IT WAS Nathan Bridges' big ambition to become the first East Lancs 8-ball pool player to reach the professional ranks.
He's had a good season. But not quite good enough.
The top 64 players, based on rankings over two seasons, make it on to the pro list. Nathan finished 65th.
advertisement
"I was a bit disappointed to just miss out," said the 34-year-old from Oswaldtwistle. "I knew I was going to go close to getting a pro ticket but missing out by just one place was tough."
However, he is confident that he'll make it next year as he will lose just the two points from his first season, 2006, and carry forward the 14 he won this year.
Another four points should be enough to put him up with the big boys.
Nathan, who teaches GCSE maths at Hollins Technical College, Accrington, manages the Lancashire 8-ball team and has had trials for England.
But it's only in the past couple of years that he's made a determined effort to break into the professional ranks via the UK International Pool Tour.
There are six ranking events during the season which runs from February to October at venues such as Wembley and Coventry.
Each round you progress from the last 128 earns two ranking points. In his last tournament, in Daventry, he reached the last 16 and picked up half-a-dozen valuable points.
Is he still kicking himself for the one frame or the one shot that got away and perhaps cost him that top-64 position? "Several," he admitted. "Every time you lose you look back and kick yourself. It can get a bit frustrating. But it's not as stressful as teaching," he grinned.
Nathan is also a top snooker player with a top break of 91 on the full-sized tables and a 102 from the ten reds of the small table game. He plays for the successful Stanhill team in the Blackburn with Darwen League and is always a first choice for the East Lancs team who play the Fylde in home-and-away charity matches each season.
But pool is his first love and next season he will be going flat out to get the handful of points he needs to become a professional and avoid the mad scramble of the qualifying rounds.
Posted by: NEIL PAYTON, Blackburn on 8:55am Wed 27 Feb 08
I dont know who posted the bit about me, but its nice to be remembered! [bold]Yes I was the 1st 8-ball Professional to hail from Lancashire, that was way back in 1982.[/bold] Now aged 59 I stopped playing pool years ago but still play competitive snooker (which was always my 1st cue-sport) & have just reached the semi-final stage of this year's Blackburn Con. Lge. Singles - [italic]there's life in the old man yet lol..!![/italic] 'Good Luck' to anyone else attempting to turn Professional, Neil Payton 'Mr Cool of Pool'.
I dont know who posted the bit about me, but its nice to be remembered! Yes I was the 1st 8-ball Professional to hail from Lancashire, that was way back in 1982. Now aged 59 I stopped playing pool years ago but still play competitive snooker (which was always my 1st cue-sport) & have just reached the semi-final stage of this year's Blackburn Con. Lge. Singles - there's life in the old man yet lol..!! 'Good Luck' to anyone else attempting to turn Professional, Neil Payton 'Mr Cool of Pool'.
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
Print
Email this
Comment
