As any parent who encourages a child in their chosen sport will know, there are a lot of highs and lows, expenses and many miles ahead of them!
I know from first hand experience with my snooker-playing son, Dylan, that if you’re to follow his, and if we’re being honest, you’re own, dream it can be an expensive and draining experience. But we all hope that ultimately it is a rewarding one.
When my son was 10 years old I could see that he had a talent for snooker and I knew that mission one was to find a coach to get some snooker lessons for him.
In our area, Tunbridge Wells in Kent, snooker coaches seemed rarer than hen’s teeth at the time. But we found a talented semi-pro player and snooker coach, Leo Fernandez, and decided that the hour-long trip to Bexhill in East Sussex was worth the effort.
Our next mission was to test his talents during the heat of battle in tournament play.
We decided to sign him up for the Cuestars series of events in the South East. After a quick look at the tournament schedule and locations it became apparent that it was more of a tour of the South West of England – including destinations such as Waterlooville, Swindon and as far as Bournemouth on the South Coast.
There were cheers and tears in equal amounts during this time and we must have racked up easily 2,000 miles on the odometer. But, Dylan managed to reach the final in his first 3 attempts so encouraging signs were there early on.
Looking back on those early Cuestars days they were actually crucial in his development, motivation and vital experience. In Dylan’s words; ‘Cuestars was an important step on the ladder to bigger things’.
As most parents will also realise it’s an expensive path to pursue too. But as luck would have it and being an experienced designer of a local newspaper, much arm twisting ensued and I successfully managed to present my newspaper editor with enough interesting stories and well taken pictures for a steady stream of features to follow. And being a bit of a whizz at social media I managed, in part, to secure enough sponsorship to keep us on the road for the first season or two and it’s only now where that vital support is needed and sponsors are more important than ever.
After the last 3 to 4 years of his development in the sport I’ve even gone on to qualify as a snooker coach myself, building a healthy client list in our practice facility here in Paddock Wood, near Tonbridge in Kent, and even coached in the World Snooker Cue Zone in Sheffield.
And my advice to any parent thinking of following in our footsteps – it’s not for the faint hearted but the rewards can be worth the lows.
Oh and be prepared to put the miles in!