In brief: Jersey Evening Post reporter Oliver Kidman spent a session at the Jersey Mechanic’s Institute learning snooker from world champion Aaron Canavan. Canavan, the first exclusively amateur player to win the World Seniors Championship, put Kidman through his paces over roughly 90 minutes of drills. The experience left the reporter with a new-found respect for a sport he describes as a “whole science in itself.”
A World Champion in the Island’s Corner
Aaron Canavan is not a name that needs much introduction in Jersey snooker circles, but for the uninitiated, the credentials are worth spelling out. In 2018, the Jersey Evening Post reports, Canavan beat Patrick Wallace 4-3 at the Crucible to win the World Seniors Championship, becoming the first exclusively amateur player ever to do so. He has since appeared at the Crucible nine consecutive times, holds a world number-one ranking with a lead of 47 points over his nearest rival, and has recorded a 147 maximum break at the Crucible, albeit in the practice room, a feat he cheerfully admits he is “taking.”
Along the way he has beaten the likes of Dennis Taylor, the 1985 World Champion, which is the sort of scalp that tends to settle any argument about a player’s quality. Canavan traces his love of the game to watching Jimmy White and Alex Higgins as a youngster, and says it was the famous moment of Higgins beckoning his wife and daughter to the table after winning the World Championship that first made him dream of playing at the Crucible himself.
“When I go out there, it’s more wanting to prove to myself how good I could have been,” Canavan told the JEP. “Due to personal reasons, I wasn’t able to fully realise my potential and I believe I could have been at the very highest level, so now I need to prove it to myself on the table.”
Ninety Minutes That Humbled a Journalist
Kidman arrived at the JMI armed with, by his own admission, little more than a passing familiarity with pool. What followed was a thorough education. Canavan walked him through posture, eye dominance and the mechanics of potting, and the lesson was not long in delivering its central message: snooker is unforgiving to a degree that pool simply does not prepare you for.
Being just 0.3mm off the mark, Kidman discovered, is enough to send a ball well wide of the pocket. “Snooker is a whole science in itself,” he writes, and the 90-minute session left him with a genuine appreciation for the precision that separates a casual knock from the kind of play that wins championships. The satisfaction of a well-struck pot, he says, produced a rush he had not expected from a sport so outwardly calm and composed.
Canavan’s own description of the game’s appeal is characteristically vivid. “You could play for 1,000 years and you’ll never get two frames the same,” he said. “There’s no such thing as completion in snooker, but when you have a good session, there’s nothing like that feeling of accomplishment that you get, it’s like if David Beckham hit a 35-yard worldie of a free kick.”
Getting Started in Jersey
For a small island, Jersey is well served for snooker facilities. Canavan points to tables at the JMI, First Tower, St Aubin’s and on James Street as welcoming venues for players of all abilities. The JMI runs in-house and social leagues, most of which operate on a handicap basis, meaning a complete beginner can have a competitive game from the outset.
JMI memberships open from mid-December through to the end of January, and anyone wanting to get involved can contact the Jersey Billiards and Snooker Association at www.jbsa.org.uk. “It’s not overly expensive to get into, it’s a great pastime,” Canavan said, adding that the sport is open to all ages and abilities.
Source: Jersey Evening Post
