I had the pleasure of attending a Disability Snooker Open Day at Barratts Snooker Club in Barratt Road, Northampton. The open day brought together a number of people with disabilities to play some frames of snooker, in preparation for the Fizz Open Disability Snooker Championship which took place over the weekend following my visit.
Barratts Snooker Club is home to 22 snooker tables, and is the home of Northamptonshire snooker player Kyren Wilson, who won the 2015 Shanghai Masters and is currently ranked as the 8th best player in the world according to www.worldsnooker.com.
I was pleased to be able to attend the Open Day and see the impressive standard displayed by those taking part. The Paralympic broadcaster and snooker Master of Ceremonies, Rob Walker, was there to watch the proceedings, with participants having the opportunity to receive coaching lessons from a number of World Snooker coaches.
Promoting sport for people with disabilities is extremely important, and we only have to look at Team GB’s incredible performance at the 2016 Paralympics - in which our athletes came second in the world medal table, ahead of countries such as the United States and Australia – to see just how much of an impact this can have for individuals and the country as a whole.