The 2013 Betfair World Snooker Championships are into the semi final stages this week and World Snooker invited Dan Carroll to take part in the Cue zone and attend refresher coaching and seminar training during the middle weekend of the Championships. The Cue zone is where the World coaches are given a stage to help hone their skills and encourage the general public to play snooker. I was given a slot during ladies day on the Friday and again at the Paul Hunter day on the Sunday, it was a great experience meeting people from all over the World and all the other coaches and just being part of the event. The WPBSA is responsible for delivering Cue zone at these events and to promote the World Snooker Coaching Programme and to encourage the quality of delivery by its coaches as this gives the World’s best coaches an ideal opportunity to promote themselves. 

The refresher training day was held at the institute of sport in Sheffield where World Snooker has their training venue and it’s the centre of excellence for many other sports, Jessica Ennis is one of the attendees at the venue for training and what an excellent facility for athletes.

The Friday night seminar was very informative and I really picked up some great tips along with other very helpful information regarding the importance of physical exercise, diet & nutrition in the modern game. There was a piece on back pain and how to help players with this, I am lucky to have completed the Manual Handling Instructors Course some years ago and this along with the information given at the seminar will enable me to bring this area to my coaching academy and impart this to my students.

Annette also enjoyed the few days as she was included in the seminar and refresher training along with taking part in Cue zone it was a great experience for her and again Annette picked up some great hints from Reanne Evens the 9 times World Ladies Snooker Champion. We both made some new friends and met some old ones during our stay and we just want to thank Chris Lovell and Andrew Highfield for their help and support and for making us feel part of the whole team.

It was great to meet such a legend of the sport and in particular "coaching" Reg Davies, he was very impressed in our venture with the Schools & Colleges in Ireland and will help support this,also it was great meeting Barry Smith from the UK and Angelika Mix from Germany who are interested in promoting junior snooker. Who knows we might have a Stars Academy International event in the years ahead.

Steve Davis was on hand to welcome all the World Coaches and to thank them for their support and especially their passion towards snooker and their help in growing the game. Hazel Irvine was extremely encouraging and hoped that the ladies game will again grow and that more media attention and sponsorship will be forthcoming. As they say a great time was had and I look forward to next time when we can be involved and help out at the World Snooker Championships in Sheffield.

The Dublin Snooker Federation Team Cup was held over the last few weeks with the final being staged at Sportslink Snooker club. The Quarters and Semi finals were played in Joeys Snooker club and the teams really enjoyed the event. A frame handicap was introduced and depending on your end of season league table place your team handicap was allotted. In the quarters Sportslink B and Mountjoy had a close match with Sportslink B having a 3 frame start against League Champions Mountjoy. Stephen McAdam took the first frame for Sportslink B going 4 nil in front, but Steve Patten took frame 2. The next match between Joe Roche (Mountjoy) and Kevin Lyons (Sportslink B) was shared giving Sportslink B a 5 - 2 lead and only needing two more frames, but Mountjoy were in good form with Paul Sheedy taking the next two from Joe Lyons now closing the gap to 5-4 in favor of Sportslink B. Once the first round of all 3 players having played 2 frames each, it all started again in that order with each game now only one frame until the first team reached 7. Steve Patten took the next for Mountjoy to level the match 5-5 Joe Roche took the next to now go within one frame of going into the semis however Joe Lyons again brought the teams level at 6-6 with Steve Patten and Stephen McAdam now down to the final frame. Steve Patten took it on the colours to give Monutjoy a semi final place. Griffith A and Joeys also went down to the wire, with Joeys having a 5 frame start and only requiring two frames against league runners up Griffith A , it was a tense match. Thomas Hand (Griffith A) leveled his game against Derek Fagan (Joeys) to give them a 6-1 lead, however Daragh Hackett and Dan Carroll took their matches 2 nil each and then Thomas Hand took his next frame to bring the match level at 6-6, however Derek Walsh of Joeys and Daragh Hackett of Griffith A had a very close decider with Derek taking on a long difficult blue and a great pot on the pink to give Joeys a place in the semis. Sportslink A were giving a bye into the semis. Westbury and Griffith B both with a 4 frame start had a short match with Ronan Deegan (Griffith B) taking the first two frames from Dave Seales (Westbury) giving Griffith B a 6-4 lead, Gary Seales took his first frame but could not hold back Dean Pearson of Griffith B in taking the next to give them a semifinal place.

In the Semis Mountjoy were unstoppable with 7 frames to win against Joeys and with Joeys having a 5 frame start it was a great match, Steve Patten, Anthony Clifford and Joe Roche all took the first two frames each from Joeys, Derek Fagan, Virgil Fagan and Derek Walsh and now the pressure was on for Joeys but they could not hold out to the strong Mountjoy team and they went into the final 7-6. Sportslink A with a 3 frame start and Griffith B with a 4 frame start was all set to be a close match. Ronan Deegan (Griffith B) put the pressure on Sportslink A right from the start beating Mark Matthews to give them a 6-3 lead, Jimmy Howard (Griffith B) took the first frame against Sean Madden (Sportslink A) to help secure the Griffith B team a meeting against Mountjoy in the final.

Griffith B now had a good advantage going up against Mountjoy with a 4 frame start, however Ronan Deegan took the first two frames on the black against Anthony Clifford making it 6-0. Steve Patten won his two frames against Eugene Boylan to get back into the match with Griffith B now 4 frames in the lead at 6-2 it was up to Joe Roche now to put on the pressure and he started well taking the first closing the gap to 6-3 but Dean Pearson took on everything in the second and won the frame giving Griffith B their second Cup title in twelve years. Congratulations to Griffith B on their win and to Mountjoy for a fine performance. Thanks to all the teams and Joeys and Sportslink for hosting the event.