Jack's all right after cancer ordeal

NO MATTER how far his fledgling snooker career may take him, young potter Jack Lisowski knows he has already beaten the biggest challenge he will ever face - by the age of just 18.
For Lisowski, who trains at Sheffield's World Snooker Academy, was forced to put his dreams of snooker stardom on hold while he battled Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a form of cancer which affects the body's lymphatic system.

"I was diagnosed about two years ago," Jack told The Star at the Academy, housed at the English Institute of Sport.

"I've been clear for over a year now - I still have to go for scans, but it's looking pretty good. At the time, I'd just left school, done all my exams and was ready to just concentrate on snooker - so it came at an unfortunate time."

The cancer is common in males aged 15-35.

Lisowski had 16 bouts of chemotherapy, which took its toll on both body and mind.

"I was starting to feel really down - I had to have eight months of treatment, and after six months I thought to myself: 'I just can't take anymore'. But I read Lance Armstrong's book, and he said: 'Just fight as hard as you can'.

"I'll never forget those words - they gave me a real lift. It is a fight, it is a battle, but it's one worth fighting."

The Gloucestershire-born teenager believes that the support from his family helped him beat the disease, but concedes that he was not always optimistic about his chances of survival. "The first three days were so hard," he admitted.

"I felt really ill, and my mind began to wonder. I started thinking really negative things, and I was convinced I was going to die. But my consultant told me: 'I will do my best to cure you, and I'm confident I can'. I never looked back from there, and every scan after that saw the lump go down."

Lisowski is currently second in the Pontin's International Open Series rankings - the top eight of which qualify for next season's professional tour.

"At the end of the day it's a game; it's just how I make a living; something I really enjoy doing," he said.

"I feel dreadful after I lose, gutted, but it lasts for about five minutes before I think 'get a grip - it could be a lot worse'."

This guy Jack comes across as very mature for his age, facing a tough illness at such a young age and to come out the other side with this wonderful attitude is inspirational for all. Jack is well placed to be on the main tour next year, I for one will be keeping a close eye on his career and I hope he can rise to the top and show adversity can be overcome.

http://www.thestar.co.uk/snooker/Jack39 ... 6042130.jp

Aww this is fantastic to read. Fair play to the lad, that's all I can say

That is great news. If he makes it to near the top he could be a media sensation for snooker. Lance Armstrong, Paul Hunter and all that.

Hes looking good to qualify for the main tour given his PIOS form so far this season.

With an overhaul of the ranking set up and tour next season, i suspect it will be slightly easier for newcomers to the tour to have a realistic chance to survive.

Witz78 wrote:Hes looking good to qualify for the main tour given his PIOS form so far this season.

With an overhaul of the ranking set up and tour next season, i suspect it will be slightly easier for newcomers to the tour to have a realistic chance to survive.

Do you mean starter points? The system at the minute is very unfair on them, adopting the lowest points total of the current members only makes it all the more difficult on them

case_master wc wrote:

Witz78 wrote:Hes looking good to qualify for the main tour given his PIOS form so far this season.

With an overhaul of the ranking set up and tour next season, i suspect it will be slightly easier for newcomers to the tour to have a realistic chance to survive.

Do you mean starter points? The system at the minute is very unfair on them, adopting the lowest points total of the current members only makes it all the more difficult on them

Yeh the starter points are just one of the many flaws.....

One main problem at the moment is the tiered system with the top 16, 17-32, 33-48 etc. Its too stagnant with players having to climb the ladders to reach events and also ultimately to reach the top 16.

The newcomers to tour are at a major disadvantage and face a mad scramble to remain on tour in the lottery of a few high pressure best of 9 matches in the cubicles at Pontins. They face each other in the first qualifying round so are cutting each others throats all season long. They recieve lower minimum starter points for each event so are also at a disadvantage to the players they are trying to catch above them.

Possibly the biggest farce is the fact that they start the season off with the points that the player who finished 64th last season did, so through no fault of their own they are at the bottom of the pack. A far fairer way would be for them to have their points earned in their first season on tour doubled at the end of the season to truly reflect their form.

Of this years newcomers, Drago has won 14 games at Pontins so far from 5 events and is the ONLY newcomer to be within the top 64 on the provisional rankings. Shows how hard it is for the newcomers, with only the top 8 on the one year year list being the best realistic hope for newcomers.

I feel that there are many great young players who have the odds stacked against them when they join the main tour and because of this they end up yo-yo’ing between the main tour and the PIOS before being lost to the game forever.

The seasoned pros, journeymen above them in the mid ranks (33-64) consist of many players who have never reached the top and never will, but do the bare minuimum to survive on tour by winning a few qualifying matches earning them enough points to keep their position. They are barely making a living from the game are in my eyes (and probably Hearns) deadwood that does not have any place in snookers future.

Hearn did state that players would get the opportunity to prove their qualities but it would be sink or swim for all.

We will see what happens come the end of the season, but i expect major changes to happen

A far fairer way would be for them to have their points earned in their first season on tour doubled at the end of the season to truly reflect their form.

Yes this is a good idea and it should be easy to implement, makes you wonder why it isn’t in place....makes sense

case_master wc wrote:

A far fairer way would be for them to have their points earned in their first season on tour doubled at the end of the season to truly reflect their form.

Yes this is a good idea and it should be easy to implement, makes you wonder why it isn’t in place....makes sense

no what i would do don't give them starter points but give them a minimum of 2 even 3 years on tour to try and establish themselves.....i don't believe in giving them points for doing rubbish all then doubling them.

if you give them a minimum say 3 years that means players higher up the rankings are under more pressure because now with lower newcomers places secure that means the others will be demoted at the end of a season.

wildJONESEYE wrote:

case_master wc wrote:

A far fairer way would be for them to have their points earned in their first season on tour doubled at the end of the season to truly reflect their form.

Yes this is a good idea and it should be easy to implement, makes you wonder why it isn’t in place....makes sense

no what i would do don't give them starter points but give them a minimum of 2 even 3 years on tour to try and establish themselves.....i don't believe in giving them points for doing poo all then doubling them.

if you give them a minimum say 3 years that means players higher up the rankings are under more pressure because now with lower newcomers places secure that means the others will be demoted at the end of a season.

Wild,

Points for poo all then doubling them? The points wouldnt be for poo all though, the points would be the points they earn in their debut season on tour which would then be doubled

the only problem if theres 24 newcomers onto tour each season, so if you gave them 3 years by then thered be potentially 48-72 existing players off the tour before they were eligible to go off tour so almost every other player on tour would be gone

At least we both agree the current set up is flawed tho

Id be tempted to open up the tour / qualifying set up and do away with the fixed main tour 96 players each season, and also allow provisional rankings to be used.

PIOS and junior players could be among those in the rankings and the old PIOS events, Pro-challenge events and the new weekend tournaments Hearn proposes would provide income for these players and ranking points too which would help establish an order of merit.

yes conceded 3 years is to much but suerly they should have the comfort of having a extended run without a axe hanging over them.

problem is if they cant survive in the first season with starter points they got no hope off their owm bat so to speak.

i know you want the tour extended to 128 and every player start at the same round ie top 64 vs bottom 64.

personally i wouldn't have a problem with that but knowing how barry hearn operates and he likes elite players that will be a no chance in hell of happening.

wildJONESEYE wrote:yes conceded 3 years is to much but suerly they should have the comfort of having a extended run without a axe hanging over them.

problem is if they cant survive in the first season with starter points they got no hope off their owm bat so to speak.

i know you want the tour extended to 128 and every player start at the same round ie top 64 vs bottom 64.

personally i wouldn't have a problem with that but knowing how barry hearn operates and he likes elite players that will be a no chance in hell of happening.

i would probably go with 144 players and have the rolling ranks 17-80 playing 81-144 in R1 then a last 64 in R2 and a last 32 in R3 with these 16 winners joining the then top 16 in the rolling rankings at the main event.

I dont really know what Hearn will be thinking in terms of shaking the game up, we all have a rough idea what hes thinking in terms of tournaments etc, but as far as the tour we can only speculate really. An announcement of sorts should be made in the next 6-8 week i think

I think its safe to say that Hearns comments that all players will get a chance to prove their worth but if they cant rise to the challenge and prove their worth then theres no place for them. Hearn takes no prisoners.

No offence to the likes of Burnett, McLeod, Michie to name a few but i cant see Hearn allowing journeymen players whove contributed nothing of note to the sport really hang around the rankings and take up tour places, yo-yo'ing about the rankings for a few decades.

I dont blame these players, i blame the shut shop set up of the tour, if the tour opens up again, even to a far lesser extent than the early 90s, then i think a whole host of new stars will emerge again. I thinks its whats needed to kickstart snooker again as things are going stale.

Just like in the early 90s when Higgins, Taylor, Griffiths, Thorne, Knowles, Charlton, Francisco, Thorburn etc were all still kicking around past their sell by date, nowadays there are many (in the lower rankings) who i feel would soon vanish if the floodgates of young talent was let in again, and these kids had a fair crack of the whip to forge a career rather than the current pressure cooker dog eat dog world in the lottery of a handful of best of 9s in the cucibles at Pontins

"I was starting to feel really down - I had to have eight months of treatment, and after six months I thought to myself: 'I just can't take anymore'. But I read Lance Armstrong's book, and he said: 'Just fight as hard as you can'.

"I'll never forget those words - they gave me a real lift. It is a fight, it is a battle, but it's one worth fighting."

JohnFromLondonTown wrote:"I was starting to feel really down - I had to have eight months of treatment, and after six months I thought to myself: 'I just can't take anymore'. But I read Lance Armstrong's book, and he said: 'Just fight as hard as you can'.

"I'll never forget those words - they gave me a real lift. It is a fight, it is a battle, but it's one worth fighting."

Winning snooker tournaments will be a piece of cake in comparison

keep fighting jack