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March 23-29, 2017 Dubbo Photo News
2017 begins strongly for Dubbo RSL Snooker Club Contributed by BOB LLOYD THE club has begun the year with strong support from existing members and a good number of new members. The weekly competitions in 3 Ball and Pool got underway in January. Initially, participation numbers were down a little but they have built up now so that we are getting a very healthy 24 players regularly every Thursday night for 3 Ball. Numbers for Pool on Fridays are also good, getting to around 16 players on a regular basis. One of our first 3 Ball winners for the year was Christopher Hills. On the night, they actually played 6 red balls as there were insufficient numbers of players. On Sunday, February 19, our club held the Jim Lang Memorial Mixed Doubles. Jim Lang was a very strong supporter of the Snooker Club over many years. Sadly, Jim passed away last year and is deeply missed by our members. Over many years Jim was responsible for sorting out the members’ handicaps. In Jim’s honour the Memorial Mixed Doubles is an annual event and is always well supported. There were 20 players on the day so we had ten doubles teams. The teams are selected randomly, which can make for some interesting match ups. The day went well and all teams played five games of 10 red ball snooker. The eventual winning teams was that of Michael Russell and Will McKinnon. The runners-up were Simon Lewis and Andrew Barling. At the moment, the Matt Dover Tribute Shield competition is well underway and is now at the semi-final stage. This is a best of three frames handicap singles competition. The final will take place on Friday, March 24, in the Snooker Room at the RSL Club. Anyone in the club that night is welcome to come along and watch.
On the weekend of March the 11 and 12, the Muswellbrook Snooker Club came to Dubbo to play us in one of our regular inter-club challenges. At the time of writing this article the challenge had not been played so results will come later. The Doug Crawford Doubles tournament begins on April 13. It is a handicap competition in which teams select their own partners to enter. It is always a highlight of the year and is hotly contested. The competition runs until May 26. ANZAC Day will see a big crowd of snooker players in the club for the annual Leading Edge Computers 3 Ball Handicap Singles Tournament with Repechage. Leading Edge Computers is supporting us with a prize pool of $1000.
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Four years ‘til the Olympics? No sweat. Brian Tink was 17 when he went to the Olympics to box, and William Pollard will also be 17 by the time the next Olympics rolls around. Coached by Gary McFarlane and the man himself, Brian Tink, William is in good hands, training five days a week for around an hour and a half at a time. The straight-talking teen is heading into his first ever competitive bout on May 26 at a tournament on the coast and, while he’s physically fit, he clearly sounds mentally prepared for boxing for points as well. “You get points if the front part of your glove touches anywhere from the head down,” he explains, drawing out the space with his hands to outline his torso. “You have two opponents. The winner gets 10 points and the lesser opponent gets 9 points,” he said. He’ll be in the ring for three rounds if all goes to plan. While the calibre of his coaches is high, his older sister who dabbles in boxing for the fitness, and some
trouble at school got him interested in boxing with the PCYC Olympic Boxing club in the first place. “I mainly do it for fitness but, you know, if you need it, to defend yourself, you can use it.” William’s mum is not so keen about his new found sport which has occupied his afternoons for the last three years, but she comes to watch on a regular basis. Dad is encouraging. Along with the intense strength conditioning workouts involved, William also follows a sugar-free diet, eating lots of vegetables, fruit, meat and fish. “You only get out of your body, what you put in,” he said. Like most sporting equipment nothing comes cheap. A pair of boxing boots costs $200 but the motivated young man has a part time job to help pay his way. “What I like the most about boxing is the group nature. Everyone gets along together. It’s like a family,” he said. William Pollard with Sam Matthews (Coach)