One of my earliest cuesport memories was beating a mate of my dad’s at a local club. I think they called him Stef – it was the Radford Club, somewhere near Foxwood Gardens in Plymstock, Plymouth – It would be nice to know if this club is still there so mail us if you know of it? My god, that must have been over 20 years ago now….

If memory serves me, I got my first snooker table at the age of six. It was a 6’ x 3’ BCE table that barely fit in the spare room. The walls were covered in rubber marks from the bottom of my first cue, a lindop pool cue with an 11mm screw on tip. Anyone heard of one of these? Relocation brought an end to my indoor snooker career. To my dismay, it was out of the bedroom and into a garage. This was where the two-piece cue came in handy (or at least half of it) and I reckon I might have been one of the best half-cue snooker players in the country for my age – it was a fairly small garage. I used to love the summer, not because I could go out and play football with my mates, but because it meant that I could get home from school and put the snooker table up in the garden. Mind you, I had a job levelling it up on the crazy paving.

And so I joined my first pool team at 15 – could only play half of the games as most landlords wouldn’t let me in. I bet many of you experienced the same thing. At 16 I became the county pool and snooker champion in the same year. I was fortunate to play at the World Pool Championships a year later and this was my first taste of top class pool.

It was always snooker that I was most passionate about though – it’s just one of those games isn’t it. I received a sports bursary throughout university to fund entry into competitions around the country. I probably would have quit playing altogether had I not received this support as a students priorities lay somewhat nearer to the snooker club bar rather than it’s tables. I went on to win the British Universities Championship in the 2001-2002 season coached at the time by the former World Billiards Champion, Peter Gilchrist.

I achieved a Masters Degree in Sports and Coaching Science in 2003 and it is this background that I feel has a place within snooker today. Gone are the days of lager swilling, overweight players (no names mentioned and so no harm intended!). It’s refreshing to hear top players discussing their mental state, their fitness levels, their weight, their concentration and how these important factors influence their performance. We will be launching a series of Sports Science articles soon and we are pleased to bring you the views of our resident snooker coach Mick Caddy, who is well aware of the scientific principles of performance and how to get the best out of his players.

With regards my current activity I play in a local singles league and compete regularly in pro-am snooker events and on the Cuestars tour. My greatest achievement in the last few years was hitting back-to-back centuries in a best of five frames league match. I doubt I’ll ever manage that again! I’ve still got a few centuries left in me yet though…

Recently, I have worked with the BBC to train actors for snooker and pool playing scenes. The highlight of this work was teaching an actor how to do trick-shots for a BBC 1 comedy show due to be launched in late 2006. The show will be called 'Omid' and features Omid Djalili, a very funny man whom I sure many of you will have heard of.

On the pool side of things, I compete on the International Pool Association Tour, the largest and most recognised pool tour in the UK . Anyone interested in finding out about any of these events should contact us so that we can put you in touch with the promoters. There are some excellent events and tours that are currently short on numbers, due simply to the fact that they don't get the advertising they deserve

And on to Maximumbreak…. together, we’re developing a resource for enthusiasts, not just in the UK but around the world. We are aiming to reach the far out places and to promote the game internationally. We are not happy with the level of development on a UK level especially and feel that with our hard work and determination, we can bring enthusiasts, and with it their
ideas, together to promote the game of snooker to higher levels. We have developed a place where you can visit and air your views with those away from your local club so jump onboard before you miss the boat.

Project Manager, Lecturer and Sports Scientist