Rita Holmes

Rita Holmes (born c. 1917 is an English retired player of the cue sports of snooker and English billiards. She won the UK Women's Amateur Snooker Championship four times: on her debut in 1953 and again in 1957, 1958 and 1963. She retired from snooker in 1964 to concentrate on her primary career of teaching dancing, but after overcoming an injury, played in the 2006 British Open.

Rita Holmes
Bornc. 1917
Sport countryEngland

Biography

Rita Holmes was born c. 1917.[1] Her father owned the Midland Billiard Club in Leyton, London.[2] Holmes started playing snooker in about 1950, and seeing Rosemary Davies, who was the 1952 Women's Amateur Snooker Champion play, decided to take up the game seriously; her father arranged for snooker professional Sydney Lee to coach her.[3][2] At the same time, Holmes was running the Rita Maureen School of Dance at Chingford; her previous job had been as a ledger clerk at a bank in Westcliff, but she resigned to concentrate on teaching dancing.[2] At 5-foot 1 inch tall, Holmes used a cue that was four inches shorter than the standard.[1]

After about 11 months of coaching, Holmes decided to enter the 1953 Women's Amateur Snooker Championship to gain experience.[4][5] She won the tournament, defeating Maureen Barrett 4–3 in the final.[6] The following year, she reached the final again, but this time lost 0–4 to Barrett. A match report in The Billard Player concluded that Holmes had been "too cautious and careful" in her playing approach.[6]

Holmes regained the title in 1957. After leading Pat Ayres 3–0 at the interval, she won 4–2. The correspondent for The Billiard Player called Holmes a "worthy champion" and commended her potting, but thought she should seek to improve her potitional play and use of side.[7] Holmes reached the championship final for ten successive years in all, with two further title, in 1958 and 1963. She then retired to competitive play, to concentrate on teaching dancing.[1][4] She taught tap dancing and musical-comedy dance.[8]

In 2006, she made a return to competition, aged 73, playing in the women's British Open. She won 3–0 against Laura Alves to reach the quarter-finals, where she was defeated 2–4 to Suzie Opacic.[4][5] She had taken up playing again after successful treatment to the effects of an injury.[5] After this, she started coaching from professional Dominic Dale, and was intending to enter the 2007 World Women's Snooker Championship, but one week before that tournament, she had a stroke that affected her eyesight and was unable to play.[9]

References
  1. Bromley, John (17 March 1964). "Sportlight". Daily Mirror. p. 27.
  2. "Women's billiards and snooker". The Billiard Player. December 1953. p. 9.
  3. "Quickstep to snooker title?". Shields Daily Gazette. 15 October 1953. p. 13.
  4. Bagchi, Rob (22 April 2021). "Meet snooker's first 'gorgeous bachelor girl' of the baize: Rita Holmes won four Women's Amateur Championships in an extraordinary career that began in 1953 and ended in 2007". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 16 May 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  5. "Women's snooker icons: Rita Holmes". World Women's Snooker. 2 October 2020. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  6. "Women's amateur snooker c'ship". The Billiard Player. November 1954. p. 9.
  7. "Rita Holmes again women's amateur snooker champion". The Billiard Player. November 1957. p. 15.
  8. "Pat on the back". Sports Illustrated. Vol. 2, no. 5. 31 January 1955.
  9. Jackson, Greg (15 February 2007). "Snooker pro coaches Minehead snooker veteran". Somerset County Gazette. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
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