Erin’s playing the angles for top pool prize

DURBAN student Erin Lazarus wants to pocket the Blackball International’s World Championships singles title in Bridlington, England, in October.

That would be the pinnacle of an already impressive list of cue sports achievements for the 20-year-old business science and finance student at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

With the world’s leading exponents of blackball pool expected in Birdlington, Lazarus believes the single title was in her range to pocket, and she’s optimistic that team South African can also land overall honours.

“My goal is to win the singles and the team event in the UK,” said Lazarus, of Durban North.

“I’m playing in a lot of local club competitions to get into a competitive mindset.”

Playing in international competitions is not uncharted territory for the former Durban Girls’ College pupil who started playing pool five years ago, encouraged by her father Ian.

She became the youngest player to make the national team with selection for the World Championships in Australia in 2020, but that didn’t materialise because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Lazarus made the KZN Under-18 and Under-23 teams in 2019 and also won the singles competition during trials for the ladies team in the same year.

“That was my first big win at competition level. I was a bit surprised because the previous year I was well beaten in the same tournament.”

At the 2020 SA Nationals in Bloemfontein she gave further notice to her prodigious talent by finishing sixth overall.

Her spirits sunk when the 2020 trip “Down Under” was cancelled.

Lazarus was on song again at the 2021 KZN trials, earning a place at the national championship, but she chose to give it a miss. She accepted an offer to play in the Under-18 division of the 9-Ball World Junior Champs in Austria.

Lazarus put her elimination in the early rounds of the competition down to being a newbie in that version of the game, played on a larger table.

“I started to play 9-Ball three months before the competition, so I was still adjusting to this format.

“It was eye opening for me to see how professional the game was overseas. I learnt a lot in Austria,” she said.

She bounced back with an exceptional performance at the May 2022 SA Nationals, finishing second overall and with a place in the national team selected for the World Championships in Morocco.

Lazarus regards Morocco as her best performance on an international stage.

“My doubles partner and I won that section. I got knocked out in the quarter-finals in the singles competition and team SA lost in the final.”

There was more success for Lazarus at the highest levels last year.

After placing fourth at the SA Nationals, she represented the country at the All Africa competition in Johannesburg where she was part of the winning ladies team.

A week later, she featured at the Hawley Cup, also in Joburg.

There, team SA lost in the final, and she fared well in the singles and doubles competition, bagged a bronze medal in the mixed doubles event.

To earn her selection for the UK, she finished third overall during qualifying in Durban in April.

Lazarus said a visit to the Chiltern Park pool hall in Westville five years ago was where it all began for her.

Ian Lazarus was a member of the club and an avid pool player. He was celebrating his birthday with family at the hall when his daughter tried her hand at the game.

She admits it didn’t go well but Ian continued to encourage and coach her on the rudiments of the game.

He bought a pool table, allowing him to nurture Erin’s pool playing ability at home.

“The more I played, the better I got, and my dad was supportive all the time.”

Lazarus said she was never intimidated when playing against male opponents in open competitions.

“When I beat guys, some take it on the chin and others don’t want to even shake your hand afterwards. I don’t get troubled by that.

“When I play pool, It is an escape from reality... I feel like I can breathe and it takes my mind off things,” said Lazarus.