Introduction

England’s Emma Parker joined the women’s professional snooker tour in 2017 and managed to hit the ground running! She whitewashed Shannon Metcalf 3-0 to win her first junior title at the LITEtask UK Women’s Championship 2017. This was followed by winning the World’s U21 Championship. In 2018, she won further titles by winning the 2018 Under-21 British Open and the Challenge Cup.

Under 21 British Open Champion🏆 pic.twitter.com/OKyBpd6qaZ

— Emma Parker (@emmaparker_147) February 18, 2018

Most recently, Emma reached her first ranking quarter-final in the European Women’s Masters. She topped her group and later beat Diana Stateczny in the Last 16. Despite losing to Nutcharut Wongharuthai in the quarter-finals, she claimed her fourth junior title against the Thai by winning 2-0. This also meant the 19 year-old topped the WLBS Under-21 ranking list for the first time. She also jumped to No. 13 in the senior rankings, her highest to date!

We wonderfully conversed over the past couple of weeks. Hope you enjoy the interview below!

Interview – Emma Parker

CoR: Congratulations on becoming the Under-21 European Masters Champion! How does that feel, as well as becoming No 1 in the U-21 rankings?

Emma Parker: It makes me proud of what I have achieved so far. I feel that all the hard work and practice I am putting in are really paying off!

CoR: How did you get into snooker in the first place?

Emma Parker: Well, I started playing pool at a young age in my local social club but at the time I was too small to play on the snooker table. At the age of 14, my dad and uncle introduced me to snooker. Since then, I have been hooked!

CoR: Who’s been your inspiration since you started growing up playing snooker?

Emma Parker: Billy O’Connor, who I met through my coach Gary Filtness, is a massive inspiration to me. As well as being a very talented snooker player and captain of the U16 England team, I always saw him like a brother I never had!

When he was 15, Billy was diagnosed with cancer and went through chemotherapy over and over again. Despite all that, he still managed to play snooker brilliantly and practiced with me three times a week to help develop my own snooker. He was so thoughtful and kind-hearted that he organised a 24-hour snooker marathon, which raised £11,000 for Teenage Cancer. He even came to my snooker lessons just to see how I was doing!

Sadly, Billy passed away in 2015 but he really left a mark on my family and I. He was such an important part of my life. I still think about him every day and I want to continue making him proud in my tournaments to come.

CoR: What would be your biggest achievement in snooker so far?

Emma Parker: I think holding three Under-21 titles including the world championship in the space of a year was a huge achievement for me. It has given me a lot of the confidence and the drive to win further tournaments.

However, if I had to mention a single one, I would say winning the Under 21 World Championship is the win I’m most proud of.

Under 21 European Masters Champion🏆 pic.twitter.com/J9bqE4HQXE

— Emma Parker (@emmaparker_147) October 7, 2018

CoR: What would you say are your main strengths and weaknesses are as a player?

Emma Parker: I would say my main strength is my determination to become the best player I can possibly be. I feel like my safety game is stronger than my attacking play at the moment as it has always come naturally to me.

However, I need to believe in myself consistently, which is something I must improve on for future tournaments. I am also trying to break build whenever possible.

CoR: Do you normally practice on your own or do you play against other professionals?

Emma Parker: When I was at the Grove Snooker Centre, I was lucky enough to spend time with the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan and Jack Lisowski. Occasionally I practice on my own, but I try to play as many people as I can to improve my match play.

I have a full-size table at home now so that is where I practice the most. I also practice at JP’s Snooker Club in Harlow, Upton Park Snooker Club and I compete with my Romford team in the Vic Harris Snooker League every Monday, so that gives me good match practice too. When I was at the Grove Snooker Centre, I was only working part-time. Now that I work full time as an Accounts Assistant, I have to practice in my evenings as well as at the weekends.

CoR: What’s the camaraderie like on the Women’s Tour? Are snooker players close or do they keep themselves to themselves? 

Emma Parker: So far on the Women’s Tour, I get on well with all the players. I have made quite a few close friendships with other players, such as Reanne Evans, Laura Evans and Steph Daughtery. But I think once I am on the table it is important to put that all behind me and focus on winning.

CoR: Do you think the rivalry between Ng On-yee and Reanne Evans is making women’s snooker more exciting?

Emma Parker: I have great respect for Reanne and On-yee and I do think it is exciting as they are fighting for the number one spot. However, it would be great for upcoming players including me to compete at the top level with them.

CoR: How do you think the Women’s Snooker Tour is progressing at the moment? What would you like to see introduced in the calendar in the future?

Emma Parker: I think the women’s game has improved a lot however I think it still has a long way to go.

Hopefully, with the help of investment and advertising, there will be more tournaments and streamed coverage in the future. It would be great to have more overseas tournaments too! As well as spreading awareness of the sport in different countries, it is always great getting to travel across the globe.

CoR: How much are you looking forward to the upcoming tournament, the Eden Women’s Masters?

Emma Parker: I am looking forward to competing as I have put a lot of practice in so far and hopefully it will pay off. I had a good run in the last tournament so it’s exciting to see how well I do from now on. It will also be nice to see the other players.

CoR: What are your ambitions for the season and for the future?

Emma Parker: My ambitions for the season would be to get to a semi-final or even a final in the main event and also to reach a higher ranking position. It would be great to be a big name in the women’s game! My other dream would be to try and compete on the men’s circuit.

Acknowledgments

Many thanks go to Emma Parker for taking his time out to be interviewed by me. I wish her the very best for the rest of the season! Emma’s next event is the Eden Women’s Masters. This event takes place between 24th – 25th November 2018 at Gloucester’s South West Snooker Academy.

All credit goes to Emma Parker and WLBS (World Ladies Billiards and Snooker) for providing all of the photos used in this article. Much appreciated and thank you!

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