News

During the 2026 European Snooker Championships in the Ramada Sofia City Centre Hotel in Bulgaria, Head of EBSA Coaching PJ Nolan held a EBSA Coaching Course on behalf of the European Billiards & Snooker Association to train nine Official EBSA Snooker Coaches from the 17th – 19th of September.  

The EBSA Coaching Course is a three-day intensive training course which is only open to recognised coaches who are approved by their own National Governing Body. The nine nominated coaches from Switzerland, Ireland, Cyprus, Germany, Belgium, Malta and Poland qualified from this successful course.

The New Coaches

The nine nominated coaches were Con Walsh & Shane Gorman from Republic of Ireland, Peter Bullen from Belgium, Felix Frede from Germany, Marios Metaxas from Cyprus, Tom Zimmermann & Mohanraj Sivasubramaniam from Switzerland, Ivan Brincatt from Malta and Marcin Nitschke from Poland.

PJ said ‘’It was great to see more countries wanting to send their coaches for this EBSA training course and all of them have a great passion to help grow the game in their country. We are delighted to have nine more EBSA coaches join our EBSA team and help the EBSA grow the game all around Europe.

WPBSA

The coaches also attended an online WPBSA seminar on Child Protection with WPBSA head of Coaching Chris Lovell. The coaches will now receive equivalent grade to the WPBSA Level 1 Coach so they can begin a pathway to level 2 WPBSA Coach in the future if they wish.

Syllabus

The EBSA Snooker Coaching syllabus includes a practical exam as well as verbal and written exams covering all the techniques and skills of coaching the game of snooker.

This Coaching course covered all aspects of the game from Planning Sessions, Designing Routines, Role of a Coach, Sports Psychology, Rules of the Game, Practice Exercises, Written Records, Safety Play, Shot Selection, Oral Assessment, Preparation for Match- Play, Physical and Mental Etiquette and on the final day they completed the EBSA coaching written exam.

New Training Program

The new coaches will create a training program and manual in their country to help train and guide the players. The coaches will now begin their probation period where they will complete all the necessary assignments to graduate in becoming a fully accredited EBSA Coaches later this year.

The EBSA have now 124 registered EBSA Coaches approved by the NGB from 33 countries with full EBSA accreditation promoting the game all around Europe which goes well for the future of the game across Europe.

Thank You

PJ thanked EBSA President Maxime Cassis who was on hand to present the coaches with their certificates on the final day of the course. EBSA would also like to thank Chris Lovell and all the WPBSA Team for holding the online seminar for our coaches.

PJ would also like to thank EBSA Assistant Coach Alexander Werner Sabljak from Croatia for supporting me on this course. 

PJ wishes the new EBSA coaches the best of luck in developing their coaching skills and completing their homework assignments in graduating as full EBSA Coaches later this year.