Natalie Stelmach Explained

Natalie Stelmach
Birth Place:Sudbury, Ontario
Death Date: (age 53)

Natalie Stelmach (1957/1958[1] – 8 July 2011[2]) was a Canadian snooker player. She was runner-up in the 1984 Amateur World Women's Snooker Championship.

Biography

Stelmach started playing in 1973, at a newly established family recreation centre. The owner, Gabe Tarini, introduced Stelmach to snooker and later became her coach.[3]

At the age of 16, Stelmach was one of two Canadian entrants to the 1976 Women's World Open, held in England.[4] She lost in her first match.

According to an article in Maclean's magazine in April 1979, Stelmach had never lost a match to another woman in Canada. She had won the Canadian national title each of the four times that it had been staged.[3]

In April 1981, Stelmach made the first by a woman in competition, on the way to winning her sixth Canadian Open title. She has a claim to be the first woman to make a century break, scoring a 109 in 1977.[5]

Also in 1981, Stelmach and her playing partner Cliff Thorburn won the World Mixed Pairs Championship. They beat Vera Selby and John Virgo on total points scored, 262–239 in the final, after beating Grace Cayley and Tony Meo 267–200 in the semi-final.[6] [7]

Stelmach reached the final of the 1984 Amateur World Women's Snooker Championship, defeating Lynette Horsburgh 3–0, Maggie Beer 3–1, Gaye Jones 4–0 and then Caroline Walch 4–0. She lost in the final 1–4 to the 15-year-old Stacey Hillyard.

Titles and achievements

Notes and References

  1. News: Hunn . David . 11 April 1976 . Women Pocket Men's Pride . The Observer . p.25 . Canada sent their new champion, a 17-year-old whose long journey soon proved fruitless. 'And now,' Natalie Stelmach told me, 'I'm going back home to practise eight hours a day and next year I'm going to come back and win it.' . ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Guardian and The Observer. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  2. Web site: Natalie Stelmach Obituary. yourlifemoments.ca . 1 September 2019.
  3. News: Pagnucco . Frank . 9 April 1979 . She banks, she pockets, she snookers her foes . Maclean's . 31 August 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190830233507/http://archive.macleans.ca/article/1979/4/9/she-banks-she-pockets-she-snookers-her-foes . 30 August 2019 .
  4. News: Everton . Clive . 6 April 1976 . Women Take Cue . The Guardian . p.27 . Two Canadians and an Australian will, in fact, travel to Middlesbrough to compete. Natalie Stelmach the Canadian champion, is only 16 and made a break of 46 in the Canadian Championship. . ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Guardian and The Observer. Retrieved 31 August 2019..
  5. Encyclopedia: Graham Duncan. Billiards. The Canadian Encyclopedia. 11 September 2019.
  6. News: Everton . Clive . 8 May 1981 . Davis suffers mixed fortunes: Snooker . The Guardian . p.25 . ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Guardian and The Observer. Retrieved 30 August 2019..
  7. News: Everton . Clive . 9 May 1981 . Sports in Brief . The Guardian . p.23 . ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Guardian and The Observer. Retrieved 30 August 2019..
  8. Book: Everton, Clive . 1985 . Guinness Snooker – The Records . Guinness Superlatives Ltd . 154–156 . 0851124488 .
  9. Web site: World Champions . womenssnooker.com . World Women's Snooker Collection . 30 August 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190818024929/https://www.womenssnooker.com/about/world-champions/ . 18 August 2019 .

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