Grandpas let their cues do the work

On a pool table there is not much you can teach Collin Cato and Stan Marsberg.

The two grandmasters scooped up eight medals in the South African Blackball Championships.

Collin is the South African grand master singles champion and player of the tournament.

Stan is the South African grand master top provincial performer and singles runner up.

The Mpumalanga team also won the team championships and came second in the grand master team speed pool during the championships that was held from Sunday, March 10 to Saturday, March 16 at Umfolozi in KwaZulu-Natal.

The Mpumalanga team consisted of Collin, Stan and also Hein van Staden who relocated to the fair Cape recently.

Stan said the tension during the championships told its own story of the exceptional calibre of pool players they had to compete against.

A typical day started at 09:00 and the players were on the tables until 22:00. They played 27 games against all the participating provinces.

A nail-biting semi-final saw the trio from Mpumalanga cueing it out for the top spot.

Stan and Hein battled it out and Stan won. He then had to play Collin in the finals.

“Collin was at his best. He was focussed and disciplined. He is a worthy winner,” Stan said giving his partner a round of applause.

In-between the Blackball championships they also competed in the Speedball event.

The latter event is a fast phased pool game and the aim is to how many balls you can pot before time runs out.

“This game makes you think on your feet and the team has to clear the table as quickly as they can,” Stan explained.

The Mpumalanga team cleared the table in 02:13 and gave the team from Natal a good go.

However in the second round the white ball was sunk and they had to wait for it to be placed on the table again.

“Those precious seconds cost us the game,” Collin said.

Reflecting over the championships and the experience the two grandmasters said this is the highlight of their sporting careers and a first for Mpumalanga Blackball.