Opportunities Award: A Big Break

We met up with Aaron who received an opportunities award to pursue his career as a professional snooker player. He taught us one or two things about playing snooker before sitting down and telling us his story.

Hi, I’m Aaron and I’m 18 years old from Gloucester and I’m trying to become a professional snooker player. 

So how long have you been playing snooker for?

Roughly about 5 years full time every day.

And how did you get involved with Barnwood Trust?

Well were looking for sponsorship in general, because it is an expensive sport to try and get into with a lot of traveling for tournaments and stuff, so we got in touch with Barnwood Trust and asked if they could help.

What does playing snooker mean to you?

It means the world to me and it’s the only thing that I am good at, really, apart from music which is another passion of mine but it’s a real passion and I really enjoy doing it, otherwise I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t enjoy it. I want be world champion, the best that there is – so that’s why I am dedicating my life to snooker.

What do you enjoy about it?

Well you kind of get, you get obviously winning results if you practice, the practice that I put in you see coming out in the tournaments and you get to meet a lot of new people and it’s a good social point. It’s just basically doing something that you enjoy doing for a job and not a lot of people can say that they do that, so a lot of players are really lucky to get the professional status and be involved with the world of snooker.

Cool, what kinds of social experiences do you get from playing snooker?

You get to meet a lot of new people, you meet a lot of new friends and because everybody is interested in snooker you’ve all got that in common. You know what they are going through and they know what you’ve gone through. Just basically meeting a lot of new people which for me is good. So that’s what I gain out of the social side of the of playing snooker and going round to the clubs is another good thing as well.

What was applying for a grant like?

Well we just emailed and they emailed us back, we went for a meeting and within a couple of weeks they said we’ll give you a sort of grant and I really appreciate Barnwood Trust helping out and saving a bit of money for us. That’s how we got involved with Barnwood, really, and they’ve helped us out a lot and I appreciate that a lot.

So if someone was thinking about either taking up snooker or taking up another hobby to get out and about, to get all those benefits you’ve said they’re a bit too scared, what would you say to them?

Well, at the beginning everything seems hard, which it is, because even everything in life – if you don’t do it, it’s hard. But with snooker especially, it takes a lot of time to improve and to get results. So, it’s just about how you practice. A lot of it is, 90% of it is psychological. So, if you’re in a positive frame of mind, most of the time you are going to do well. And I don’t know a lot about outside life because all I do is snooker, but from a snooker player’s point of view – just be positive, because if you’re positive everything seems to go right.

Opportunities Award

The Opportunities Award opens up exciting new possibilities – such as training, equipment or clothing that may help you towards a job, volunteering or setting up a new business.  It can also be used to help with materials for a hobby or equipment for a sport you enjoy. Visit the grant page here to learn more or email grants@barnwoodtrust.org if you have any questions.