2022 SA TOURNAMENTS

Oblivious to the politics, screaming their lungs away, bellowing so loudly the fish in the sea surely felt the vibration. Children are such a breath of fresh air and watching them play pool can actually put an end to a war. You really can’t touch them as long as they have their team with them, the confidence and exuberance that the juniors command is unparalleled. I literally had all the hairs on my body on high alert when they marched in proudly wearing their respective provincial colours. 

The Pool South Africa 2022 National Championship must be the largest gathering of juniors outside Disneyland and I doubt there is a better way to spend one’s school holidays than competing in a national championship, doing what you love. Come with the thing!!! (kom met die ding) they scream at the top of their voices cheering each other on. You really had to be here to witness the harmony between the kids, their teammates, managers, parents and mentors.

The maturity that the juniors exhibit when making decisions in a game surely will make them better adults, these lads know when to go for game, when and how to hide the white ball and how to escape from a sticky situation and some can barely see over the table but they can still pot almost any ball. 8 year old Elrich Hansen from the Cape Winelands is one amazing character, I followed him around expecting to see him cry himself to sleep after losing a frame but nope; that is a soldier in the making, he is the first to high-five an opponent after losing the match and he takes it all in his stride, of course it helps that his three older brothers Ethan (15), Mickyle (20) and Leeroy (23) are his teammates and the oldest is their referee and manager. Pool is teaching these kids problem solving skills, instead of sulking and getting mad because they got snookered or they lost a frame, they find a way out of the snooker and they learn to do better next time, the game teaches them that one’s fate is in their own hands and there are always ways around a problem. I know quite a few adults who throw tantrums when you snooker them because they think that hiding the white ball is cowardly but the kids demonstrated that it is a strategy and a good one at that.

If you thought that Aden Joseph was quick around the table then you haven’t seen Imaad Saville (9), kid brother to Imtiyaaz, both are sons of the legendary Galiek Saville. Imaad is so quick and so accurate that if you blink slowly then you would probably miss two of his shots if not the whole match. I am tempted to mention words like experienced’ and ‘legendary’ when talking about the very famous wonderkid Rayaan Williams (12), brother to Irfaan, and both are sons of Abduragman ‘Maboy’ Williams. Rayaan is not just good, he is amazing and mature beyond his years but so is Cassiem Abrahams (U14 Opening Competition Winner) Blake, Divan, JT and Tiaan Van Der Merve, Lorenzo, Rushin  Daniels, Raees Attwood, Labeeq Khan, Rauqeeb to mention but a few. I bet all the juniors are in celebratory spirit that Marcelino James is playing his last year as a junior, Marci is a magician on the table, true class, sublime skills and he is no ordinary junior. Young Mr James is ready to take on anyone in the world and I am saying this with a lot of authority and confidence, remember the name.

  In the Semi finals, in the U14 Catergory, Imtiyaaz Saville, took out Aqeel Isaacs and Rayaan Williams won his match against Cassiem Abrahams who had of course beat him in the opening competition finals.  The final was a humdinger and it went all the way to the last frame after Rayaan had to come from a deficit but like his older brother Irfaan, Rayaan was crowned champion. Imtiyaaz exceeded all expectations according to his very proud father Mr Galiek Saville who watched in awe as his eldest son went about his craft. Young Saville took home a golden trophy for winning the team events finals with his Ikapa 1 team and they blew their second team to smithereens which Imaad Saville, the younger of the two brothers is a member of that Ikapa 2 team but the best part is how they celebrated together as if they were joint-first, I had never seen that much happiness and celebration, I think it is safe to say that ‘happiness is a child’.  

The U18 category was a tightly contested one with the likes of Taufeeq, Waleed, Aneeq, Caleb, Irfaan, Jordaan, Charl, Ikraam, Raqeeb, Lorenzo, Sadaqaah all gunning for top honours. The boys were ready for war and they were all very well armed. Ikapa 1 dominated the team events and won the round robin without a single loss and their dominance also showed in the final when they played Western Cape and made it look easy.

 Ikapa was going to make a clean sweep in the team events across all the Junior categories had it not been the u23s who lost in the deciding frame to a star-studded Western Province team consisting of Raees, Tasreeq, Shakeel, Rushin and Waleed. At some stage the score in the team event final was 9-2 in favour of Ikapa and the Province boys managed to scale back and their never-die attitude saw them through. Spectators were treated to breathtaking, scintillating and memorable displays of good pool courtesy of our future champions.

Marcelino James was just too good for everyone and deservedly won the U23 Singles title. I would not want to be found dead playing chess with these boys, not mentioning pool because I’d be embarrassed, these are no ordinary boys, they are just young but very mature in their game.  

In the picture above is Rushion George from Central Boland, he may have lost in the decider  to Blake Joseph due to being time fouled after a lengthy investigation of a foul-jaw snooker but he definitely is one for the future (Remember the name). I had the privilege of watching his game and how he goes about it, the composure and the ball selection skills he possess are way beyond his years. He is truly a marvel to watch.