Last weekend our National Coach PJ Nolan was invited to be the lead coach at the World Snooker Cue Zone on the opening two days in the Crucible in Sheffield. The Cue Zones area showcase for the general public during their stay at major championships which is also used as a filming area by BBC TV.

The WPBSA is responsible for delivering Cue Zones atTV events with its objective to promote the World Snooker Coaching Programme and to enhance the quality of delivery by its coaches as it will be a shop window for the top coaches to promote themselves. 

PJ said the atmosphere around the Cue Zone and the Crucible was electric all weekend and it was an honour to be invited back again by World Snooker to lead the Cue Zone last weekend. I really liked meeting the WPBSA team again and their motto of growing the game is truly working with the amount of players at the Cue Zone this weekend.

It seemed that people from all around the world travelled to Sheffield at the weekend to see the return of the rocket Ronnie O Sullivan in his first round win against Marcus Campbell and to see young Michael White become the real star of the game in his fantastic win over Mark Williams.

The public practiced some of PJ's training routines and were awarded WPBSA medals and certificates to all who cleared the routine. Some routines were against the clock in speed snooker and some were about the amount of balls potted. There were some RIBSA Irish winners this year in the Cue Zone with Stephen Walsh from Carrick, Ray Power and Tom O Driscoll from Waterford all winning gold medals in clearing the routines with some brilliant potting displays.

Steve Davis, Jason Ferguson, Reg Davies, Ray Curtis, Steve Mallender, Darren Presgrave and Chris Lovell were also on hand to make this 2013 Cue Zone the biggest and best ever World Snooker Cue Zones. One of the star International players who attended this weekend's Cue Zone was Tatjana Vasiljeva who is the 2012 EBSA European Ladies Snooker Champion. Tatjana earlier this year became herself a World Snooker Coach and she cleared a great routine on the table and was awarded a gold medal and certificate by PJ.

If any player or club would like to like to book a coaching session with PJ Nolan who is one of the world's leading coaches they should email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for his next available date.

The cost of holding a RIBSA session is €20.00 per hour coaching time plus €15.00 per hour travel time from Carlow plus tolls and parking. If you would like to travel to the Ivy Rooms Snooker Club in Carlow you can avail of a 2hr session for €55.00 which includes Lights, DVD of the lesson and Technique profile. 

This week our National Coach PJ Nolan held a Snooker Coaching Zone in The New Institute Snooker Club in Nenagh County Tipperary. Among the players whom attended varied from former Irish Junior International Players to new up and coming Juniors to experienced club players who represented their club in Killarney this year.

Patsy Farrell is the main reason the junior game is booming in Nenagh in building up a team of juniors who are eager to learn and are focused on in competing in R.I.B.S.A. events over the next few years. Patsy had organised this day to train his players who included Emily Talbot who has the passion and dedication to become a top lady player in the next coming years.

The snooker room in Nenagh contains five beautiful match snooker tables with a great atmosphere that is steeped in tradition so much so that the club has produced a number of champions over the years including the current number 1 player David Hogan who made a 147 in the recent ranking event plus also the winner of the last two ranking events Brendan O' Donoghue who was on hand throughout the coaching zone in helping the players with their training.

PJ used his laser to get the players on the line of aim and the players practiced with his 360 cue in perfecting their cue delivery. The 360 cue is the best coaching aid on the market which has a spring in the butt of the cue and the key is to help players develop a smooth delivery without the spring bending.

The members also practiced PJ's training routines and Patsy Farrell was impressed with the quality of the coaching on the day and said the players really enjoyed the Cue Zone and they learnt new tips on improving their game more. If any player or club would like to like to book a coaching session with PJ Nolan who is one of the world's leading coaches they should email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for his next available date.

Action from the Cue Zone

The cost of holding a RIBSA session is €20.00 per hour coaching time plus €15.00 per hour travel time from Carlow plus tolls and parking. If you would like to travel to the Ivy Rooms Snooker Club in Carlow you can avail of a 2hr session for €55.00 which includes Lights, DVD of the lesson and Technique profile. 

Last Week PJ Nolan held an EBSA Cue Zone at the European Snooker Championships in Serbia with free Coaching sessions for everyone who wished to attend.  The Cue Zone was held on a superb Shender Match table in the lobby of the Jezero Hotel which was the venue for the 2013 EBSA Snooker Under 21 & Team Championships.

Maxime Cassis Chairman of the EBSA was delighted with the Cue Zone and commented that it was incredible to see so many players wanting to learn from our head EBSA Coach and he was impressed with PJ' presentations each day to all the participants here in Serbia. He also said the EBSA is very eager to help countries establish an Official coaching program in growing the game all across Europe under PJ's guidance in the future.

The following countries availed of the coaching Israel, France, Belarus, Poland, Russia, Ireland, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Austria, and Bulgaria. As head EBSA Coach it was great to see so much excitement in the Cue Zone with all the players so eager to learn new tips on how to improve their game. CLICK TO WATCH VIDEO

PJ worked on the players alignment and stance, grip and address position. Each player was recorded and practiced some of my training routines to help improve their cue ball control.

PJ said he was delighted with the turn out each day with the cue zone and the standard across Europe is improving each year and we now have twelve official EBSA Coaches promoting the correct fundamentals which he believes is helping to improve the standard.

If you would like to become a EBSA Coach you need to contact your own National Governing Body in writing and request them to officially contact the EBSA Gerneral Secretary nominating you to attend a course. Full details are on www.ebsa.tv web site.

The EBSA Snooker Coaching syllabus includes practical exams as well as verbal and written exams covering all the techniques and skills of coaching the game of snooker. The course covers all aspects of the game from Planning Sessions, Designing Routines, Role of a Coach, Sports Psychology, Rules of the Game, Practice Exercises, Getting out of and laying Snookers, Written Records, Safety Play, Shot Selection, Oral Assessment, Preparation for Match- Play, Physical and Mental Etiquette and on the final day you completed the EBSA coaching written exam. 

Ireland A Senior team of Brendan O Donoghue, Rodney Goggins and John Sutton made it four wins in a row here in the EBSA European Senior Snooker Team Championships in Serbia tonight when they beat Austria 8 frames to 4.

Brendan O Donoghue won his match 3 frames to 1, Rodney Goggins also won his match 3 frames to one while John Sutton drew his match 2 frames to 2 to win the overall match for the Irish team over the Austrian team that is coached also by PJ Nolan.

You can follow all the live scoring on www.ebsa.tv ( Serbia Time + 1hr Ireland)