and his only. It’s not a Eurosport issue.
Soheil Vahedi on scrapping for snooker survival on foreign soil: ‘There’s nothing enjoyable for us here’
Phil Haigh – Wednesday 12 May 2021
Soheil Vahedi is fighting to survive on the snooker scene (Picture: Getty Images)
Mark Selby lifted the World Championship title earlier this month, pocketing £500,000 for his efforts at the Crucible, but while there are a handful of snooker superstars, there are far more who are kicking hard just to stay afloat in the game.
Soheil Vahedi is one of those players. The 32-year-old from Tehran finished last season ranked number 99 in the world, losing his place as a professional as a result of finishing outside the top 64.
He will be heading to Q School this month in a bid to regain his WST tour card and continue his journey in snooker that has taken him from his native Iran to a new home in Darlington.
With him in the North East are his wife and, as of last week, his son Radine, and while Soheil describes himself as ‘born again’ with the birth of his first child, he admits that life in Darlington is tough.
‘No,’ he said when asked by Metro.co.uk if he enjoys life there. ‘There’s nothing enjoyable for us here, nothing, absolutely nothing.
‘Snooker players just think about themselves, it all ends in the snooker hall, it all starts and ends in a greeting and a goodbye. On the table, play and go.
‘That’s what it is. There’s no life here for us really, it’s just snooker and snooker.
‘My wife is doing well not to moan at me eight hours a day because she has the right to do so. She had a family life, such a good life in Iran, but left all that behind to come here and help me achieve my goal, so I’m very thankful.
‘With the baby coming, she didn’t want to catch coronavirus, she probably went out of the house nine times in 10 months, just for a walk.
‘When I leave the house my wife is alone. I couldn’t focus on the table because anything could happen to my wife, I haven’t got family here to help, we’ve got nobody here.’
Vahedi paints a bleak picture of chasing a snooker dream thousands of miles away from home, but says he still enjoys the game, even if he has to force himself to do so sometimes.
‘It is very hard but at the same time, 60-70 per cent I still enjoy snooker,’ he said. ‘Not fully, because of the lifestyle, what’s been happening and matches I’ve lost, but you have to keep the enjoyment, because if you don’t I don’t see a way to improve or win.’
Vahedi travelled to Sheffield for the World Championship qualifiers in April hoping to become the first Iranian to appear at the Crucible and with some form behind him after a fine run at the Gibraltar Open in March which saw him beat Mark Williams en route to the last 16.
Things started well as he went 5-2 ahead of Belgian amateur Julien Leclercq in round one, but then disaster struck as he lost the last four frames and fell to a 6-5 defeat.
Soheil admits complacency crept in and it cost him, dearly, as the defeat confirmed that he would drop off the professional tour.
‘I was really gutted,’ he said. ‘This past season I lost maybe four or five matches from being in front or very close matches. Every time I got to that stage of being near the finishing line I was nervous, lost my focus.
‘I was excited I was going to win, get a little bit of money, all of that helps. I got excited before the game was finished, that was the problem, I needed to stay focused.
‘That’s experience, not ability, as soon as I start winning a few matches that feeling goes away. I couldn’t believe my eyes, I couldn’t believe it.’
After the devastating loss Vahedi sat in his chair for some time rather than leave the arena, seemingly struggling to come to terms with the defeat, but he explains that he was actually talking himself round to a positive mindset.
‘I was thinking, “What happened there? Why did I lose? I can’t keep losing these kind of matches. Now two months off with no earnings, it’s going to be a difficult two months.”
‘But I told myself that I need to be ready, just carry on clawing away, stay focused, don’t give up. If I didn’t do that I might have given up but I told myself I’ve come so far, done everything right, practiced so much, it just didn’t end well.
‘So I’ve got to carry on punching until everyone else is down. I’m thinking positive, unlike what people might have thought, I was telling myself good stuff, but people thought I was down on myself.
‘I’ve seen some people run away from the table as soon as they lose, feeling so bad they don’t want to stay there, but I didn’t want to run away from anything and made sure I left the arena with happiness and not anger and all those negative things.’
He has been on tour since 2017 and does not expect the journey to end here.
‘I dedicated nearly 20 years of my life to this game,’ he said. ‘I’ve never done anything besides snooker so if I leave snooker I don’t know what I’m going to do to earn a living. I’m better at sticking with this and just carry on. Some top players have dropped off tour before and come back.
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Vahedi enjoyed a run to the last 16 of the Gibraltar Open last season, beating Mark Williams, Michael White and Tom Ford (Picture: Getty Images)
‘I’ve done okay, if I’d won the matches I should have won I would have done well, but I didn’t. I haven’t played so bad, I wasn’t terrible, I can win. I’ve beaten so many good players in these four years. Some players don’t win a match in two years, never beat top players, but I have. There is nothing to be upset about, I just need to gather my thoughts, pull myself together and keep working harder.
‘I thought I was going to win a few matches at the World Championship but the game doesn’t care what you think, it happens, it doesn’t listen to me. But I try my best, never give up.’
With just £25,000 earned in prize money over the last season and the disappointment of no earnings from the World Championship, it is not easy to support a young family with no family in the country to help out.
Vahedi explains that he would be taking another job outside snooker, but visa restrictions stop him from doing so.
‘We can’t work, that’s the problem,’ Soheil explained. ‘Overseas players get visas and come over here, not allowed to work and have no sponsors but have played the game for so long and want to carry on as a professional and being here.
‘But they cannot work, so that’s not right. They need to find a way so snooker players who come to the UK are allowed to work, for certain hours, in any job.
‘That’s one of the things World Snooker doesn’t care about. They need to sit and talk about this. They need to find a way to support people so they don’t end up with no money at all. That’s what my request is and I don’t think there’s anybody out there who would disagree with that.
‘They can definitely find a way because we pay a lot of tax here. If they let us work or find a job for us, we’ll end up playing better, earning more money and paying more tax! We can live a better life and fulfil our potential.
‘If we drop off the tour and never play snooker again that’s not good for the game. There would be less people wanting to play snooker or come to the UK because they will know how difficult it is.
‘But if we had support we would say: “Come over here, don’t worry about money too much, if you run out there is support.”
‘You would see more players coming up, but like this, the way it is it’s always the same names in the finals, semi-finals, it’s never going to change.’
WPBSA chairman Jason Ferguson has rejected this criticism and says that help and support is there if needed, and has indeed been provided in the past.
Statement from WPBSA chairman Jason Ferguson
A statement from Ferguson read: ‘In conjunction with the WPBSA, WST goes to significant lengths to help players from overseas to come to the UK to play snooker and to settle here.
‘Soheil has been a professional since 2017 and various levels of support have been available to him throughout the past five years. For example, during the first lockdown, the WPBSA made available financial support to all WST players, which Soheil took advantage of.
‘Soheil has been assisted in gaining a Level 2 qualification as an official WPBSA coach.
‘He currently has a visa as an elite sportsman which is appropriate to allow him to compete on the World Snooker Tour. If he wants to work in a different sector, he would need to apply for the relevant visa. WST and the WPBSA are always willing to give support, advice and encouragement to all players, as the growth of snooker around the world is our greatest ambition.
‘We do not accept the criticism that we don’t do enough for them.’
Vahedi will be hoping to put his snooker struggles behind him at Q School, which starts later this month, as he bids to return to the tour and continue his long and winding journey in the sport.
He has come through the arduous tournament before, winning his card back in 2019 at the first time of asking and expects to again, hoping to once more feel the thrill of success.
‘Yeah of course I’m confident,’ he said. ‘I try not to let negativity creep in, but I’m very confident. I want to get straight back on, this is what I want, I want to enjoy my life.
‘It wasn’t easy last time, I had a few tough, close matches, but I came through quickly. I was absolutely thrilled afterwards.’
I can understand Jason Ferguson’s frustration as, under his helm, WPBSA has certainly done more than ever to support their players. But that doesn;t change anything to the lower ranked players everyday’s reality, especially those who had to expat to do their job.
This article triggered this reaction by Steve Feeney (Sightright) on Facebook:
#MentalHealthAwarenessWeek2021 – is it now time for Professional Snooker to provide lower ranked players with greater financial security to head off mental health issues associated with zero (1st Round losers) / low income?
The Covid pandemic has highlighted how fragile things can be at times and maybe now is the time for our wonderful Sport to show it fully understands the financial stress many lower ranked Professionals are experiencing, the impact this is having on their mental health and take action which is in their power to alleviate this?
As someone with a considerable background in HR issues, once your job is confirmed, you expect a minimum level of pay, even in an Apprenticeship.
A Sport which supports mental health must surely consider the impact low or zero income has on a player who has followed the correct path to become a Professional on the Main Tour.
Pro Footballers get paid when they lose a match or get relegated and this in my opinion should be the same in professional snooker.
When our incredible Sport offers pay at the lowest Professional level it will be far more attractive for young people to consider this career path.
Instead we have many lower ranked players – those recognised as Professionals by the Sport – going broke and that, I feel, can be avoided with relatively small changes #hardfacts #mentalhealthawareness
This is no different to what I have been saying here many times. By playing, they bring value to the tour, to the sponsors, to the venues’ managements, to the broadcasters. They deserve something for it. At the very minimum, playing shouldn’t cost them. Paying them a minimal wage, covering their basic costs when at a tournament would only be right. If it doesn’t count towards ranking, it will not help players who aren’t good enough to stay on tour. This would not be “rewarding mediocrity”, it would be paying them for a work done. No matter how well both player play, and how hard they both try, one of them will lose and that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve anything for their efforts.
Now that Barry Hearn has retired, and not underestimating at all how much good he has done for the game which is immense, I hope that such change will be considered and implemented because the current situation is not right. It would not cost much. It can even be done at no cost by making the prize money structure just a bit less top-heavy. It would not make a huge difference for the top players but it would be massive for the lower-ranked ones and the young.
Just as an example, based on the 2020 prize money distribution for the UK Championship:
Winner: ￡180000 instead of ￡200000 >> ￡20000
Runner-up: ￡75000 instead of ￡80000 >> ￡5000
Losing Semi-finalists ￡35000 instead of ￡40000 >> ￡10000
Highest break: ￡10000 instead of ￡15000 >> ￡5000
Would be enough to give all first round losers ￡625, without additional cost for WST/WPBSA.
The World Championship is over, and, from what transpired on social media, the new professional season will start mid-July. For once the players will have a decent summer break, which, I think, they all need because the last year has been very difficult for everyone.
For the first time in twenty-nine seasons as a pro, Ronnie has not won anything. He has reached five finals though, which is more that most pros do in their entire career. So, what’s next?
Here I have gathered a few articles that may help us to get an idea about what may be ahead.
World Snooker Championship 2021: ‘They’ve inspired me to keep playing’ – Ronnie O’Sullivan exclusive
John Higgins and Mark Williams meet for the fifth time at the World Championship in the last 16, an astonishing 22 years after they first collided at the Crucible in the 1999 semi-finals. The duo turned professional alongside world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan as part of the sport’s fabled Class of ’92. O’Sullivan explains why their ongoing success has inspired him to scrap any plans for retirement.
Snooker’s enduring Class of ‘92 graduated with honours at the Crucible Theatre over two decades ago, but the timeless triumvirate continue to display a true passion for life-long learning.
For Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Williams, three masters in green baize geometry, every day is a school day.
“If they (Higgins and Williams) see me doing well, they know I’m nothing special,” said O’Sullivan. “We’re all just human beings. They’re both fantastic snooker players, but none of us have got some superpower going on.
We’ve grew up together, we respect each other’s games, we know each other capabilities. I just think we feed off each other and get inspired by each other.
With 13 world titles between them over the past 29 years, and two over the past three years in Sheffield, the holy trinity of cue sports, an Englishman, a Scotsman and a Welshman, continue to thrive and survive at the elite echelons of the sport in quite inimitable style in their 40s. Still enjoying the golden view from the ridge when lesser cueists are over the hill.
They may share the same years as the 45th Crucible tournament they are chasing, but are hardly flagging with all three safely ensconced inside the world’s top 12, safer than a Higgins shot to nothing.
World number two O’Sullivan’s standing in the rankings is only bettered by Judd Trump, who is eyeing a staggering sixth triumph in the season of social distancing, but others covet the game’s crowning glory.
Williams and Higgins will collide at the Crucible over the best-of-25 frames on Friday (LIVE on Eurosport at 2:30pm) and Saturday in the last 16 for the fifth time since they turned professional in 1992.
All three had lifted their first world titles between 1998 and 2001, but their duels form the rich fabric of green baize folklore as much as the Bayeux Tapestry tells you of Norman conquest minus Mark Davis from Hastings.
Williams enjoyed victories over Higgins in the 1999 (17-10) and 2000 (17-15) semi-finals and the 2018 (18-16) final respectively with Higgins completing a memorable 17-14 win in the 2011 semi-finals on his passage to a fourth world title. Fittingly, they are level on 11 wins each in career ranking duels.
O’Sullivan made off with his first world title courtesy of an 18-14 victory over Higgins in the 2001 final, but has numerous memories of facing both men on the grandest stage, the most recent of which saw him complete a 13-10 success against Williams in the quarter-finals on his sojourn to a sixth world title last August.
“My biggest two rivals have been Higgins and Williams,” O’Sullivan told Eurosport. “We’re very different. Me and Williams have got more of a shot-making style.
“We make the game up as we go along while Higgins is more in the style of Steve Davis. Very robotic, tough to play against and can tie you up in knots.
“It’s weird because John plays well against me, I play well against Williams, but he plays well against John.
“It is almost like our styles contrast. If I could use Mark Williams’ style against John Higgins, I’d probably get a lot more success against him.
If Mark Williams could use John Higgins’ style against me it would be the same… it’s really funny how the dynamics work out, but all three of us have kept each other going in many ways. Whenever one has been down, they probably get inspired by the other one.
O’Sullivan revealed witnessing Williams end a 15-year wait to lift his third world title in 2018 with his epic win over Higgins, who had restored parity at 15-15 from 14-7 behind, inspired him to an 18-8 win over Kyren Wilson in last year’s final.
“I know there have been times where I’ve sat there and thought: ‘They’re doing alright against the odds’,” confessed O’Sullivan.
“When Williams won the world title in 2018, I sat back and thought: ‘He can do it so surely I can do it’. I think he’s a few months older than me so I think we all give each a bit of belief. I’m sure John and Mark feel the same way.”
Williams celebrated his 46th birthday by claiming the 23rd ranking event of his career at the inaugural WST Pro Series event last month before reaching the final of the Championship League a week later to leave himself mentally attuned for the Crucible.
A 10-4 win over qualifier Sam Craigie in the first round saw him secure another joust with Higgins, who won six straight frames from 7-4 behind in a 10-7 win over Tian Pengfei.
“Williams has been fantastic to watch in the past few tournaments. I thought: ‘you are dusting these young guys up’,” commented O’Sullivan.
“You are trashing them. The way Williams is playing at the moment, he’s a match for anyone because he’s enjoying it and a snooker player enjoying his snooker is a dangerous opponent.
He’s got great temperament, his potting ability is amazing and his break-building has improved a lot over the past two or three years. I’d say he is a much better all-round player than when he first came on the scene.
“We all develop as pros. You start a bit rough round the edges and you develop. Your style improves because you have to adapt and reinvent yourself.
“Higgins has done that recently by changing something. You are always doing that and you hope those changes can make you a better player.
“That is what Mark has done. He can play any game. If you want to play safe: ‘yeah, if you want to score points, yeah, I’m cool with it..‘
“You know when you to pick and choose your battles and just play in a philosophical way. I’m not sure John could do what Mark is doing because they are different styles of players.
“Mark is playing with a tremendous amount of freedom, but I’m not sure that would work for John because he’s a different type of player. But if John gets in the groove and is enjoying his snooker, you don’t want to play him.”
All being well, all three will celebrate 30 years at the summit next year with O’Sullivan conveying the message that diehards should enjoy them while they can.
Apart from Trump, O’Sullivan feels the field has not been sharp enough to bury the Class of ’92, who share the same moniker as Manchester United’s glorious era of David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, with almost 2,500 centuries assembled on the baize .
He is still shocked Higgins lost 10-8 to Yan Bingtao in the Masters final in January. O’Sullivan ran in two centuries and a 97 in a 6-3 defeat to Higgins in the last eight with the Players champion totting up three centuries of his own.
“It’s amazing to still be competing,” said O’Sullivan. “I just think we played in an era in the 1980s when snooker was so popular.
“You had no mobile phones back then so you had to focus and concentrate. You were surrounded by really fantastic players.
“I just don’t think you will see that level of player coming through again.
You might see a good crop of players, and in-depth they’re quite good today, but I doubt you will see a John Higgins or Mark Williams type of player again.
“Alright, we’ve got Judd Trump, but he’s the only one, but other than that you look down and there is nobody showing that type of snooker ability or snooker brain.
“There’s just no one. Yeah, there are good players, but if Higgins or Williams play 80 percent of their game, there is still only Judd Trump, Neil Robertson and possibly Mark Selby who can beat them.
“Anybody else won’t get near them. I know Bingtao beat Higgins in the Masters final, but if Higgins had played consistently steady throughout that final I have no doubt he’d have won that 10-6 or 10-5 because he is just a superior player.”
It was perhaps Mark Twain, definitely not Mark ‘The Royal’ King, who was misquoted as suggesting excellence in billiards being the sign of a misspent youth. For the enduring Class of ’92, and those watching under face masks at the Crucible, it has been time well misspent.
Desmond Kane
Snooker’s enduring Class of ’92
Ronnie O’Sullivan (Eng)
John Higgins (Sco)
Mark Williams (Wal)
Born: 5 December 1975
Born: 18 May 1975
Born: 21 March 1975
World titles (6): 2001, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2020
Ronnie O’Sullivan: The only reason I don’t like snooker
Phil Haigh – Wednesday 21 Apr 2021
Ronnie O’Sullivan is envious of stars of other sports (Picture: Getty Images)
Ronnie O’Sullivan says he has just one complaint with snooker, although it is a substantial one, as it is the lifestyle that goes with being a professional player.
The Rocket is at the World Snooker Championship this year trying to defend his title and lift the famous trophy for a record-equalling seventh time.
While the 45-year-old would enjoy that experience and still gets a kick out of playing the game, he remains at odds with much that being a professional entails.
The sport may have provided him with nearly £12m in prize money over his career, but O’Sullivan looks to other more glamorous endeavours and cannot help but feel a pang of jealousy.
‘Someone said to me, what is it with you and snooker?’ O’Sullivan told Metro.co.uk. ‘The only reason I don’t like snooker is because of the lifestyle.
‘If I was a golfer, I’d love golf because the lifestyle is great. Beautiful courses, nice hotel, offered great food. It’s like Formula One, tennis…the sport becomes the least important part of the job.
‘I could quite happily not play snooker forever, I might miss it a bit but I’ve got a lot of things I can fill my time with. With snooker I just don’t enjoy the lifestyle of a snooker player.
‘Some of the places we play in now are a lot different from what we used to play in. It used to be more like golf in great venues every tournament, you used to enjoy going to the venue and the hospitality side of it.
‘Now you’re lucky to get a cup of tea or a sandwich from Marks’ so I don’t enjoy that lifestyle. I like good food, being in a nice place, that’s just me.
‘It’s not snooker I don’t like…it’s qualifiers in Barnsley and places like that. I’d much rather go do a qualifier at Augusta or Wimbledon, but I suppose that’s just the sport we’re in.
‘It’s a bit like darts, it’s not a high-end sport. You have to try and make it as comfortable and enjoyable as I can, good hotels, travel well. That’s why you don’t see me around the venue much or hang around with the snooker guys, they’re happy to have a burger and chips from the cafe, I’m not. I want to create a very good environment everywhere I go or I can’t do it.’
O’Sullivan has been especially down on the surroundings he has encountered this season as they have been almost exclusively limited to Milton Keynes during the pandemic.
The sport owes a debt to the Marshall Arena for brilliantly hosting the majority of tournaments over the last year, but the Rocket did not love the constant trips to Milton Keynes, despite choosing to play in nearly all of them.
Asked whether he would keep up his rigorous schedule next season if some kind of normality returns, O’Sullivan was clear.
‘No, I’d focus more on the China events, the bigger more prestigious events at this stage of my career,’ he said. ‘The opportunities suit me better out there really.
‘Certain places I’ve missed. Belfast is great, York is fantastic, China there’s some great places.
‘I could play virtually every tournament this year because the traveling was doable, it wasn’t an issue. If it goes back to what it was then obviously I’d have to make a call and just pick and choose the ones I do here but focus on China.
‘If they do all the China events in one go then I can do all the China events and do the majority in the UK as well. But if it goes back to what it was, going round the world four times in a month, I couldn’t do it at my age.
O’Sullivan is back at the Crucible looking for a seventh world title (Picture: Getty Images)
‘I have to put my interests first, run my own operation and focus on what I have to do. Try and ignore what all the other players seem to do which is getting sucked up on the hamster wheel of going from event to event because they feel like they have to. I’d rather retain some control and me be the one deciding what I want to do.’
O’Sullivan has found the ‘hamster wheel’ that he has embarked on this season give him an even more care-free attitude to his game than usual, consistently insisting that he is not fussed whether he wins or loses.
‘The way it is at the moment there’s literally a snooker game every day so I think it’s less important how you do, how you play, you just think, “I’ll just play.”’ O’Sullivan said.
‘Even if it goes back to normal, who cares? You win, great, if you don’t, brilliant, I’ve got another game in four days. You don’t really care if you win or lose, so it’s got its benefits I suppose.
‘We’ll have to wait and see how it goes, for every benefit there’s a drawback and every drawback there’s a benefit.’
I have put some things in bold there. The first one is what Ronnie says about the venues. For nearly twenty years Ronnie never needed to qualify. During the “tobacco” years the “main” venues had great hospitality. Most players who were in the top 16 during those years have a certain level of nostalgia about that aspect of the sport. Those who weren’t in the elite though very rarely enjoyed those things. There was nothing glamorous about Norbeck Castle, nor about Pontins nor about playing in cublicles in front a a couple of people at best. Most of them never got on television. They were little known, almost invisible, especially outside the top 32.
Will Ronnie O’Sullivan win the World Snooker Championship again? Ken Doherty and Alan McManus decide
Phil Haigh – Thursday 29 Apr 2021
Ronnie O’Sullivan remains on six world titles after a second round exit this year (Picture: Getty Images)
Ronnie O’Sullivan missed his chance to equal Stephen Hendry’s record of seven World Snooker Championship titles this year, but Alan McManus can see him doing so in future, while Ken Doherty fully expects him to.
The Rocket suffered a shock 13-12 defeat to Anthony McGill in the last 16, bringing about an early end to his title defence in Sheffield.
His victory at the Crucible last summer took his World Championship tally to six, level with Steve Davis but still one behind Hendry’s incredible effort of seven.
At 45-years-old, time is not on the Rocket’s side as he looks to match, or even better, Hendry’s achievement but no one is writing him off just yet.
1997 world champion Doherty says he never thought this would be Ronnie’s year, but is sure that he will have another Crucible triumph in the future.
‘I didn’t really fancy Ronnie O’Sullivan coming into this one,’ Doherty told Metro.co.uk. ‘He had some heavy defeats in finals this season and the last one to Neil Robertson was very convincing, it will have knocked his confidence.
‘Anyone can see their confidence knocked, it happens to everyone and it was a brilliant performance from Anthony McGill.
‘I do fancy him to win a seventh title, though. He’s got two or three years where he’ll have a really good chance and I think he’ll do it.
‘I think he deserves it, for what he’s given snooker over the years, no one would begrudge him winning a seventh world title, except Stephen Hendry, who definitely would.’
McManus is not quite as convinced that O’Sullivan will claim another world title, but he certainly thinks he has every chance to do so in the next five years.
‘He can, I would never write off one of those guys, nah. Just too many times they come back and do it again,’ said McManus.
‘I did say earlier in the week before he played Anthony, that Anthony’s a contender to win this. He’s a guy that’s learning all the time and I did think that was…not a banana skin…but Ronnie was never winning that 13-6. To me, it was a close game written all over it and he’s come a cropper.
‘I think Ronnie plays his best stuff later in this tournament, early on he can be a little bit vulnerable maybe. I think of recent years losing to Stuart Bingham, Ali [Carter], [James] Cahill, incredible players but he needs to find his way to get deep into the draw. Then, because of the charisma and magnetism and everything that he’s got, once you get down to one table, that’s when all the magic can happen. Like it did last season against Mark Selby, even though there was no one in, 16-14 behind, it can happen because that’s what he is able to do.
O’Sullivan lost a classic against McGill (Picture: Getty Images)
‘I don’t think he can stay on the horse for as long as other guys now, because of the way he plays, he likes to play that creative way, it’s a shorter span, and that’s the way he likes to play.
‘He’s not as drilled as some of the other guys, not as comfortable as some of the other guys to battle it out. But of course he can, he’s fit as a flea, absolutely got five more years at it.’
O’Sullivan regularly speaks of his passions outside of snooker, including his love of running and various business interests such as a pop-up shop in Sheffield’s Meadowhall.
McManus feels this outlook has helped him, keeps him content in the sport and boosts his chances of more success.
‘I had a chat with him a week ago in the practice room and he seems like he’s in a really good place in his life,’ said the former Masters champion. ‘I’ve often wondered about that, if he enjoys it and good on him.
‘What he’s doing with different things, his shop, picking and choosing events, it’s the right path for him. It suits him, he’s earned that right to jump off the treadmill and do what he wants.
‘He’ll be fine, he’ll still win tournaments, there’s no question. Probably next time he gets to a final it’ll be 9-1, because that’s what he does.’
The Rocket himself fancies his chances, believing he has got five more years with a reasonable chance of success in Sheffield.
‘I have probably got another five years I suppose to go at the record,’ he said. ‘The way I look after myself, the way I play . . . I suppose I could get it right maybe one more time. It’s probably the only record I haven’t got, so I won’t be too hard on myself.
‘Can I still win here? Yeah, and I wouldn’t say that if I didn’t think so. I just need to pitch up and play. A bit like Roger Federer and Tiger Woods, they are probably not the best player now, probably don’t have the former desire. But they are still the one that everybody wants to see.’
So there you have it … hopefully next season will be a good one.
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Ronnie O'Sullivan 