16 Snooker
Clermont Hall, Norfolk
Enjoyment - 80%
Success - 30%
Will try again - Yes
First timer's recommendation – the number of places you can play snooker is gradually declining, but if you've got the time to practice, it's one of the more satisfying sports when it all comes together.
Growing up in Eltham, the local New World Snooker Club was where we spent a lot of our weekends before we were old enough looking to get served alcohol. Pre-smoking ban they were not pleasant places to be looking back at it, and your clothes would reek of cigarettes when you got home. We would play pool normally, but occasionally venture on to the full-size tables for a high scoring game of snooker. High scoring because there would be so many fouls, and the biggest break I can remember was a red-black-red-black-red combination.
For my sister’s 30th birthday she had hired a Georgian mansion in Norfolk for the weekend and invited 30 of her friends and family. In the basement there was a games room which included a snooker table, so it seemed rude not to include it for week 16. I played a couple of frames with my brothers, including using the new power snooker rules, with each shot being timed. I was actually better when I had less time to think about it. However there is a big difference between being able to pot a ball and getting it into position for the next shot.
Snooker seems to fit into the 10,000 hours theory proposed by Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers, where he put forward the idea that the key to achieving world class expertise in any skill, is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing the correct way, for a total of around 10,000 hours. Unfotunately I can’t see myself dedicating that much time to snooker, as it would involve too many days in the local Conservative or Railway clubs, but if I ever fall into some money, there would be a table at home after I had installed a pool, table tennis table and basketball court.
