Meet five-year-old snooker star already beating adults on full-sized tables

Fred Richards, from Huddersfield, is taking the snooker world by storm with an ability far beyond his years and infectious love for the sport.

He picked up a cue aged two, and started playing on a snooker on a table "the size of a piece of paper" after he became transfixed on a game on TV, despite his parents' disinterest.

Fred joined Levels Snooker Club Huddersfield aged three, half the usual joining age, and, aged four, he won his junior division with over 20 victories across the year.

He has a highest break of 18 on a full-sized 12ft x 6ft snooker table, and has played hundreds of snooker games.

Kate, a stay-at-home mother aged 36, and Iain, a 38-year-old scaffolder, previously had no interest in snooker but as a result of their son's passion, are hooked as well.

Iain said: "Fred lives and breathes snooker. Everything's about it. In the morning, he'll come downstairs and straight away he'll say 'can I watch snooker?' Then he'll find some on YouTube, he's super passionate.

"I used to resent it as a kid because my grandparents would come down from Scotland for two weeks and just watch snooker all the time, so I could never watch TV, but now, because of Fred, I enjoy it a lot.

"I played him the other day and raced into a little bit of a lead which surprised me more than anyone.

"By the end of the game, he'd absolutely wiped the floor with me - it's quite embarrassing when you're at the club and a five-year-old is absolutely smashing balls in like it's for fun, but it's fun to share a passion with him."

Fred, whose journey is being documented on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, said: "My favourite part of snooker is potting balls. I love long pots!

"My favourite is Ronnie O'Sullivan because he can play with his right hand and his left hand. I would like to win the world championship one day. I'd like the Masters trophy because I like the balls in the triangle!"

Kate says Fred became hooked on snooker aged two.

The mother, who originally spoke to Sell Us Your Story, said: "We're always woken up at 7 o'clock with the sound of balls clicking on the six foot table we have in the kitchen.

"He was never a TV kid, wouldn't sit and watch telly at all.

"Then one day he found snooker and ages later he was still sat watching it. We had no interest in snooker, found it dull, but him watching it meant we could have new sofas delivered without him causing havoc.

"So we got him a tiny, tiny pool table one Christmas and he was potting all the balls in a few seconds, so we ended up getting him a six foot table at my dad's and it was a bit ridiculous, he just loved it and was really good at it."

Fred was beating his grandfather at the game aged three.

Kate said: "My dad was playing with him a lot and started by giving him a handicap but by the time Fred was three he had to stop because he couldn't win.

"Iain knows the owner of the social club in the village and he said we could come down while it's closed as the members wouldn't be too happy to see a three-year-old on the table. So we went down and Fred was instantly potting balls or nearly potting on a full-sized snooker table.

"We were just like 'oh well, all three-year-olds could do this they just don't have the interest', and the guy quickly told us no, get him to a club, he's something special."

As a result, Fred was taken to Levels in Huddersfield, where he plays every Saturday and spends his pocket money on coaching lessons from former pro Ian Williamson.

He's Ian's "youngest ever" pupil, with the former world no. 47 not realising Fred was younger than his usual acceptance age until "Fred announced he'd turned four on his birthday".

Kate launched Fred's TikTok page a year ago and she and Iain have since been overwhelmed by the community's interest in Fred, with BBC and ITV broadcasting features on him at the World Championships and his club respectively, and Woodhouse Cues gifting Fred a state-of-the-art cue.

For his parents, the main thing is that Fred continues to enjoy himself.

Kate said: "We thought it was going to pass but he's only got more passionate. When he was at preschool we'd never get a picture of us, it was only snooker tables with all the coloured balls in the right places. His 16-month-old brother Stan loves it too.

"He loves playing in the Fanzone in Sheffield, loves crowds watching him. And he knows every player.

"We just want him to keep having fun, there's a danger if you push him too much he starts to resent it, and he's usually so tired after school he doesn't play. So we have to set all of Saturday aside and he loves it.

Iain added: "The community is so nice, the Levels club owner Kev has been incredible and people we meet always say 'you've got a future World Champion here, he'll play at the Crucible'.

"We don't know snooker particularly well but there's an awful lot of people saying we've got something special, so it's our job to keep it fun for as long as he wants to do it."