Tim Dunkley...... World Snooker Coach and Reporter
Tim
reflects on a busy year, here in Southampton.
JANUARY
LOCKS Heath cue-maker Keith
Auld is back in business after a life-threatening illness.
“I
felt like 20-years-old again,” said the 59-year-old.
BOYATT
Wood’s Nick Jennings, 19, is England’s number one at under-21 level after
clinching top spot on the EASB Premier Junior Tour.
FAREHAM’S Adam Bobat, 14, scores back-to-back centuries of 141 and 104 in a Portsmouth league cup match.
FEBRUARY
AARON Squires, just 18,
splashes out on a pint of lager and a chocolate cream egg after being crowned
Eastleigh & District Under-18 Champion.
MARCH
CHURCHILLS romp to the
Winchester City & District Snooker League Division 1 championship by winning
all 12 of their matches.
Skipper
Mark McLean “The way we’re all playing, we will remain unbeaten for a
while.”
UNIVERSITY
of Southampton students are beaten for the second year running in the
semi-finals of the British Universities & Colleges Sport Championships by
the eventual winners.
APRIL
DAN Hildyard hopes being
crowned Winchester City & District Snooker League singles champion will
rekindle some of the “old magic”.
Mike
Finn and Mark McLean claim the pairs title.
A THREE-frame match between
Yavos Bingol and Mike Levick in the Chandler’s Ford SC Roll-Up ended a record
five minutes short of three hours.
Levick
was heard to say: “I’ve lost the will to live.”
NICK
Jennings is knocked out of the European Under-21 Championship in Malta in the
last-16.
MAY
HEDGE End’s Daniel Woods,
21, finishes the Cuestars season top of the Under-21 Gold Tour rankings.
JUNE
MARCHWOOD’S Billy Castle,
18, loses in the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Gold Championship final.
Champion
Chris Richards (Cardiff) admitted: “I came up against the best player in the
tournament.”
NICK Jennings dumps the
2005 world champion Shaun Murphy out of the Players Tour Championship first leg.
Jennings
said the 4-3 victory from 3-1 down was “the best win of my career”.
JULY
CHANDLER’S Ford SC
celebrates its 21st birthday.
NICK Jennings suffers
semi-final defeat to the eventual champion in the IBSF World Under-21
Championship in Canada.
AUGUST
ST DENYS Cons C claim a
hat-trick of Summer Invitation Snooker League titles.
CHANDLER’S Ford Longshots
skipper Dave Mumford admitted he was in “shock” after cutting in the final
black to clinch the Summer Bonanza final.
SEPTEMBER
NEW owner Steve Rutherford
vows Cue T’s Snooker Lounge in Marchwood will remain as a snooker club.
Before
she died in May this year aged 61, former owner Dave Cooke’s wife Lesley had
said: “It will certainly stay as a snooker club if I have anything to do with
it.”
AN
ATTITUDE his dad would have been proud of earned Simon Hughes the Summer
Invitation Snooker League’s Star Player of the Season award.
BILLY Castle, Shane Castle
and Jordan Winbourne feature in the England teams at the Home Internationals.
OCTOBER
SOUTHAMPTON’S John
Thomas, 38, said “my knees have been going all night” after pocketing the
whopping £1,000 jackpot in the Chandler’s Ford SC Roll-Up.
CHRIS Winbourne said he was
forced to do a “reality check” while watching his 15-year-old son Jordan
take on three-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan in a PTC event in
Gloucester. O’Sullivan won 4-0.
NOVEMBER
BOWEN Zhu, seven, and Jack
Squires, eight, are delighted to pick up their first ever trophies at the
Eastleigh & District Under-13 League presentation.
DECEMBER
JORDAN Winbourne scores
back-to-back centuries of 104 and 115 in the group stages of the EASB Premier
Junior Tour event four.
Tim
says, "I am a World Snooker
qualified coach. I charge £15 an hour, which includes written notes after the
session. There is a special rate of £10 an hour for members of the Saturday
morning junior leagues at
I can be contacted via Chandler's Ford SC (02380 254834) or at home (02380 562647) or by mobile (07986 376114)".
Tim has summarised the year 2010.....
January
NORMAN
Phillips, 82, and Des McCarthy, 81, each clocked up 60 years in local league
snooker.
McCarthy,
who has played for Totton Recreational Club in the social clubs league since
1949, said: “We play from memory.”
Norman Phillips (left) and Des McCarthy.
Picture by Kevin Legg:
February
FAREHAM’S
Adam Bobat, 13, loses in the Junior Star of the Future under-15 final at
Pontin’s, Prestatyn, to Scottish under-16 number one Ross Muir.
Adam Bobat (left) being presented with his trophy by former world championship final referee John Williams.
picture by Janie Watkins
March
OLLIE
Tydeman compiles a 109 break in a league match hours after dislocating his
shoulder.
Picture by Kevin Legg
March
BOTH University of
Southampton teams are knocked out in the semi-finals of their respective
competitions by the eventual champions at the British Universities &
Colleges Sport Championships in Leeds.
April
CHANDLERS
Ford Central Club prove you can win with kids.
The team, containing five
youngsters, claim the Winchester City & District Snooker League Division 2
title.
Chandlers Ford
Central Club.
Picture by Kevin Legg
April
HAMPSHIRE
golden girl Suzie Opacic reaches the quarter-finals of the women’s world
snooker championship for the first time.
Suzie Opacic.
picture by Monique Limbos
April
JORDAN
Winbourne, 14, from Hedge End, qualifies for the EASB Premier Junior Tour, which
is restricted to the country’s top-48 players aged under-21.
In
May, Winbourne clinched the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Gold Tour.
Jordan Winbourne.
Picture
by Kevin Legg
April
Park Gate RBL B. Picture by Kevin Legg
PARK Gate RBL B secure the
social clubs league’s Division 1 championship despite having a bare five
players .
Team
captain Dave Hobbs said: “No one’s allowed to go on holiday and no-one’s
allowed to be sick.”
May
WOOLSTON
Conservative Club A complete Southampton snooker’s league and cup double.
The
first Super League champions added the Burroughes & Watts Shield to the
trophy cabinet.
Woolston Cons A.
Picture by Kevin Legg
BILLY
Castle retains the Winchester City & District Snooker League’s singles
title.
Castle
says his success in recent years is down to coach Ken Jones.
Billy Castle (left) and coach Ken Jones.
Picture
by Kevin Legg
EASTLEIGH’S Liam Burnet
wins the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Silver Tour.
Liam Burnet.
Picture
by Kevin Legg
WATERSIDE
wonder Shane Castle, 12, is crowned the under-14 champion of England.
When
told of Castle’s record, three-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan said
“Wow. Impressive.”
Picture
by Kevin Legg
June
Picture by Kevin Legg
CHANDLER’S Ford’s
rising star Bouwe Bosma, 14, was the surprise winner of the Cuestars South of
England Under-21 Silver Championship in the play-offs in Swindon.
Cuestars
director John Hunter said the 14-year-old “slipped under the radar”.
Bouwe Bosma with his new trophy
Picture by Kevin Smithers
July
CLIFF
Thorburn, the 1980
world champion, slips into Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club virtually unnoticed
for a three-hour coaching session with Scott Weston.
Weston,
31, reckons he plays like Thorburn.
“Unfortunately,
not in the break-building department,” he pointed out. “But the grinding
aspects.”
Cliff
Thorburn (left) and Scott Weston.
MIKE Finn earns a place in
the first round of the World Open in Sheffield.
“It’s
not about the money; it’s about the chance, the opportunity, the test,” he
said.
The
24-year-old from Eastleigh, dubbed ‘The Mighty Finn’, lost 3-0 to world No
89 Kyren Wilson.
Picture by Phil Richmond
August
FIVE-year-old Bowen Zhu,
the youngest player in the Eastleigh & District Under-13 League, wins his
first snooker match.
PARK Gate Reserves clinch
the 31st Summer Bonanza final.
Team
captain Paul Tavender,(in the blue shirt and the England badge)
who hadn’t won a frame in his three finals in four
years, won the decider.
“I
can play a little bit when I get going,” he laughed.
Park
Gate Reserves.
September
MARC Russell, a 34-year-old
carpenter from Woolston, pocketed the £1,000 jackpot in the Chandler’s Ford
SC Senior Roll-Up for the second year running.
He
said. “I quite enjoy coming up here. It’s a good night out.”
Picture by Kevin Legg
September
Ronnie
O’Sullivan in action at Southampton Guildhall.
Picture by Kevin Legg
October
SUPER League matches at
newly-promoted Shirley WM Social Club A are similar to Chelsea’s visits to St
Mary’s Stadium, according to team captain Pete Glasspool.
“You’ve
got to play safe and tighten up and hope you get a little bit of a break,” he
said.
Shirley WM Social Club A.
Picture by Kevin Legg
November
MITCH Wade’s breaks of 98
and 109 against John Mullane in a Super League match are believed to be a record
for the Southampton & District Social Clubs League.
The
28-year-old, who was playing for Eastleigh Railway Institute C at Chandlers Ford
Central Club A, said: “I was buzzing. It was probably the best two frames of
snooker I’ve played in the league.”
Mitch Wade.
Picture by Kevin Legg
December
AARON Murray, 15, and Paul
Boulton, 40, clinch their fifth Family Tournament at Chandler’s Ford Snooker
Club because “we’re the complete and utter opposites”.
Aaron Murray
picture by Kevin Legg
earlier news from Tim
TIM DUNKLEY has passed the World Snooker Association’s coaching exams at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.
The two-day course - run by Del Hill, former coach to world champions Ronnie O’Sullivan and Graeme Dott - fulfilled a two-year dream for the 48-year-old from Bursledon.
Dunkley, father of Southampton’s top junior Alex, said: “It was a fascinating couple of days. Del Hill is a legend and I hung off his every word. Some of his ideas are revolutionary but the modern game has moved on a lot.
“Since 2005 I have been trying to get on a coaching course, but the EASB (English Association of Snooker and Billiards) have had a few personnel changes and their coaching scheme never kicked off.”
“I was getting more and more frustrated so I applied to World Snooker (the commercial arm of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association.)”
WPBSA director and world No 53 Mike Dunn, who set up the course, accepted Dunkley after a reference from Chandler’s Ford SC boss Jim Everett.
“It cost a lot of money but Jim (Everett) covered half, which says a lot about his faith in me,” added Dunkley.
“I have been involved in the junior game since Alex started in 2000 and I think it’s fair to say that the standard in this region is the highest it has ever been.”
Married with two children, Dunkley is a material controller at company Eaton (aerospace) in Titchfield.
He works with youngsters, aged eight upwards, at Chandler’s Ford’s Saturday morning sessions and runs the afternoon Under-21 Roll-Up.
Dunkley said: “Some of the young lads coming through at the moment are among the best in the country. These are exciting times to be involved in snooker.”
For details about junior competitions and coaching for all standards; contact Jim Everett on 023 8025 4834.