This weekend it’s the fifth in the six event series of the English Association of Snooker and Billiards (EASB) Regional Junior Tour.
Saturday is the Southern region event, at Upton Park Snooker Centre, with the Northern and Midlands regions being played on Sunday. Sams Snooker and Pool Club host the Northern region and the Midlands Snooker Academy is the venue for the Midlands region – obviously!
The Tour is described as “A series of regional events for young players looking to develop onto the Premier Junior Tour” and is open to all EASB members aged under 20 on 31st December, 2017.
Current rankings for each region can be seen on the EASB site at http://www.easb.co.uk/rankings
There are automatic places on the Premier Junior Tour from each region based on a proportional number of total entries. But the final number of places varies from year to year due to players reaching the age limit of 21. The extra places are allocated from a further competition, the Junior Play-Offs. So there is always a chance right to the end of the season of players making it from the Regional to the Premier Tour.
Juniors across the country play in clubs, usually on Saturday mornings, and look to the Regional Junior Tour as their first step on the national tournament scene. Sometimes International representatives can be taken from the Regional if there are available places after selection from the Premier Juniors.
The EASB take their responsibility of nurturing youngsters who will turn out to be the stars of tomorrow very seriously, and many of today’s stars have indeed taken this route.
For full details of the Regional Junior Tour see http://www.easb.co.uk/competitions/details/04/S2017
