Discover the journey of Gareth Potts, former four-time English Eightball World Champion, who secured the prestigious WPA World Heyball Championship in Brisbane.
Gareth opens up in an exclusive interview about the immense pressure of the high-stakes, fast-paced tournament format, where he recovered from a 3-0 deficit in both the semi-final and final.
He details the sport’s explosive growth, driven by massive prize money and a global transition of Top players from Snooker, English pool and American Pool.
With the potential inclusion of Heyball in the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, Gareth shares his motivation and hunger to continue winning trophies in the world’s fastest-growing cue sport.
The WPA World Heyball Championship Victory and Olympic Ambition
Winning the WPA World Heyball Title: Transition and Achievement
How did it feel to win this World Championship?
It’s amazing. I started playing English Eightball and won four world titles in a relatively short space of time. I actually won five with the Junior World Championships. As a lot of people know, I transitioned into Heyball, which is Chinese Eightball.
I made the transition into Heyball in 2013. Back then, they only really had the Chinese Eightball Masters, which was effectively their world championships because that was the biggest event at the time. They didn’t officially have a World Championship.
But up until the past two years, there hadn’t really been a World Pool Association sanctioned official World Championship. To win a world title now at the game that I’ve dedicated the last 13 years of my life to is an unbelievably special moment for me because it’s an incredibly hard sport. To win a world title at another cue sport discipline is something that I’m very proud of.
Winning any world title is always something that feels a little bit different. When Heyball first burst onto the scene in 2013, I won the very first Masters. I won them three times. And I feel really lucky that I have won the second edition of the World Championship.
There were a lot of people telling me I was favourite to win the tournament. But of course, that’s only people talking from a bookmakers’ point of view. You have to go out there, pot the balls and get the job done. It’s irrelevant whether you’re the favourite or not.
I have dedicated the last 13 years of my life to playing this particular cue sport. So, to now be able to win a world title is like a dream come true, to be honest.
Heyball’s Explosive Growth and the Brisbane Olympics
What is the background nowadays of the players coming into Heyball?
Over the last 13 years, the prize money has increased. Over the last four or five years, the prize money has just exploded beyond what anybody could have imagined. I never thought as a seven-year-old kid starting out playing Eightball pool that we would potentially be playing for $750,000 or even $1 million to the winner of one tournament.
All of the top players from all of the cue sport disciplines, whether it is English pool, American pool, snooker, whatever your background, are seeing the prize money and the prestige. They are starting to make the transition into Heyball. A lot of the top snooker players at some point have played a Heyball tournament, for instance.
I think the big thing to remember is that Heyball is almost a hybrid cue sport between all the other disciplines. The English pool players think that, although the tables are different and the balls are different, it’s still Eightball. The snooker players see it as just a smaller version of a snooker table. The cloth is the same: a Strachan 6811 or No. 10, a napped cloth. And for the American pool players, it’s roughly the same size table, and they use the same balls.
All the players of the three cue sports I’ve just mentioned feel like they could do good in Heyball. This is the reason why you see all of these players from all of these different countries coming to the game and the playing standards are growing worldwide. I think the top-level international players now, whichever country you’re from, are full time Heyball players.
Since the first World Championship last year, Heyball has grown quite considerably in popularity, exposure, and the number of countries that now participate. At this year’s World Championship, there were 38 countries that participated, with the top two or three players from each country from their national rankings. The main stage consisted of 64 players and it was a very prestigious event.
The reason why it took place in Brisbane in Australia is because Joy Billiards have this big campaign at the minute to get Heyball into the 2032 Olympics. The 2032 Olympics will be in Brisbane, so they shifted a lot of the big events over that part of the world in this big build-up to hopefully getting into the 2032 Olympics. They should have a decision as early as March next year. If they get the thumbs up for the Olympics, Heyball will explode worldwide. And if Heyball gets accepted, then I think that it can only be great for the other cue sport disciplines.
The Mental Battle of Short Races and High Pressure
Pressure and Tournament Standards
Was there more pressure for you at this second World Championship?
Yes, because, to be honest, the first one was a new thing. It was relatively small. It was in Slovenia. There weren’t that many top players attending it. But because Heyball grew so much in the last 12 months, the competition was much fierce.
We all know the standard in China is unbelievably high. There are around 2000 players over there that are amazing. The criteria for World Championships, Olympic Games, Asian Games, can only be the top two or three from each country anyway. And most countries did have their top two or three players representing.
So, it was definitely a much bigger event and definitely a more gratified World Championships in terms of standard of players. It was all played live on TV. There was pressure because it was all hosted and ran in partnership with Joy Billiards — who I am the brand ambassador for — and with the World Pool Association. Seen as the number one ranked international player in the world, all that brings obviously its own pressure in itself to do well.
Short Races, High Stakes, and Mental Resilience
It was quite short races. It was only races to seven all the way through. I understand that a lot of sports are maybe going towards easier viewing, quicker, faster, more exciting matches. But from a player’s point of view, when you’re used to playing big races, especially in China, in the major events we play first round race to 13, double elimination, then race to 15, race to 17, and then in the finals race to 21. A race to 21 is a huge race.
During the final in Brisbane, it was still a race to seven. From that point of view, it adds its own pressure because there’s no time to relax. The start of every single match is so important. But I understand from a viewing point of view, a race to seven is exciting to watch. It can be over in 30 minutes if someone wins 7-0 or 7-1. So, short races bring its own pressure in itself.
The semifinals, I was 3-0 behind and won 7-4. And also in the final, I was 3-0 behind and won 7-4. 3-0 behind in a race to seven, you’re in trouble. 3-0 behind in a race to 13 or 15 or 21, it’s still okay; you can still relax. That side of the tournament was different for me, and I was obviously over the moon with the win, especially, as I’ve said, the fact that I was 3-0 behind in the semifinals and in the final.
It wasn’t like I was 3-0 down and I’d missed loads of chances. In the final, for example, I came to the table once. He broke, cleared. He broke dry. He cleared; 2-0 down. I came to the table. I played one safety shot, and the next minute I’m 3-0 down. So, it wasn’t like I did anything wrong. I played against Sina Valizadeh from Iran in the final. He’s a very good player.
But the fact that I hadn’t made any mistakes and I was 3-0 down was not ideal, and I had just to be patient. Not panic. Because if the chances come your way, you have to be ready to take them.
The psychology in cue sports is a huge percentage. You have to have the physical skill and capability. But you also need to have the mental capabilities to be able to deal with situations like being 3-0 down. Playing cue sports, especially playing short races like this, you have to be mentally prepared for anything to happen.
This is a sort of underrated area in cue sports where the mental side of the game is so important. You see so many players that make mistakes and it affects them in the next frame and the next frame and so on. You have to reset and play the next frame as though nothing’s happened. I understand that is easier said than done. But I certainly think that in these big matches, certainly in the short races, you have to be quite mentally strong.
The Future of Heyball and Personal Motivation
The Strongest Heyball Nations and the English Pool Advantage
What are for you the Top 5 countries besides China who are putting out the strongest Heyball players?
India is definitely one of the countries which is up and coming.
Australia also, as it is a predominantly English Eightball playing nation, and Heyball is greatly pushed in this country because of the upcoming Olympics. I know for a fact a lot of the top English pool players in Australia, Jake McCartney, for example, who is the number one English Eightball player in Australia, is now playing Heyball full time.
And then you have a lot of the Asian countries. Places like Malaysia, Indonesia, they have some really good players coming out of there. In Vietnam, many of the American pool players are starting to make the transition to Heyball.
Finally, I would have to say the UK. If you look at the history of the last 13 years, the players that have done best in the big events in China are the UK based players with an English pool background.
Heyball has been going for 40 or 50 years, and there was always this debate about which cue sport discipline players would actually be the best at Heyball. They didn’t know if the snooker players making the transition would be the best. They didn’t know if it was the American pool players that would be the best. Or whether it would be the English pool players or if any other cue sport discipline players would actually be good at it. But the history of the last 13 years tells that the English Eightball playing background players have achieved the most in Heyball so far.
Unwavering Motivation and Future Goals
Now that you have won everything in Heyball and in English Eightball, what are your next objectives and what keeps you motivated?
I’m still unbelievably motivated and hungry to play and win. Of course, all of the prize money and everything else is great, but that’s not what motivates me. What motivates me is winning trophies and winning tournaments. And I’m still as hungry and as motivated as ever.
I still enjoy the practice, which I think is the big thing. I still get up early in the morning, do my routine, go to the gym, put the practice in. I still really enjoy doing all of that. So, the motivation is definitely as high as ever, to be honest.
I suppose on January 1st, I’m not the kind of people that sit down and set myself a load of goals. I understand people who do that; I’m not one of those people. Every single tournament I play in, whether it be a smaller one, whether it be an exhibition match, whether it be the World Championship, whether it be the Olympics one day, whatever it is, every single tournament I play, I try to give it 100%. And of course, I try my absolute hardest to win it no matter what tournament it is. Whatever it is, I’ll give everything 100%.
So, I suppose the answer is just to continue to improve my CV and just continue to win as many tournaments as I can. Hopefully, in seven or eight years away from now, there’s going to be an Olympic Championship. There’s going to be an Asian Games, which is the biggest one below the Olympics. There’s the World Games; there’s load and load of big things that I would, of course, like to add to it.
The drive is still there; the hunger is still there. As long as that’s still there, it’s just a matter of trying to win as many tournaments as I can. I’m 42 years old now. I’ve been playing cue sports since I was seven years old. And to be honest, I feel as hungry as ever to achieve and win tournaments.
