The New Zealand Secondary Schools 8 Ball championship
Cue Sports has a long and rich history around the world, with the game dating back centuries, to when it was a favourite past-time of royalty and aristocracy. Nearly every person has at some stage of their life picked up a cue and had a hit on a billiard table and it is one of the very few sports that you can play competitively throughout your lifetime. In New Zealand, the Secondary School 8 Ball Championship is a relatively young sport in New Zealand schools. Cue sports was first accredited as a school sport in 2014 with organised competition getting underway that year under the 'Pool 4 Schools' banner.
The competition was first run by IBSF Master Coach and Examiner (and all-round cue sports expert!), Gary Gillard. In 2018 Gary handed over the reigns to cue sports club Massé who rejigged the competition and it's structure to bring it into line with the more traditional school sports. Fast forward to 2020 and Massé has twisted Gary's arm to get him back on board with the aim of taking the sport to the next level in New Zealand high schools. The New Zealand Secondary School 8 Ball Competition is all about getting high school students involved in cue sports!
For many students, playing cue sports is the first time they have participated in a team sport, and for some, it is their first experience of playing a sport. The unique nature of cue sports opens the sporting participation door to many students, given the way in that age, gender and size play no role in the sport. With this in mind, the New Zealand Secondary School 8 Ball Competition sees all participants interact and compete equally in teams in one open division. It's our goal not only to increase participation rates in the sport among young people, but to help them develop a passion for the sport that will see them engaged in cue sports for the rest of their lives.
Our Partners
The Grassroots Trust plays a key role in enabling the New Zealand Secondary Schools Cue Sports competition to take place. Their funding allows us to develop and grow cue sports among the youth of New Zealand. They play a huge part in building participation rates in the sport and and we gratefully acknowledge their support! To learn more about the Grassroots Trust and what they do for the community, click here.
Massé is New Zealand's premier cue sports club and has around 19,000 members each year. The achievements of it's members over the years has been phenomenal with them winning nearly every New Zealand title available; representing the club or New Zealand overseas; playing professionally in the UK, and even winning numerous cue sports world titles. To learn more about Massé, click here.
The Valley National 8-Ball League Association (VNEA) is a non-profit organization established to promote the game of pool . It currently has around 100,000 amateur players registered in it's senior program around the world. There are a further 5,000 junior players within the VNEA Junior League Program. 2020 makes the 40th Anniversary of the VNEA. To learn more about the VNEA, click here.
