By elliott west
A news story caught my eye this week and I felt I need to tell you about it. I am a passionate believer in promoting new talent in snooker and a player write up that has impressed me is the new and up and coming player, Liam Davies. Davies, a thirteen year old from Tredegar in South Wales has a dream of becoming a professional player and it looks like this may become a reality if he finishes in the top two of the 10-event Tour provided he receives home tutoring. Tredegar has a long history of nurturing great players with Ray Reardon and Cliff Morgan residing there. Perhaps now we can have another talented player from the Welsh valleys and maybe a future champion!
Liam is already a Welsh Under-18 champion and has been given time off school to compete in events. His school, Tredegar Comprehensive has spotted this career potential and rather like the Head Master at Jimmy White’s school did, given this teenager their full backing. This story is made even amazing by the fact that Davies is partially deaf and so must struggle in the snooker environment especially as noise forms a key component. However the school’s flexibility to release him means that he can get that crucial grounding needed by playing in local and national tournaments. In fact Liam has already said that his ambition is to emulate the three times World Champion, Mark Williams. Williams of course is known from bringing his career out of the doldrums, using the sighting technique Sight Right to tinker with his own technique and has since won a string of titles including the German Masters and more recently, the World Championship earlier this year.
There is of course a connection between Davies and Williams and that being Mark’s close friend, Lee Walker. Walker, who competes himself on the main tour, has now taken this Liam under his wing and coaches him in the Scala snooker club in Methyr Tydfil where Liam has his own table. Davies has already been showcased on television when he was invited to play at last season’s Snooker Shootout as one of the wildcard tickets. This young Welshman has been on the snooker radar since the age of eight when he became the youngest player to represent his country and could already boast a highest break of 52. Practicing for two-and-half hours a day on weekdays, six hours on a Saturday and five hours on a Sunday, the young boy literally breathed snooker watching it on a tablet or television when he wasn’t playing it.
Liam is also a great trick shot player and has shown his skill in his club and on the tournament circuit with my friend Darren Morgan tipping him for the greats heights. Morgan sponsored the young boy through his local club, The Red triangle Snooker club. The fact remains that snooker is a very competitive sport and many players have been touted as having the potential to achieve great things but when push comes to shove, their dreams are dashed and careers go flat. However Liam does seems to be in good stead for reaching his lifetime goal of becoming part of the professional tour.
His proven track record proves this and so watch this space for the this young Welsh talent to make the big time!
