Last weekend I returned to beautiful Austria for the last time in 2025 to hold an elite training camp on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th of December for the Austrian Billiards & Snooker Association in the ÖSBV Academy in the city of Vienna.
The Players
Attendance at this camp were the top eight Austrian ranked amateur players who were training ahead of the 2026 National Championship and the 2026 European Championships. Also attending this 2-day camp were top junior players plus the Austrian professional player Florian Nüßle who was preparing for the World Snooker Shootout in Blackpool.
Florian Nüßle, Oskar Charlesworth, Mario Bodlos, Lukas Stötzer, Thomas Janzso, Timo Gampersberger, Paul Schopf, Richard Alge, Josef Wimmer, Patrick Stift, Emil Becker, Jerome Liedtke, Florian Toth and Milan Dobrosavljevic were invited this 2-day Camp.
This camp will go down in the history books when Florian Nüßle and Oskar Charlesworth both knocked in superb 147 breaks on my Academy Box Break. It was incredible to watch both players control the cue ball and stayed so cool under pressure to achieve these practice maximums.
Venue
The training facilities again were top class in the ÖSBV Academy, I was delighted to see all the players motivated to improve at this camp. The players were very eager to learn and I am very confident; we are developing the Austrian level at each camp.
High Quality Camp
This camp we concentrated my specific academy drills focusing on Break-Building, Mini Breaks, Open Breaks, Cue Ball Control, Long Potting and Matchplay plus we held a 10min Shoot-Out.
On Day 1, Florian Nüßle won the Challenge event, Florian also won the Break Building event, Paul Schopf won the match-play event and it was Patrick Stift won the shootout event.
On Day 2 Florian won the 6 red event with superb scoring. Austrian top junior Lukas Stötzer won the main scoring, potting and match-play challenge.
Coaching Program
All the players received a copy of a mind fitness booklet on advice on controlling your emotions to improve your mental process in developing a pre-game routine. The players had their technique profiled and got feedback on what fundamentals they need to work on. The players also bring home a copy of their videos to improve at home.
Seminars Mental and physical
National Coach Chau Zi Kim gave a number of Mental Training seminar on becoming mentally stronger plus we also held a fitness session each morning for the players on how to warm up properly.
Training Aids
The latest training aids were used to enhance the sessions like the Mini Domin Eye, Master Doctor, QLine, Str8aim SA-1 & SA-2, Chris Henry Balls, Academy laser and the EBSA Coaching Balls to help to get the players on the line of aim and develop a smoother stroke in their delivery.
Thank You
I would personally like to thank the Austrian Association for their continued support and inviting me again to hold more camps with their National Teams players in 2025 – 2026.
I would like to thank Austrian President Christian Fock and Sports Director Patrick Stegmeier plus National Coach Chau Zi Kim and EBSA Coach Florian Schidla along with the ÖSBV Academy for their assistance during this camp.
Good Luck
It was a pleasure training everyone again and keep on training hard and believe in yourself.
See you all in 2026.
Auf Wiedersehen
