By Elliott West
“I’m absolutely loving it, travelling the world as well!”
Connie Stephens
Introduction
Inspired by watching Ronnie O’Sullivan and encouragement by her family to start playing snooker, London born, 26 years old, Connie Stephens is one of a large number of women to compete on the Women’s snooker tour. Currently ranked number 19 in the world, Connie first started playing pool when she was 10 and then switched to snooker when her father took her to their local snooker club, aged 13.
On the Success Trail
Joining the World Women’s Tour in 2018, Connie’s first outing at a snooker tournament in Stourbridge “didn’t go that well” in her words but through the help of Gary Filtness as a coach, he has been very successful at upping her game, making her more confident around the table, to the point where she is loving the game. A snooker opportunity that has and will allow her to travel the world and experience international opponents and well as social opportunities.
“In my experience, I have never been made to feel unwelcome. Most clubs I have gone into have made me feel welcome. I work in a snooker hall in Catford and everyone appreciates my point of view with snooker.”
Connie Stephens
Connie is part of a tour that just gets bigger and better by the day and as more sponsors come on board, the World Women’s Tour is beginning to bloom again after eighteen months of Covid restrictions shutting the tour down. Stephens is inspired and wants to progress, she aims to win a big tournament and move into the top ten of the rankings.
These shoots of success are already there in black and white with Connie having reached the last 16 of a ranking event on five occasions. Most notably was when she beat Melissa Eens at the 2019 Belgian Women’s Open to progress from her group before losing to Wendy Jans. She also reached the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup event at the 2018 Eden Masters, losing to a very good player I have recently written about, Steph Daughtery.
Afterthought
Connie Stephens is an inspirational figure, someone who you can instantly see has a clear passion in life and that is of course playing snooker. It also delights me when I see someone who has a clear purpose in life and a burning desire for success. Connie has that, you can see it in her eyes when she speaks about snooker. It makes her face light up and despite the moments of defeat and soul searching, it is clearly the right career path for this talented player to tread.
As snooker expands globally, so the World Women’s Tour has started to capture that market. Tournaments may still be small scale at lesser-known venues but over time this truly inspirational group of female players must grow. Reanne Evans and Ng On-yee already have two-year invitational cards on the main tour and Rebecca Kenna has been asked to take part in the next Shootout alongside Reanne.
Connie is already playing well this season, reaching the last 16 of the 2021 UK Women’s Championship and the quarter-final of Event 2 of the 2021 EPSB Women’s Tour, additionally reaching Group 4 of the 2021 English Women’s Open, Group 1of the 2021 Women’s Masters and Round 2 of the 2022 English Amateur Championship.
