Dave Mumford
Dave Mumford... Grade A World Snooker Association coach
story by Tim Dunkley
HE
has forked out £1,500 to gain the World Snooker Association’s top coaching
qualification to help a ten-year-old boy achieve his dream.
Dave Mumford, one of Hampshire’s
most highly-respected
snooker figures, passed the Grade
A exams set by the professional game’s governing body at the first attempt.
Ronnie O’Sullivan’s former
coach Del Hill and world No 47 Mike Dunn ran the two-day course at the World
Snooker Academy in the English Institute for Sport, Sheffield.
Mumford first met a
seven-year-old Shane Castle on November 11, 2005. He
agreed to take the budding star under his wing and the pair formed a unique
partnership.
Marchwood wonderkid Castle made international news when he scored a century in a
tournament, aged nine. In February this year he was crowned Pontin’s Under-12
champion, his first national title.
Former Daily Echo champion Mumford, 39, said: “I
have seen the formative years which are priceless. Every day that I’m with him
and working with him is a bonus for me.
“I can absolutely guarantee
you that I get more satisfaction from watching Shane improve than I have ever
done through any personal achievement that I’ve ever had at any level of the
game.
“Our sessions on a Sunday
are meant to be an hour. We start at 10am and sometimes at 1pm I’m in such a
trance watching the lad play that I don’t want it to stop.
“I wanted to demonstrate my
commitment to him in the future by achieving the best grade that I possibly
could.
“I’ve done that now. And
he better watch out because I’ve got some interesting sessions for him coming
up where I’m going to put him through it a bit,” he laughed.
“When I went up to Sheffield
everybody knew who Shane was.”
Castle said:
“Congratulations. He’s done well to get there.”
Hill, 55, head of World
Snooker’s coaching scheme, said: “I think Dave has a great future ahead of
him as a coach. He is professional in the way he puts his ideas across and in my
opinion an asset to WSA coaching.
“It was a pleasure to work
with him.”
Mumford added: “Del was
inspirational. It was fantastic.
“I was incredibly nervous
before the day of the test and the assessment.”
Mumford lives in Chandler’s
Ford with Jools, his wife of nine years, and children Carly, eight and Coby,
five. He is a company director of Andover-based Oliver and Sanders Insurance
Consultants, Castle’s sponsor.
The course was attended by eight coaches from around the world including a Croatian who had a full-sized table which he kept outside his house and covered with a tarpaulin when it rained.
Top report from Tim Dunkley July 2008