Predator New Zealand Junior 9 Ball Tour - Under 17 Counties Open

**UNDER 17 ENTRY LINK ONLY - U21 and U19 see other post for entry link**

Welcome to the first tour event of the 2023 Predator New Zealand Junior 9 Ball Tour, the Counties Open! Our junior players will be competing for ranking points that will be used to select the team to compete in the WPA Predator World Junior 9 Ball Championships! The tour follows the same age groupings as the World Championships in that we have under 17 and under 19 age divisions. However, we have mixed age divisions in terms of gender, rather than having separate divisions for boys and girls. We have also included an under 21 division to cater for those juniors moving from junior to senior play (there is no WPA competition for this age group).

The Counties Open leg of the tour will take place on Sunday March 26 at Massé Pukekohe and play will start at 9:30am. Entries will be accepted via Cue Score and will close on Friday Match 24 at noon. To help remove financial barriers to participation and to help grow the sport at the junior level, the Board of the New Zealand Pool Association has decided that all junior tournaments will be free to enter. Annual membership dues will not be required to have been paid for this tournament as our online system is still being developed. The annual NZPA membership for juniors will be $10 for 2023.

Powered by Predator, the Counties Open leg of the 2023 Predator New Zealand 9 Ball Tour will be played on Predator Apex 9-foot pool tables covered in Predator Arcadia Reserve professional pool table cloth. Predator Arcos II billiard balls will be used along with the Predator Aerorack billiard triangle. The Predator Arena Billiard Light will also be used on the TV table. The latter stages of the event will be streamed, and we will provide a link to the stream later in the week. In essence, we are attempting to replicate the equipment and conditions our juniors will play in when they compete at the World Championships.

This event is open to all juniors, and while some will be aiming to gain a spot to represent New Zealand, we strongly encourage all juniors of all levels to enter, even those giving the sport a go for the first time. Cue sports is a game for life and there’s no better time to start than now!