The Beginnings

It was a time before the Tian's screw, before the Brotherhood and before the TPA. It was a time not too long ago, yet it is so far away. Tian was still a amatuer to the game of billiards. Then taught by the best snooker player in Safra, which he affectionately calls Shen, god in chinese. Tian can still remember the first time he went for training.

I sat down on the small coffee table in front of the counter. My father was waiting for me with a plate of nasi lemak. He said,"Finish this and quickly go over there for your training." I looked over to the far end, a short man in thirties was surrounded by three other teens. The man was holding a cueball and seemed to be explaining something. They must be waiting for me, i thought. I'd better join them quickly. At this moment, Miss Tan came out from behind. In her hands were a smooth and classy looking cue. My Dad took the cue from her, weighed it and feathered it between his fingers. "Joe davis, good cue, make sure you learn seriously."

I recall the first time i held that piece of equipment in my hands. It was so different from the usual house cues that we used. Unbended, untainted, unused. This was my cue and mine alone. I stroked it with the open bridge. It was so smooth. It seemed so solid, so perfect. There is really no word to describe it. There is a particular elegance and beauty to a snooker cue that puts it in a class of its own. It really is an incomparable tool, even to the most expensive pool cue.

I went over to where my lesson awaited. My eyes went to one of my classmates. He was the pai kia (bad boy). He had a short hairstyle, the kind you would expect from army men, or prison inmates. Worse still, both his arms were covered in tatoo. I began to be intimidated by them. Luckily, Shen was very friendly. He did not mind the fact that i was the nerdiest in the group, or that my mandarin sucked. Instead, he tried his best way to explain things to me in english, of course, in his own inarticulate way. The first thing he made us do was to shoot a straight ball into the middle pocket. The students went one by one and potted the shot. I was the last one. Although it was a simple shot, there was the pressure of being the lousiest. Fortunately, i managed to squeeze the red ball in between the jaws. Shen then proceeded to teach us the basic things like our stance, holding the cue, stroke, cueing... After that we went on to drill for one hour. Potting the red and following the cueball into the pocket as well. I guess it was this period of time that my stroke really improved. This was my first step to being a pro. The intense snooker training of shen prepared me for the skill shots of pool that would require extreme stability and stroke.

I got to know Mathew, Darrel, Victor, and many other pool players. Some experts we admired and respected them, like Benny and Shen. It was a great environment for fun. We really enjoyed ourselves through the various training sessions and we became friends. Not very close, but enough to enjoy a great game of pool. At that time, most people do not yet know of my new found hobby. It was the start of sec 2. I went to Safra every Wednesday to train with Shen. But i began to worry that my best friend and snooker opponenet from school, kenenth, would lag behind me too much. I started to explain to him some of the things Shen taught me. Slowly, his billiards improved. Although i still always managed to beat him, but he remained interested in the game. That was a good thing. It was here that we learnt the skills needed to excel in the game, and ultimately my snooker training would be a big part of how i played pool. And how i taught it. Gradually, i wanted to expose more people to this great game. Then Shen would do something that almost cause me to quit.

Continued in next post:D