Kelly Fisher - Part 2 (From Snooker Prodigy to the World Stage )

Mike Gonzalez 0:14

So back to uh Mark's line of questioning as you were working with Lionel and developing your game. Give our listeners an idea of some of the drills that you would have been doing in Snooker back then. And are they a lot different than pool drills, or are some of the things the same?

Kelly Fisher 0:30

They're very different than pool drills, I would say. I mean, uh obviously the snooker table being 12 foot by six foot, it's a lot bigger. There's more areas to work on in some respects. There's, you know, there's more drill layouts, I think, that you can possibly come up with. Nowadays, they've got certainly more than what I knew of back then. But the lineup being the famous one that we all had to do, Ali, right? Day in, day out, the lineup. Absolutely. And and that's basically you've got your colours on the spots, and you line the reds all the way up the middle, and you just try and red colour, red colour, clearing them up, and then you clear the colours at the end, and then ultimately your goal is to try and get a 147 doing that, doing all blacks, and then you may try all pinks. And if you can't, you go and you can choose any colour. But nowadays that they've expanded on that, and they've got the T one and the V one and the cross one lineup, they still call it lineup, but then we did the colour clearance, and you know, you clear the colours in order, and then off the black you try and get back on the yellow and see how many, how many loops you can do, how many times you can consecutively clear it, and that one sticks out, and then the long blues for your straight queuing, uh that you know, you've got 15 reds, and you've got as my coach Lionel used to say, you're not stopping till you get 13 out of 15 on each side, but the one that still haunts me to this day, and it's Steve Davis was apparently was famous for saying about this drill that what he was made to do when he was young, and you'll probably know Ali, up and down the spots. So basically, on the brown spot, you put two balls at either side. We do it in pool too, and you basically hit the ball up and down through the middle of the spots, and it's got to come back and go through them two balls. Now, it started out where my goal was five in a row, ten in a row, to a point where line land me up to 60 in a row, and if I got to 59 or 58, I had to start again. Oh no, if he told me to do that nowadays, you know what I'd be saying, right? What would you say, Kelly? Well, uh I could bleep it. I mean, even yeah, exactly. You might have to, but even from the age of the age of 15, you could have bleeped it, probably maybe not, but but no, it would warm me down that drill, did it really did because he was very strict with me on that. Yeah, it was very strict with me on that. So that haunts me. And I sometimes I do it on pool just to check that I'm queuing straight, you know. What one or two times? Exactly. That's what I was just about to say with you, took the words out of my mouth. There's certainly not 50 of them going on, though. But when I teach, I tell people they need to do 20 at least.

Allison Fisher 3:23

Well, Mark met Steve Davis and had that experience himself, didn't you, Mark? So you got to see it firsthand of a snooker player. And the other thing I think with the drills of a snooker is that we used a lot of draw and stun shots, didn't we? You know, not as many spin shots as you do at Paul. You're very rarely on the outside of the ball. So it's a very different game in many respects.

Kelly Fisher 3:44

And somewhat easier in some respects and more difficult in others. You know, it's really people often ask me, and I and it's not really that easy to explain, other than I feel snooker tells you what to do. You know, it's red colour, you've got a few you've got multiple choice pretty much all the time until you get down to the colours, but they're always in a rough position, you know, in an average game. So that's the easier part of it, I'd say, compared to pull, especially rotation. But then obviously you've got the size of the pockets, the accuracy required for that is certainly a lot more than American pull. And then you've got the size of the table, you know. So I think there's definitely Yeah, definitely.

Allison Fisher 4:29

You can't cheat the pockets in any way.

Mike Gonzalez 4:32

So the the safety decisions you two would make in a game, what was sort of your decision criteria you made between what I guess what degree of confidence do I need to have that I can pot the ball versus defaulting to a safety? Is it the same standard that you might play to in a nine-ball, let's say, or eight ball?

Allison Fisher 4:55

Oh, that's an interesting question. It's mostly if you can't really can't make a shot that you're gonna play safe, isn't it?

Kelly Fisher 5:01

Yeah, and I think there's a lot more safe places on a snooker table because and even on the cushion, you know, I think a safety, obviously, a long pot or a ball up the the rail, you're not gonna take on. Some long pots, you know, it's not worth the percentages, are not there. So it's there's a lot more safe places, like I said, but I know what you mean. It it's very difficult, Ali, isn't it?

Allison Fisher 5:27

It's hard to explain it on here. But the other thing in snooker is that you can roll up to a ball, you don't have to hit a rail after contact. That's really big, I think. Yeah, and then and then there's if you're trying to get out of the snooker, there's the miss rule, isn't there? Foul and a miss, where the referee can replace it if he doesn't deem it a good attempt at getting out of the snooker. So it's it's changed a lot over years, I think.

Mike Gonzalez 5:52

Yeah. So you you enjoyed uh you enjoyed those those drills as a kid, huh? And you still did you have to stick with that your whole professional career, I guess, just drill, drill, drill until you finally converted to pool.

Kelly Fisher 6:05

Well, to be honest, I'm a big fan of drills. In my even today, I've I've been doing some drills. So I'm a I'm a big fan of that. I think it's important. Again, you win your fights in the gym, you know, it's no good bashing balls around just playing rack after rack. You need to work on different areas of the game, and I think the the best way to do that is is a variation of drills. I've always been quite disciplined with myself throughout my career, writing down results, especially as I got older. You know, it's it's hard to keep motivated sometimes, and it's hard to keep challenged, especially on a pool table. I find, but again, I was younger when I played Snooker, so I'm sure if I continue to play Snooker, I'd feel that way about Snooker too. It's not about the game, it's just about as you get older, I think. So, in order to keep myself challenged, motivated, I used to set myself goals and targets, and I'd record every day different drills and my result that day, and the next day come in to try and uh to beat that, and that's helped me a lot, you know, and really has helped me a lot. So I'm a big fan of drills, and yeah, Lionel did make me do a lot, so maybe that's it drilled it into me. Yeah, yeah.

Allison Fisher 7:19

I was very much the same. I've found it a lot harder in Paul, you know. Yeah, but you're you're very disciplined, so that's a good thing.

Mark Wilson 7:27

I think a lot of times people lack the enthusiasm for that, and sometimes drills represents drudgery, and you have to be excited about it to benefit from it. So if you're not, then forget it. But you've also kind of sentenced yourself to never becoming what you could have been had you had the constitution to work at it like Kelly has. And a lot of times you look at a talent like Kelly, which is really special, and you think, well, natural ability. And there's actually demeaning to what she's accomplished and given the her heart to the sport. It's not practice up and be good like Kelly, it has to be your lifestyle.

Allison Fisher 8:02

That's definitely correct.

Kelly Fisher 8:03

Well, I mean, for sure, you know, I remember as a teenager and my friends were all meeting up at the weekend, or you know, and the sacrifices. I had tournaments at the weekend, or or you know, hour away, or even just local tournaments and the nights that I'd have with Lionel where the girls would all go over, you know, as teenagers just have a sleepover and things like that. Well, but obviously, same with you, probably, Ali. We we sacrificed things, and I didn't even realise I was sacrificing it at the time, but when I look back, you know, we did really.

Allison Fisher 8:37

We didn't really miss much because we made up for it as adults.

Kelly Fisher 8:40

Although that's for sure. That's for sure. That's probably we've had a great time, haven't we?

Allison Fisher 8:45

I mean, we're traveling the world and the you know, just the camaraderie and the friendships, we've all made up for it in different ways. So it's been fantastic.

Kelly Fisher 8:55

We're very lucky, yeah. And we've we've uh certainly made the most of every situation.

Mike Gonzalez 9:02

And we're gonna come back to some of those situations, but before we do, when did some of the other sports start falling by the wayside and you start getting singularly focused on snooker? Did that take a while?

Kelly Fisher 9:16

Well, I left school early, Mike, to be honest with you. I didn't, I finished the school schooling, but I was the youngest in the year. And everybody else, when you could leave school, or you still can, I think, in the UK, at 16 years old. Yeah, you know, you go into you have a choice if you want to go into sixth form and then college and then university. Back in the day, not everybody did that, and I left as quick as possible. So with being the youngest in the year, I was actually still 15, only just, only just, but I was still 15 when I left school. But I mean, like I say, by weeks, and yeah, off I went. But even when I was at school, my dad asked for it. You won't even imagine this nowadays. My dad had, I was there, met the headmaster of the school, and said, Look, I've been in the newspaper a few times by this point, and he he took the clippings in and he said, Look, she may need quite a lot of Fridays and Mondays off. Would that be okay? She's just at tournaments, and the headmaster said, Yeah, no problem. Don't worry about it. So I didn't really, I didn't really go to school that much. And I always said to Ali when they talk about the two fishes, you know, you've got the commoner, the one me. I didn't go to school much. I'm not that knowledgeable. She's a lot more intelligent me than me, but I'm definitely more streetwise. Oh, she is. Oh my god, we get into that later on, too. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, speaking of streetwise, it's gone.

Mike Gonzalez 10:52

Yeah, yeah. I was I was gonna ask you about uh kung fu and whether uh streetwise you ever had to use your skills uh later in life.

Kelly Fisher 11:03

Yep, here and there. Not all not often, here and there, yeah, here and there.

Mike Gonzalez 11:08

Yeah, that's why Allie, that's why Allie hung with you then, huh?

Kelly Fisher 11:13

Yeah, yeah, yeah. She's a definite protector.

Mike Gonzalez 11:15

Protection.

Kelly Fisher 11:16

We've had a couple of situations, haven't we, Ali? Yeah, you're right. Yeah, Ali's where's Ali? She's behind me. She's behind me. But no, things started after I finished school. Obviously, the other sports, uh I always enjoyed football, played it, and I got trials for a team. And I went to the first trial, and I never went, I didn't go back. Things did start just I don't know, I was I didn't have enough time to do everything. The more and more I got into snooker. So the last one to go was was Kung Fu because I had to get my black belt. I wasn't stopping until then, and I did not stop till then. So yeah, it did I can't remember in what order, but I just time consumption really was all focused around snookering at at that point. And I ended up being full-time by 15 stroke, 16. So every day I was going and practicing and playing snooker.

Mike Gonzalez 12:17

Yeah. So who were some of your early influences in in snooker other than Alison Fisher?

Kelly Fisher 12:24

Well, I was always a Jimmy White fan. Always I mean, I did watch Alex Higgins, but again, I'm I'm a bit younger, so it kind of but I was always, I mean, you Alex Higgins was actually I used to watch because of his flair, but then Jimmy was more current and winning tournaments and you know always on the TV, so he was my favourite for sure. And the likes of you could not not say Steve Davis and then along comes Stephen Hendry, but that was a bit later, so I'd said Jimmy was was definitely the uh the one that I watched the most for sure.

Mike Gonzalez 13:00

Yeah, and pot black was that on then when you were a kid?

Kelly Fisher 13:03

Yeah, me and Ali have been on that, haven't we Allie? Have we?

Allison Fisher 13:07

Did I go on that? Did I go on that? Yeah. No, we were on um the other thing. That's right. What was that called? Big Break. Big Break with Jim Black. We were on Big Black Pot Black, I think Pop Black, was that not before your time?

Kelly Fisher 13:24

I think it was. Yes. All I remember about Pop Black was a magazine, Pop Black.

Allison Fisher 13:28

Oh, yeah.

Kelly Fisher 13:29

That was before my time.

Allison Fisher 13:30

I remember that the sting, the the piano music that used to be introduced, pop black. You knew the show was on, then you'd I'd walk in the lounge knowing that that was on.

Kelly Fisher 13:39

I didn't know that. No. Before my time.

Mike Gonzalez 13:42

I ran into an Australian friend in the UK last last month, and he's a big fan of the show. He says, I too as a kid watch pot black in Australia.

Allison Fisher 13:51

Really? Got around to that show. Yes. Now, Mike, Mike, did you get to play on a snooker table whilst you were in England? You do recently.

Mike Gonzalez 14:01

I did. I and and in uh in Scotland, St. Andrews, there's a place that I go to that has a proper snooker table, beautiful snooker room. Yeah. And uh I take my queue with the smallest diameter shaft that I have and pretend that I know what I'm doing, which I don't. I mean, I remember it's red, yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, black. Not bad, huh? For yeah, yeah.

Kelly Fisher 14:24

Yeah, it's great.

Mike Gonzalez 14:26

But I'm subhorrible, as Mark would say.

Kelly Fisher 14:29

Oh my, it's Mark's expression.

Allison Fisher 14:31

I love that expression. I'm lovable.

Kelly Fisher 14:34

I like that, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 14:35

Yeah. I may often wonder when you guys are faced with a shot. Let's say, let's say you draw a diagonal line from a corner pocket to the opposite corner pocket, right?

Allison Fisher 14:44

Yes.

Mike Gonzalez 14:45

And you've got a ball three feet from one pocket, an object ball, and and a cue ball three feet from the other pocket. So you've got at least six feet, a little bit more between those balls. What percentage of the time are you guys going to pot that shot, a straight shot?

Allison Fisher 15:00

In snooker. Yep. Now or before. Yeah, I was gonna say. Yeah, yeah, yeah. In your print, in your inner. I think before it'd have been a pretty high percentage, don't you? Yeah. But I don't know what percentage it would have been. It certainly wouldn't have been 100%. There's no doubt about that.

Kelly Fisher 15:16

No, but uh 80s, 90s, though you'd fancy, right? I would think so. Yeah. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 15:22

That's pretty straight shooting, though.

Allison Fisher 15:24

Well, you had to be, you had to learn to straight, shoot straight.

Kelly Fisher 15:27

And we practiced it, yeah.

Allison Fisher 15:28

Yeah, that was the one shot that was practiced very often, every day.

Kelly Fisher 15:33

Well, that's why I say the long blues, the blues on its spot, and the cue ball is on the head string, and you know, you just every corner, corner, every corner, pocket. And you for me, I had to get sorry, 12 or 13 out of 15 before I could change sides, and I had to do it in every pocket.

Mark Wilson 15:52

So what's your high break, Kelly?

Kelly Fisher 15:55

Well, I had a I've had two 14s, but in a match competition, one four three.

Mike Gonzalez 16:05

And you can get more than a one-four-seven with penalties, I understand now too, huh?

Allison Fisher 16:09

Yeah, very rare thing, though. I think it's one five five, isn't it? Free ball, yeah. Yeah, free ball. Yeah. I think so, but I don't know. Maybe somebody's done that, but it's a rare thing, very rare thing.

Mike Gonzalez 16:22

Yeah, yeah. So talk about uh getting of an age when you're starting to really compete in some serious competitions now at Snooker.

Kelly Fisher 16:30

Yeah, um I mean by the age of I was only 14 when I had the 143.

Allison Fisher 16:38

Wow. Very young.

Kelly Fisher 16:40

Yeah, yeah.

Allison Fisher 16:40

Do you remember the tournament or match or I remember the match.

Kelly Fisher 16:45

I remember it was a county tournament somewhere in Yorkshire, something to do with Yorkshire. But I don't remember where Lionel had now. Lionel had now. We've talked about it as well, but he couldn't remember between two places, so I don't know if he ever did figure it out or not.

Allison Fisher 17:03

That's pretty special, yeah.

Kelly Fisher 17:05

Yeah, and then and then obviously in practice that's different, but yeah, that was that was the the match there. But then from going on from there, 15, I won my first women's event. Ranking.

Allison Fisher 17:21

That's the WLBSA, isn't it?

Kelly Fisher 17:23

WLBSA, yeah.

Allison Fisher 17:25

That's the World Ladies Billiards and Snooker Association.

Kelly Fisher 17:29

And I think it was the Conigoff Memorial or the UK Open, one of the two. And I'm sorry, sorry, where I got to the final prior to that, and then I won at the age of 15. I won my first one, which was the Conigoff Memorial. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 17:43

So so would you have had to have been a professional at that point then?

Kelly Fisher 17:47

Well, I mean, I we didn't really have it like that, Ali, did we? It was just you played on the tour, or yeah.

Allison Fisher 17:56

I mean, the point being, I think, is that you probably went to every tournament that was held, but the the prize money was so minimal, it's not like you could make a living unless you were sponsored, and you know. Yeah. So it's more a real passion for the game, which we all did, and we all went to every tournament all over the country, and then it developed obviously into European and then world events. But most things were played in the UK, basically.

Kelly Fisher 18:24

That's right, which yeah, which made it you know easier for travel and and for expense. But yeah, I mean, uh so at the age of 15 I won my first tournament, and then after that, I remember the same year, I believe, qualifying for the quarterfinals in the world championships, and the the last eight all had to go to India.

Allison Fisher 18:50

I remember that.

Kelly Fisher 18:52

Do you remember that?

Allison Fisher 18:53

Yeah, I did for a couple of trips to India.

Kelly Fisher 18:56

We did have a couple of trips to India, we did. We did.

Mike Gonzalez 19:00

Well, there was one in particular, one in particular, Ali, when you came home and told your mom I'm going to America.

Allison Fisher 19:07

I'm off to America. Yeah. Yeah, I remember. So let's talk about that. Your first quarter finals were you gonna get that trip to India? How did that feel? You made it through.

Kelly Fisher 19:18

Yeah, I made it through, and I played Anne Marie Farron to and I was behind all the way, and Lionel, my dad smoked back then, and he he used to he was in and out, he was smoking constantly. The poor man, it went all the way, and I managed to to win and get through. And Lionel still talks about that match to this day. Oh, yeah, about the gut, the guts and the heart I had in that match to come through because I'm only a kid, but yeah, anyway, yeah, and of course, it's like not only is it the world championship quarterfinals, but going to India, you know, I'm only young, it's it was exciting, and off we go.

Allison Fisher 19:58

We get on that plane and off we go to India, yeah, yeah.

Kelly Fisher 20:01

And the other side of the world. I've got pictures of me and Ali back from back then, somewhere in some folder. I actually, yeah, yeah. Oh dear. No, it weren't big like that then, I don't think. I'm sure it had gone a bit flatter. Bit straighter. Yeah, a bit straighter than the spiral perm, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Allison Fisher 20:20

And what was India like? Was that the first one where it was in the nice hotel? I think it was, wasn't it?

Kelly Fisher 20:25

La Meridian, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Allison Fisher 20:27

That was a really nice event.

Kelly Fisher 20:29

Beautiful event and beautiful hotel. And yeah, and uh do you know? I can't remember what if I got to the semis or if I lost in the quarters, I don't recall, but I don't recall. Isn't that weird?

Allison Fisher 20:42

Yeah, yeah. I've a feeling it might be the semis. I have a feeling. I think when I recently looked at something, I think it was the semis.

Kelly Fisher 20:49

That could have been the year after, though, Ali. Definitely the year after was the semis.

Allison Fisher 20:53

Oh, okay.

Kelly Fisher 20:53

I just don't remember the first year. Anyway, really enjoyed it, but I'd already by that point started to get on with it. I you know, I was never really shy, as you might be able to tell. But I was never a shy person. I'd kind of already started getting on with everybody. So for me it was I'm outgoing and I just were I don't know.

Allison Fisher 21:15

Yeah, just it's easy.

Kelly Fisher 21:16

Easy, yeah.

Allison Fisher 21:17

Did any of your parents come to India on that one? No, so you went alone. So that says how independent and they obviously trusted you to go. Maybe did you go with a friend or one of the other players? No. We all met at the airport, I know that, and we all traveled together, but yeah, we all met at the airport.

Kelly Fisher 21:34

I mean, my parents knew had met you before, obviously. We'd come down to your house, remember me and my dad. That's right.

Allison Fisher 21:42

Yeah.

Kelly Fisher 21:42

Yeah. And done an interview by the fire. Remember that?

Allison Fisher 21:46

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 21:46

Yeah.

Kelly Fisher 21:47

A little fireplace in the lounge. I was only twelve, or I think I was thirteen then. So we and then we'd I think we stayed at your house at your parents' house. And you know, so I think Fast forward a little bit. My parents had met Kim and a few of the other players.

Allison Fisher 22:03

So they're very familiar, weren't they?

Kelly Fisher 22:05

Yeah, they're familiar, but they must have had a very false sense of security leaving me alone with Emlock. That's all I can say. We were great actresses. Yeah, that's all I can say. Oh, Allie's good, and Kim, and oh yeah. And I'm gonna I'm gonna keep it. Our little Kelly. Going off with them. Yeah. We were fun with that in the end, right?

Allison Fisher 22:25

It did. It's all a lot more fun.

Kelly Fisher 22:27

It was, and they trusted you guys, so it was good.

Mike Gonzalez 22:30

You were a world snooker champion at a fairly young age. Won your first world championship in 1998. Is that right? Age 20.

Kelly Fisher 22:41

I was 19. 19, okay. But my goal was always to be Ali's age, and it never happened.

Mike Gonzalez 22:49

You mean now or then?

Kelly Fisher 22:51

All of it, every time. All of it, everything, everything. She just wants to beat me, eh? Everything. Best friends forever, but on the table, yeah, she's had the most accomplishments. So who else would you set your target for and goals, right? So that started off very young, uh, even from that first tournament I explained. Nothing personal, Ali. No, of course not. No, it was definitely, you know, I think you were 17, weren't you?

Allison Fisher 23:17

Yeah.

Kelly Fisher 23:18

Yeah. So the goal was to win it by 17.

Allison Fisher 23:21

I was sending my interview. I didn't really have anything anyone to aspire to, you know.

Mike Gonzalez 23:25

I don't think there was really yeah, you didn't have a role model, did you?

Allison Fisher 23:29

No, I didn't really have a well, I would I would say, oh, that's a role model. I was like Kelly, who she loved Jimmy White, I loved Steve Davis. You know, we had the men out there on TV all the time. We didn't have women on TV, so we didn't have role models, so to speak.

Mike Gonzalez 23:43

Yeah, yeah. Well, you were you were the runner up the year before in '97 to Karen Corps, which is a name that comes up a lot in your career and Allison's career and in Pool.

Kelly Fisher 23:54

That's right, yes. 97. I remember that losing. And that was where, like I think I was 18 at the time. But if it depends what I remember there were one, and it might have been the 97 one, it must have been where I was actually still 17, and it was in my head about this one here. You know, being 17 and to win it at the same time, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Allison Fisher 24:21

Yeah, yeah. So were you there at the time when Karen was quick, a quick player, or had she slowed down at that point? She'd slowed down because when she started, she was like Stacy, they were both very quick and they completely changed their game. Yeah. Which was interesting. Yeah.

Kelly Fisher 24:38

Yeah. And we never know with a quickness whether they'd have done as much or even better, you never know, right? Because you you hear of coaches that you know that's one thing we're lying, we never did. It never changed my rhythm. Um I was even quicker at snooker than I am at pool.

Allison Fisher 24:55

Yeah.

Kelly Fisher 24:56

Or was at pool. I've slowed down in my old age a bit, but yeah, than I was at pool. I was even quicker at snooker, it was weird. Uh, even when I play snooker now, Mark, I'm quicker than I play pool.

Mark Wilson 25:10

I bet you do everything fast. I bet you walk fast, you eat fast, you play soccer fast.

Allison Fisher 25:15

No, she doesn't sleep fast. She doesn't eat fast because she's too busy talking exactly. I thought she's the last to finish when it comes to food. But I think if you look back in Snooker, most people play reasonably fast. It's surprising for such a hard game. You know what I mean, compared to poor. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, poor would you expect more flow.

Kelly Fisher 25:42

Yeah, but like I said, I think Snooker, in my opinion, is a bit more self-explanatory. Yeah, that's just you know, you you you have got choices, but you know, you it's a bit more like patterned out, laid out, if you know what I mean.

Allison Fisher 25:57

Yes, I do yeah. You know exactly what you're doing, yeah.

Kelly Fisher 26:02

Yeah. Whereas pool, nine bottles rotation, especially, obviously, throws up shots that you know are unique a lot more than snooker, and definitely where you've got to control that cue ball in a unique way.

Allison Fisher 26:15

And also we've got more more ch more more shot selection, maybe three shots in this one, and what which one should I? That's right.

Kelly Fisher 26:24

Yeah, with a snooker, it's pretty self-explanatory, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And then with a spin as well that you're putting on, you've got to work out the reaction. Well, we didn't use as much spin on snooker, we still still don't.

Mike Gonzalez 26:37

So I think there's uh you look back at uh at your record, you started winning, at least the list of all the wins we have uh goes back to uh 1993. Yeah. Oh yeah.

Kelly Fisher 26:50

93. 93, really.

Mike Gonzalez 26:52

Which which you would have been 14, I suppose, winning the is that the the Connie is it Goff?

Kelly Fisher 26:58

Connie Goff Memorial. That's the one that was 15. Yeah, yeah. I just turned 15. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 27:03

You won it against uh Tessa Davidson.

Kelly Fisher 27:07

That's right, I remember that. And Tessra beat Ali in the semis.

Mike Gonzalez 27:10

Oh boo, boo Tessa.

Kelly Fisher 27:12

Yeah, yeah. Tessa beat Ali in the semis, I beat Kim Shaw in the semis and played Tesla in the final. And I really wanted to play Ali.

Mike Gonzalez 27:20

You beat Karen the next year. I'll just read off some of these other event names you guys will remember: the James Brooks Classic, the Academy Forklift, Halstead's Ladies' Classic, MTech Ladies Classic, Bailey Holmes, Ladies Regal Scottish, Apple Center Classic. The name goes on and on. I'd be reading for another five minutes before we finally get to your first World Championship in 1998. But some of those event names must bring back some memories for you guys.

Kelly Fisher 27:50

Absolutely, they do. Yeah. I forgot about some of them too. For definite, yeah. I remember different, more so memories of I don't know, now I used to remember all the wins or losses, not losses, but you know, you remember where you finished or if you especially if you won. But again, I use this as I'm getting older. Now I can remember what like just regular things that happened at these events, or we went for dinner, you know. Do you find that, Ali?

Allison Fisher 28:23

Yeah, nice little memories about the event rather than the actual event itself, uh the playing maybe. Here's a question for you. Somewhere I never got to play, I did go and watch. You got to experience the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, one of your finals of the World Championships. How was that?

Kelly Fisher 28:41

Actually, Ali, it was I won there four or five times at the Crucible. Yeah. So 1998 was the first year that it was ever at the Crucible. And I'd not won a tournament for a year and a half. I was having a really bad patch. I'd not won, I had some things personal going on, and I'd not won a tournament against Karen Corps. I'd lost in the final to her pretty much every event nearly for a year and a half. And out of the blue, I turn up, I get to the final, and it was always a week later after the we'd played the tournament down to the final. It was always a week to two weeks later, depending when the men's event was at that. We did that for the Scottish Regal Masters, the Benson Edges in Wales, in Cardiff. If we were going to a venue, an arena, we always waited, like we'd play it in a snooker club, and then the finals went to the arena. So we're in the final and we've played a week, it was a week later. And I won 5-0 from nowhere. From nowhere. And I'd not won at all, I'd not won any single event for a year and a half.

Allison Fisher 29:51

Right. So she was the favourite going in.

Kelly Fisher 29:54

100%, yeah. And uh out of the blue from nowhere, I've won this five-zero. And then, you know, I went on from there, I won it '99 at the crucible. Go on, you're gonna help me at 2000? No, I lost it. I lost 2001.

Mike Gonzalez 30:12

So yeah, the question is, having won it five out of six years, what happened in 2001?

Kelly Fisher 30:19

Yes, uh, I lost to Sharon Dixon. I remember that.

Allison Fisher 30:23

Really?

Kelly Fisher 30:24

Yeah, Sharon Dixon, yeah. Yeah. I remember that. I don't remember the match. Yeah. I just remember I remember losing to Sharon Dixon. Yeah. And it was at the snooker club prior to getting to the arena. Oh, okay. Probably knowing, yeah. Yeah, probably knowing me. I blame the table or something. Of course, of course it was a table.

Allison Fisher 30:45

But bear in mind, probably all these events too are race to three, so best of five, would that be right? Probably. Yeah, yeah.

Kelly Fisher 30:53

Yeah.

Allison Fisher 30:53

So not that long a matches, really.

Kelly Fisher 30:56

No. Uh no, it wasn't, and then the finals went to race to five, best of nine. Yeah. So yeah, yeah, I can't remember if semi-finals also, I don't recall. But most of them were first to three. Yeah.

Allison Fisher 31:09

Yeah, short, short matches. Thank you for listening to another episode of Legends of the Queue. If you like what you hear, wherever you listen to your podcast, including Apple and Spotify, please follow, subscribe, and spread the word. Give our podcast a five-star rating and share your thoughts. Visit our website and support our Paul History project. Until our next golden break with more Legends of the Queue, so long, everybody.