Lisowski’s Lovin’ It
On the eve of his professional debut, life is pretty good for 19-year-old, Jack Lisowski.
He won two of the eight events to finish number one on the prestigious PIOS Tour before capping an impressive amateur career by winning the coveted English title. It is no surprise then that the likeable youngster is champing at the bit to mix it with the likes of Robertson and O’Sullivan.
The fluent left-hander has even featured in McDonald’s latest advertising campaign being shown in the UK and Ireland. The fast food giant’s new slogan for its Sweet Chilli Chicken Wrap is ‘Too Tasty To Put Down’ and sees Jack potting six balls in one shot while still holding his wrap!
He has recently signed with Grove Management stable and will be based at their Academy in Romford, Essex alongside the likes of fellow West-countryman, Trump, local boy, Matt Selt and Chinese stars Anda Zhang, Liu Chuang and Liu Song.
He told Global-snooker.com, “I’m currently sharing a house with Judd Trump. We’re good friends, as Judd comes from Bristol and I’ve seen almost every weekend for years at one junior tournament or other, as he’s just a couple of years older than me.
“I’m now living and practising in Romford and I have to admit I prefer it to Sheffield. There’s a definite buzz being nearer to London and Romford is a vibrant town. I hope the change of scenery will help me have an explosive start to my professional career”!
That is all a stark contrast from a couple of years when he, his family and the snooker world was rocked by the news that he was suffering with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
“I took a year out from snooker, well from life really”.
After winning his battle with disease and getting the all clear from the doctors, he was well enough to start playing again and rejoined the PIOS tour.
“I reached the final of the second event I played, which was a big achievement for me to have improved so much after taking so much time away from competitive playing. It gave me a lot of confidence for the following season – 2009/10”.
Since then he has hardly looked back and in May 2009 was awarded the Paul Hunter scholarship by World Snooker.
The Grove stable is run by Django Fung and Paul Golder and after a shaky start to the 2009/10 season, the team seemed to find its feet.
Speaking to Global-snooker.com, Golder said, “It took everyone a little while to settle in and adjust, which affected some of the results. But by the end of the season things had improved.
“Liu Song reached the final stages in Wales and Anda had a great run in the world championship, winning four matches to qualify and make his Crucible debut before pushing Hendry all the way!
Too Tasty to Put Dow..“Now that Judd and Jack have joined the ‘team’ for the new season, we are hoping that they will all feed off each other and that we can build on early successes last year”.
