I started playing on holiday in 1998. I got addicted really fast and wanted to play more so my dad (Boris) looked up some places to play around our area. We found the Rainbow Snooker Club where some top players at the time were playing. I began to learn from them, though mainly Tanny Iqbal, Dave Perrott, Les Jones, Benge McHugh, Eddie Edwards, Stuart Cree and my dad. They were all kicking my ass for a couple of months until I got a lot better and learnt a brush pass and snake. 

I won my first Open Singles title at the end of 1999 beating Bruce, Tanny and Tich Degun along the way; I was thirteen at the time and I was really happy. My confidence was always high and relishing beating older players was very motivating. Often being younger was an advantage as they didn't want to lose to a kid.

In 2000 I went to the Hall of Fame Classic in Las Vegas with my dad. We took 4th in Rookie Doubles and I think I was 5th in Rookie Singles, I also won 17&Under Doubles too. I was really satisfied with these results as no Brittish player in the past has ever made a large impact in the US before. I took alot from this tournament, meeting and playing against lots of top players which helped improve my game phenomenally.

In National Events I teamed up with Dave Perrott and my dad teamed up with Stuart Cree. Dave helped me improve my mental game and with developing other options to my game which I didn't know about, like a straight pull shot - before then I only went long. We made a successful team winning a lot of national tournaments.

In 2001 I went to the Tornado Worlds in Dallas, Texas with Dave Perrott and my dad. I was fifteen at the time. I went there as the highest seeded rookie with expectations to win it. Then I got there and saw Tony Spredeman playing as a rookie. I faced off against him about six or seven times over that weekend in nearly every event. I was 2nd in Rookie Doubles, 2nd in Rookie Mixed, 4th in Rookie Singles and 2nd in 17&Under Doubles losing the final to Tony Spredeman and Ryan Moore on the very last ball in the deciding game.

I was dominating the UK scene by this time. In November of 2001 we went to the Dutch Open in the Netherlands; all the top European pros were there: world number one Frederic Collignon and his doubles partner Jamal Allalou, as well as the top German and Dutch players, and some Brits. I played the winners final of OS against Frederic. All the crowd were behind me and I won 5-3 in the 5th game. I then beat Frederic and partner Henk Habets in the Draw-Your-Partner event too just after it. In the final of both fred came back and beat me twice - I was satisfied with the weekend.

At the Tornado World Championships in 2002 in Dallas, Wolfgang Reszler and I won Semi-Pro Doubles in a field of over two hundred and thirty teams. Coming from the losers side we beat a Texan team twice in the final - I was over the moon.

The same year I was at the Garlando World Championships where I saw a completely different style of play: tic-tacking, and an array of faster, different shots which amazed me at the time. I started to practice all of them so that I could bring everything I learnt into my own style of play - always leaving my opponent guessing what will happen next.

During the next couple of years my game didn't really improve as my results in the US showed. I didn't really have any good results as I turned pro and had no other events to fall back on, though my results in Europe were very good, winning tournaments in Austria a few times and getting to world finals on Garlando, Roberto Sport and Eurosoccer. My Tornado game wasn't going anywhere though.

During 2005/2006 I made a couple of breakthroughs over in the US, probably because I was living with Billy Pappas for a number of months and we were practicing a lot together and learning different things. I feel I was part of the reason as to why Billy was so dominant in those two years - he won the Tornado World Championships both years I was staying with him. My results were quite good too, winning Pro Singles and Doubles in the same tournament in 2005. I also took top three in Open Mixed a couple of times in Las Vegas and placed top five in Open Singles in most tournaments. This gave me more confidence against the top players and playing them more made it easier for me.

The first World Cup was in 2006. We took a good team and we played our hearts out, but we were unfortunate to get drawn against France in the first round as they were a Bonzini team and most of our players weren't comfortable on this table. Hopefully this time around we will be ready to face them, and any team we come up against. We did play good matches against Canada and Germany though, showing that we can compete at the top level as a nation. In the following two World Cups in 2009 and 2010 we performed admirably, but were unable to create any major upsets and felt that we were a goal or so away from meeting our true potential.

This World Cup we are taking the strongest possible team in my opinion - we have experience on all table types and all the squad have had much more international experience. I have noticed over the last 4 years that there is a new  crop of players who are standing out in the UK, playing to a much higher level than before. I am proud and honoured to captain this team and I can't wait to get stuck in!

Wish us the best of luck!

Rob Atha

2010 Tour Events

• WCS Nations Cup Team: Tecball
• WCS Nations Cup Team: Garlando
• WCS Nations Cup Team: Roberto Sport
• Men's World Cup Team