ARTICLE
Furthering your pool career
I have been worried about the strength and depth of our
younger pool players, so if this article inspires just one
person then it has served its purpose. I also feel that
a lot of others who it won't inspire will find it very
interesting reading.
It has always been an issue to me so I decided to write an
insight into my personal experiences when I went to qualify
for the IPA (International Pool Association) Tour in 2004.
It all started around 6 months earlier in the Junction Inn in
Mottram. I had been very undecided about how good at
pool I actually was, it had played on my mind for a long time.
I had listened to probably 20 different people tell me that I
should take my game further but I either shrugged it off or
just told them that I wasn't good enough yet. I spoke to
the only person who knew anything about the Circuit (Perry
Roberts) being a former player he was the only person who
could really prepare me for what I was about to tackle.
I told him out of the blue that I was going to do the
qualifiers for the tour, I was on an emotional high at the
time and he said I will contact George Harwood (The biggest
cheese in pool) and got me a trial date. Nothing that
Perry told me could really prepare me for the eye opening
experience of the qualifiers.
I guess I felt as if I was following in his footsteps when
I set off to Leeds on the first weekend in December 2004.
He had explained a lot to me and taught me an entire set of
rules. It sounds easy, I mean you have 7 reds, 7 yellows
and a black. I thought easy, pot balls win frames.
when I spent 6 months practicing nothing but world rules with
Perry and getting absolutely wasted for about 2 months it kind
of gets you down. I actually think long term to
toughened me up a bit but you never see it like that at the
time. World rules take some learning, they are nothing
like the EPA rules that we play. My learning curve was
more like a mountain than a hill and one you have to climb
with no boots and in the quickest time possible.
There was no way that I was prepared for the players I was
facing. I spent an hour getting lost trying to find the
venue in Leeds at the Morley International Pool Hall. I
picked up my cue and walked into the club and saw about 20
other players all holding fancy cues and talking like they had
known each other years. I knew nobody and approached a
formal looking woman to get my name ticked off on a sheet.
Everyone was practicing on the 6 tables in the venue and I
just stood there looking at all the people watching them
making comments and tried my hardest to shut it all out.
The formal woman was an IPA referee and she announced that the
draw was made and checked everyone had arrived. she
called out a couple of names of people who weren't there and
then it started.
Of course muggins here heard the draw and on table number
one (in front of the IPA referee's seat with her table and
laptop and the bulk of the crowd was James Hardy v Steve
somebody. I thought typical, always me no time to get
settled in and watch a couple of games and see how the tables
played. We were spilt into 2 groups A & B I was in
group A and we used tables 1-3. The format was league
based so I figured I needed about 4 or 5 wins to qualify for
the main tour or go home facing another years wait. Once
the draw was done I walked over to table one with my now wife
Sam in my corner, giving me support and getting me brews.
I saw my opponent a thin bloke about 30 with a cue case that
looked like something I had never seen. It must have
cost more than my cue, this personalised thing all red and
blacks. It looked so impressive I thought, god he must
be good to have that thing. He had 6 people cheering him
and I just wanted to get it on. I came to the table dry,
everyone else had been knocking balls about on the tables and
I had no feel for it. I walked over shook hands with him
and tossed a coin up. I won the toss and obviously at
that level you just break (never give it away). I got a good
break and potted 3 balls, everything was on so I went for it
and cleared up. I went 1-0 to the good and Steve looked
a bit rattled when he came to break. He broke and fouled
(you only get one visit unless your opponent jumps off the
table) and I walked to the table I set my balls up a bit and
eventually nudged into a 2-0 lead. Slightly before my
3rd frame kicked off a game had just finished. A
confident Asian lad called Arfan Dad had strolled up to the
desk to give in a 3-0 win. Now this boy looked like he
could play 3-0 in about 7 mins! Steve edged me out of
the 3rd due to some poor play from me and he had found his
feet a little too. I was 2-1 up and feeling a little
more nervous too. I managed to hold it together to dish
another rack to beat him 3-1 in the best of 5 and thought to
myself that at least I have not been humiliated. I text
about 6 people my score including Perry who had wanted to come
and support me but had a function that night. After
everyone had finished their first game I was called out again
on table 2 and had to play Arfan!!!!!!
I was quite edgy knowing he battered his last opponent
quicker than anything I had seen in real life (not Sky
Sports). I walked over and set the balls up, he tossed a
coin and I won the break. Again I walked over and got a
very good break, everything was easy and it took little work
to clear up and it was 1-0 to me. I was really chuffed
because the pressure was really on, I had realised he was
going to be the biggest threat to me on the day and I
desperately wanted to put him in his place. At one nil
he returned the favour and cleared up so 1-1 he was good, not
good by local league standard but good by any standard I had
seen. The respect kicked in and the 3rd frame was quite
scrappy Arfan tried to force the pace and made a rash error, I
had played faultlessly in most of my frame before and
capitalised to go 2-1 up. In the 4th frame we were both
battling hard and he went for a finish that didn't look on.
He took a plant on that was very hard and I would have
expected to make it about 1 in 20. He missed and gave me
2 and it was all over. I had just beaten someone who
could do everything and was cuing as well if not better than I
had ever cued. I got a little break then and Sam got me
a toastie and a brew, we sat there and chatted. She told
me I was being too fast around the table but my confidence was
up and I was starting to enjoy myself.
After that it was a bit of an anti climax. I played a
lad who tried to play a tactical EPA rules game against me.
But at world rules that is nearly impossible I won 3-1 again
but had gone in off on a black so it was very one sided.
The next lad I played was very young indeed, he had only come
on a whim because he knew tour players who told him to try.
He hadn't won a match yet and wasn't about to against me.
I won 3-1 again and it was my 4th straight win. I was
guessing I had done enough but I carried on regardless.
We had been there for about 4 1/2 hours and all I'd done was
play match pool and had hardly had a break. My next
opponent was called Andrew Bingham "bingo", he was a
mate of Steve's (my first opponent) and had also just beaten
the impressive Arfan 3-2. He was told "oh here's an
easy one for you" sarcastically by the 6 or so fans who
had come along with them. It was a real let down we both
missed a few balls and he made some errors that hadn't been
present against Afran when he was playing him. I scraped
it 3-1 (five games all the same score) but was far from
at my best and starting to get a little tired. I knew I
was top of my group and that only 3 of us would make it
through to the main IPA tour. As I came off he
congratulated me, I told him I'd see him next year and we
became quite good friends after that.
My day was still far from over though just 2 games left I
recorded a 3-0 win over a lad who was so out of his depth that
he left before we played. I just bashed some balls
around as they gave me a little table time anyway. My
final game of the day I was already finished and in my head
half way home to celebrate. I played a lad who could
only qualify if Andrew Bingham lost to the lad who tried to
play tactically against me. I was back on table 1, no
crowd any more though. People were winding down and a
fair number had started to lose interest. Even my wife
was chatting to Steve and his mates and nobody really batted
an eye lid when I when I 1-0 up. I managed to play like
a complete fool after that though going in off once, gifting a
frame by not hitting a cushion after contact and he made a
really good clearance to make the score line 3-1 to him.
I had finished with top figures on the day only equaled by a
ginger lad called Scott Higgins in the other group. For
everything that I thought Afran was in my group this lad had
everything and a whole lot more. He was a real talent
and another person that became my friend after that day in
Leeds.
I was congratulated by everyone in the place but officially
I had to wait for a conformation letter from the IPA to say I
had been given a place on the 2005 tour. The IPA referee
said to me and Scott that she would see us next year and the
others had to wait and see.
My Group top 3 was:-
James Hardy W6 L1
Arfan Dad W5 L2
Andrew Bingham W4 L3 (but his good frames difference was
enough)
I was elated when I left the hall, it was like nothing I
had ever experienced, it put everything I had done into
context. I was proud of my record before that day.
I had trophies, won titles but nothing was like this.
All my success was at local level against people I knew and
had scouted. Its a different world altogether when you
know nobody have nothing to base your assumptions about their
games on and have to rely on your ability to get you through.
Playing over 6 hours of non stop pool is very very hard work,
harder than you can imagine. I would tell anyone who had
any goals like mine to practice as hard as possible over a
period of a year and learn from someone who knows the tour.
You have to dedicate a lot to pool at that level as I was to
find out in 2005. My results that day owed in part to my
ability but also the knowledge that I was given and the table
time I had with Perry. I find it hard to be humble in
victory, but I knew I would have fallen flat on my face if it
wasn't for the privileges I was given for 6 months running up
to Leeds.
I hope that one person reads that who thinks I can do that.
The truth is you can do that but you have to sacrifice a lot.
I would tell anyone to go and try it, qualifiers cost £50 and
you can find much more information about it at the IPA
Website. Trials run in December every year and you are
playing for around 6 places per venue.
Good luck
James
Hardy
