Today we’d like to introduce you to Zia Sheik.
Hi Zia, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I was born and raised in India and moved to the US in 2014. Snooker is a popular game in India. I started playing snooker in my school days (10th grade) and would often skip classes to hang out at the snooker clubs. My passion for the game only grew as my skills improved.
When I moved to the US, I lived in Florida (Tampa) and found that snooker was not as popular here as it was in India. While pool halls are plentiful, and a few even have a snooker table tucked away in a dusty corner, they are not the quality table I’m accustomed to playing on. What’s even harder to find are people who know the rules of the game. If I was fortunate enough to find a billiards hall with a snooker table, I was often left playing alone. In 2016, I moved to California (Sunnyvale) and was excited to connect with a snooker club there. Not only was I once again reunited with a proper set-up including a club-grade table, but I was surrounded by those that had the same skill and passion for the game. Participating in monthly competitions and playing alongside some of the nation’s top competitors rejuvenated my love for the game. I won multiple monthly tournaments at the club and played in the Pan American tournaments and US & Canada tournaments.
When my wife and I relocated to the Nashville area in 2018, I once again found myself in a snooker desert. When I looked for a snooker club in Nashville, I couldn’t find one. Not only was Nashville without a club, but there wasn’t a club within the entire state of Tennessee! I decided then that I would buy a professional grade table and start my own private club in our home as a start-up. The best option was to take baby steps; buy 1 professional snooker table and spread the word in the hopes of growing the snooker community in Nashville.
Planning and execution took 3 years, and I am proud to offer the First Private Snooker Academy of Tennessee that provides the same playing conditions the pros enjoy. We have 1 Xingpai Professional Star Tournament snooker table fitted with Strachan #10 cloth, a professional predator arena snooker light, and a professional digital scoreboard. Nashville Snooker Academy also offers to coach beginners. Our mission is to promote snooker and introduce the younger generation to this beautiful game. I’m marketing my business via online social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and word of mouth.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I wish I could say it was a smooth road. Since I decided I would set up a snooker table in my home, the biggest challenge was finding a house that had a bonus/rec room large enough to accommodate a 12ft snooker table, with adequate playing space on all sides. After a year of searching, we found a house with a bonus/rec room of 23’ x 21’ that would accommodate the table. As soon as we moved in, I quickly went to work readying the snooker room. A 12’ snooker table weighs ~2,800 lbs and we needed our second-floor bonus/rec room to be able to accommodate the weight of a small passenger vehicle. We hired a structural engineer to inspect the space and it was suggested that we reinforce the floor with 8 additional beams to hold the weight of 3,000 lbs. We hired a local contractor to complete the work, had the space painted, and installed new flooring.
Now that I had the space, I needed the table. I wanted to get the same grade snooker table that is used in professional championships in order to provide the best experience to the players in Nashville. I began working with the world’s #1 snooker table manufacturer located overseas, to build a snooker table identical to the tables used in professional championship tournaments across the globe. I ordered the custom-made table, which took 6 months to manufacture and ship to Nashville. When it arrived, it was significantly damaged, and half of the shipment was missing. After 1 year of back and forth with thousands of emails, calls, and messages, the manufacturer agreed to send a new table. Then the pandemic struck and the manufacturer was shut down for several months. Once they did reopen, a new table was manufactured and shipped. It took about 2 years from the date of the original order for the manufacturer to send me the snooker table I wanted.
As this is a professional grade and as such, a very expensive table, I wanted to ensure I had the best installation team I could find. I hired a professional team from overseas and flew them to the US to assemble the table. Overall, it took 3 years to set up Nashville Snooker Academy.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a corporate employee by day, serving as the Senior Director of Operations for a firm specializing in staffing and consulting. I have 18 years of work experience in operations. I have worked for top tech, healthcare, staffing, and consulting companies.
I have multicultural work experience. The creative solutions, strategic planning, and precision I apply to my day job intertwine with my approach to snooker, and the two complement each other, allowing me to utilize a similar skill set in each arena.
I am currently focusing on growing my business, spreading the word and awareness about snooker in Nashville. I’m continuously looking for like minded people who would like to invest in Nashville Snooker Academy and help grow the snooker community in Nashville and create new snooker champions from Nashville .
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
Snooker is definitely growing in the US and new snooker clubs are opening across the country, which is very encouraging to see. USSA is continuously working towards growing the snooker community in the US. Many of us across the country are working to promote the game in the US and having clubs to play is a key part of this. History was created by the US this year by hosting the first US Women’s Snooker Open tournament at OX Billiards in Seattle. OX Billiards is a great club, and the tournament was very beautifully organized by Michael Dominguez and definitely made all of us proud. If we continue to grow the snooker community in the US, we can definitely expect to see the US hosting the World Men’s & Women’s Snooker Championships and I don’t see a reason why someone from the US is not winning these titles.
Our hope is to expand awareness and provide an outlet, one table at a time.
The goal in the formation of Nashville Snooker Academy in middle Tennessee is to help spark interest in the game and provide a space for those familiar with the game to play.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.nashvillesnookeracademy.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nashvillesnookeracademy/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nashvillesnookeracademy/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCgw8nfCOpmKl0rYWzSKNb5Q
