HE is only seven years old but snooker sensation Aidan Murphy is already aiming to follow his hero Judd Trump to stardom – and is about to take on players more than twice his age.
The Hanham youngster practises at the same Keynsham snooker hall where world number two Trump sharpened up his skills.
And his talent with the cue has seen him picked to play pool for the Bristol county under 18s team, where he could be taking on players more than a decade his senior.
The youngster has inherited his talent from his dad, who is a professional pool player and former British champion.
The pupil, of Beacon Rise School in Kingswood, first picked up a cue – or at least a version of one – when he was just three.
Dad Derek and mum Gail put together a makeshift table after he kept pestering them for something to play on.
Mrs Murphy, 38, said: "He was just asking about snooker all the time, and one Christmas Eve he asked if he could have a table.
"It was too late to go out and get one, so I got a yellow storage box, turned it upside down and taped some toilet rolls to it for pockets. He started playing with a stick and bouncy ball, and sometimes a brush handle."
His parents then bought Aidan a 5ft table and within weeks he had taken to the game. Now he plays on a full-size table and has become an expert at using the rest – because he is not tall enough to reach all the shots.
Mr Murphy, 35, who has played pool for Scotland since he was 15, said: "He used to come with me to pool tournaments and would watch me for hours and hours.
"He was just a natural. I try to give him little pointers now and again, but he doesn't want to listen to me.
"But when I peek through the gap in the bedroom door he is doing what I just told him five minutes before, so perhaps he does listen to his dad a bit."
Mr Murphy, who also works as a heating engineer, first took his eldest son to the Keynsham Snooker Centre ten months ago. He has been going ever since, playing twice a week.
Aidan has already beaten his dad's friends on the Three Crowns pool team, from St George, and first came to the attention of Bristol youth county coach Kevin Smith three months ago.
Mr Smith asked him for a game, immediately recognised the youngster's potential and in a little over a week Aidan will play his first county match at the Keynsham club.
Mr Murphy said: "Kevin had a couple of games with Aidan and said 'Oh my God, he will get in the youth team, no problem at all. There is some talent you have here'.
"It is my dream to have a boy who is interested in the sport that I love, and Kevin thinks he is good enough to cut it against 18-year-olds."
Mr Smith said: "I saw Aidan play with his dad and he potted some really good balls. I played against him and he knew where the pockets were. It is obviously in the blood somewhere."
But while Aidan has been selected for the county pool team, his first love is snooker, which his dad would love him to take up professionally.
He said: "I would love it if when he was 16 or 17 he turned professional. There is more money in snooker than pool. He has never met Judd Trump as he left Keynsham before Aidan joined. But he is his idol, and people are saying that Aidan reminds them of him when he was that age."
Aidan's mum has given in to being a 'snooker widow'.
She said: "It just comes with the territory of having two very talented people in my family.
"Aidan's brother Todd has started playing in their bedroom as well. He is only five, but I don't suppose it will be long before all three of them are off playing tournaments, although I don't think my daughter Heidi will be picking up a cue any time soon.
"I am just very proud of him. Aidan is one of those children who is so modest and doesn't sing his own praises. Hardly anyone even knows he plays."
For more information on playing pool in Bristol, call Mr Smith on 07747 516 290.
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