Sheffield snooker: City's first world champion emerges from academy opening up game to hundreds
A Sheffield organisation is opening up snooker to more than 200 people with disabilities.
The Stephen Harrison Academy was founded in 2007 by former professional snooker player Stephen Harrison MBE.
Stephen was inspired by his father, Ray Harrison, who won the 1985 World Paraplegic Snooker Championship and took up the sport after losing his leg at the age of 17.
He now hopes his work with the academy will build upon his father’s achievements.
He said: “Since my father has passed away, I’m growing his legacy to get more and more people involved in grassroots sport in Sheffield - this wonderful game of snooker with the home of the World Snooker Championships.
“It’s very important for us to keep doing this work, bringing the community together, and introducing new people to snooker at all levels and all ages and abilities.”
The academy’s youngest member is eight years old and its oldest is 93.
Service Manager Katie Harrison said: “In April everybody is snooker, snooker, snooker. But we’re doing it all year round.
“It’s not just a game of snooker. Its just being able to take your mind off the daily stresses of life, and come and see your friends and just have a chat and a knock about.”
Also at the academy is Gary Swift, who, in March this year, won the inaugural World Disability Snooker Championship in Thailand.
Of his passion for the sport, Gary said: “After my accident, I played all different kinds of sports for rehabilitation, but I always ended up coming back to snooker.”
He is also the first ever snooker world champion to be born and raised in Sheffield, an achievement Swift described as “amazing”.
Stephen added that his passion and his “end goal” would be to see snooker back in the Paralympics by 2032 - just as his dad had competed in it before it was later removed from the events after 1988.
“I think what we’ve got to do is reinvigorate this sport from grassroots and we want to get it back in the Paralympics and showcase Sheffield.
“We want to get on the world stage - not only snooker accessible for professional players at the Crucible Theatre - but also for the grassroots players.”
The World Snooker Championships will return to the Crucible Theatre for a 49th consecutive year on Saturday, concluding on Monday, May 5.