Last weekend the Paul Hunter Foundation Snooker Academy began teaching young players the game of snooker. The academy is taking place at Paul Rinaldi’s Padiham Snooker Center. Twenty seven young kids were on hand to participate in the first part of a ten week process.

The program will evolve over a ten week period as the kids learn to develop their snooker skills. The goal of the program is to keep kids off the streets by teaching them how to play snooker. North Lancs Training Groups and Chris Lovell, a World Snooker Coach, came up with the idea for the academy. Lovell leads the Paul Hunter Foundation in Lancashire.

All sessions of the academy are free and the program is mobile so any snooker club that would like to be involved in the program can contact Chris Lovell to begin a program. The sessions are funded by the Paul Hunter Foundation which is supported in Lancashire by the North Lancs Training Group. The group was set up after Paul Hunter, a snooker star, died at the age of 27.

Lovell shared his thoughts on the academy: “We have had an amazing response to the academy, youngsters as young as six and seven came along to learn how to play, we not only cover snooker skills but also the rules of the game and sportsmanship and also there is trick shot tuition on hand.”

This is a wonderful concept that not only will help children hone their snooker skills but will also keep them from wandering the streets and getting into trouble. Hopefully the kids will learn how to effectively play the game and then teach their friends and the learning process can continue.


- 2008-10-02