A SCHEME hatched in East Lancashire that uses snooker as an educational tool is set to be rolled out across the country.

Chris Lovell’s idea to use the game he loves to help children improve their English and mathematical skills has been taken on board by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association.

A total of 12 schools from across the country – from Middlesbrough down to Essex – will be running pilot schemes with the aim of getting more schools involved.

Accrington Academy is one of the dozen educational establishments that is on the pilot scheme and Lovell is delighted to see his plan finally come to fruition.

“This is something we have done on a smaller scale in the local area and it has been incredibly successful,” said Lovell who works for North Lancs Training Group and is World Snooker’s Head Coach. “The WPBSA were impressed by what we were doing so we adapted what we do to turn it in to a national initiative.”

Entitled Cue Zone, the aim is to increase participation in snooker via schools while also using the game to enhance children’s maths and English development.

This comes by using red and colour combinations to create enjoyable mathematical problems for pupils and students to work out.

Lovell has worked tirelessly on the programme along with snooker legend Steve Davis who is now a familiar face in clubs and schools across East Lancashire.

It was back in 2007 that Lovell and Davis developed a concept in order to try and engage young people into snooker – firstly introducing music as a back drop before quickly realising their was an opportunity to use it to help improve learning.

The Cue Zone into Schools programme will see Lovell and Davis work closely with teachers and pupils who able to use it as a unit towards a BTEC coaching unit while some schools are looking to include it in to GCSE curriculum.

The aim is to train teachers to become world snooker coaches who in turn can help pupils work towards becoming community coaches.

Each school will have its own Cue Zone with series of snooker tables to for teaches and pupils to continue to carry out their learning methods.

While it is a labour of love for Lovell, he is indebted to Jim Harkness for NLTG for his support.

“If it wasn’t for Jim we wouldn’t be able to do what we do,” said Lovell, a talent snooker player himself. “He believes in the concept and thanks to his support, we are now looking at making it a national initiative.”

As well as using snooker to help children learn, Lovell’s big aim is to get more youngsters playing the sport.

“It is a great game to play and you have people like Steve Davis who the youngsters look up to,” added Lovell.

“We have worked hard over the years to get to where we are now, whether it was getting kids off street corners and giving them something to focus on or now using it to help them better themselves.

“Our aim is to get 10,000 more kids playing snooker by April 2014 and that is what we are working towards.”