SNOOKER is being used to help improve English and maths skills as part of an initiative run by North Lancs Training Group with Accrington Academy.

Functional Snooker was launched at last year’s World Snooker Championships in Sheffield and is a snooker based game with specific numbers on the snooker balls, which dictate how a game is scored.

The significant differences from normal snooker are that the players have to use subtraction and multiplication as well as normal addition.

Also they have to work out scoring manually therefore developing their mental maths skills.