By Elliott West
Introduction
Andrew Norman was born in 1980 and hails from Bristol. Turning professional in 2001, Andrew’s career spanned on the tour until 2015 and reached his highest ranking in the 2007/8 season, reaching No.42. With a highest break of 133 in the 2006 Grand Prix qualifiers, he made 27 centuries and earned £121,143 in career winnings.
A talented amateur and professional player, Andrew Norman is currently taking part in the World Seniors. He has also become a snooker coach at the South West Snooker Academy since retiring from the main tour.
Snooker Career
Andrew Norman had a promising amateur career, reaching the final of the English Amateur Championship in 1999. A final where he faced David Lilley, losing 5-8. He would again reach the final of this event in 2018 after his professional career had ended, this time losing to Joe O’Connor 3-10. He also won the English under- 17 and under-21 titles and was selected for the WPBSA Young Player of Distinction scheme.
Turning professional in 2001, he quickly rose through the world rankings, the highlight being between the years 2005 and 2007, where he jumped thirty places. 2006 was a vintage year for this player, losing just one opening match in seven tournaments. He also had his best result in the Royal Watches Grand Prix in Aberdeen, reaching the last 16 of the event before losing to the eventual winner, Neil Robertson.
In the Summer of the same year, it Andrew worked as a van delivery driver for his sponsor, Hills Delivery. A supplement that probably reflected his ranking. After a sharp rise, the bottom seemed to fall out of his success and by 2009, he was ranked 75. A statistic that didn’t seem to improve and subsequently caused him to drop out of the top 100 and have to seek qualification.
However on the 16th May, 2011, Norman managed to regain his place on the tour for the 2011-12 season, thanks to qualifying via the Q School. Now back on the tour, Andrew had the mammoth task of having to win four qualifying matches to reach the main draws of the ranking events in the new season. This task seemed possible but hopes were dashed when he lost in the third qualifying round of both the Australian Goldfields Open and the Shanghai Masters, the first two events of the season.
This unfortunate trend was to haunt him and his performances for the rest of the season, led to him not being able to reach his goal of entering the top 64 and so he fell off the tour again, denying him the opportunity to take part in the 2011-12 season.
As a result Norman could only enter Player Tour Championship events in the 2012-13 season. Taking part in all ten of them, his best performance came in PTC1 in Germany. The Bristolian defeated Ben Harrison, Nigel Bond, Phil Barnes and Ricky Walden before losing to Joe Swail 3-4 in the quarter-finals. It was this result that enabled him to finish 57th on the Order of Merit and claim one of the eight spots given for players not on the tour. This once again allowed Norman to rejoin the tour.
Andrew did not win a match at any venue during the 2013/14 season. He played in seven of the eight European Tour events with his best results being three last 32 round defeats to be placed 60th in the Order of Merit and 110 in the world rankings. Norman won only one match in the 2014-15 season and following a 10-2 loss against Tom Ford at the 2015 World Championship qualifiers, decided to retire. He instead decided to concentrate on his coaching work at the South West Academy as an Operations Manager.
Summary
Andrew Norman’s snooker career is typical of many players who struggle to keep pace with the swathe of talent at the top of the sport. To be a professional, you have to excel and Norman clearly did, winning the Challenge Tour, Event 2 in 2000, defeating Luke Fisher 6-3. His time on the main tour was fraught with several times losing his place on the tour and having to struggle to regain his place. A player who has now reinvented himself as a snooker coach and now aiming for better times on the World Seniors Tour. Norman recently said:
“In my 14 years as a pro, I climbed up to world ranking 43 and my best result was reaching the last 16 of the Grand Prix. I retired from the pro circuit in 2016 to pursue a career in snooker coaching & management”.
“I currently coach junior players up to current professionals in all areas of the game from technique & match play to metal strength elements with are most important too!”
“I love to see people enjoy playing snooker and allowing players to play to their full potential that one day could be a future world champion.”
