St Marks Special School Newbridge Co Kildare is one of our first special schools to join RILSA.  We donated a full size snooker table to the school.  The School caters for 32 girls at present.

We were delighted to have St Marks on board, the interest in cue sports at the school is fantastic, with access to the table each day the students are making great use of it.

Aileen O’Brien one of the teachers at the school is very supportive and encourages the students to at least try out the sport.  We look forward to seeing all the students and teachers in the near future.

Due to the Coved situation, the school has not been able to access the tables over the past year or so but they are really looking forward to getting back to playing the sport soon.

These initiatives by RILSA to get cue sports into schools will eventually change the perception among young people that both females and males can play such sports on a level playing field.

As part of our National Development plan, we have made great progress in seeing participation among young girls increase over the past 8 years.  Aidan Murray our National Billiards Coach visits the school on a weekly basis giving coaching and encouragement to all the school students.  His input and dedication is very much appreciated by us at RILSA and indeed St Marks School.

Part of our 10 year plan is to set up a coaching programme within our member schools where the students can learn the basics.

Our main objective is to step up participation and awareness among young girls and encourage them to play cue sports with the knowledge that the Republic of Ireland Ladies Snooker Association are there to help and support all the way, should they wish to advance through the levels within the Association.

While many of our girls play within the school domain, some have ventured out to play competitively at National Intermediate and Amateur events that are available to them.

Our National Primary School Championship, National U21 Championship and National Special Needs Championship have been well attended and supported over the past 8 years along with events at County level.

We hope to get this school and many others back up and running by the end of 2021.

This is a previous post and photos prior to covid-19