"We want people to discover one of the most fun sports"

BarcelonaThe mind of Aleix Melià (Barcelona, 1996) doesn't rest. With his serious gaze, he's constantly making plans, whether he's playing or working. This Barcelona native is one of Europe's top players in snooker, the spectacular billiard discipline played on a much larger table than other disciplines like three-cushion billiards. "It looks easy, right?" he says as a novice learns the arts of this discipline. On a billiard table like those you find in many places, you can sink a ball at the far end of the table even if you're not an expert. In snooker, the distance is much greater and requires great skill.

Aleix teaches how to place the hand, the body, the arm. He teaches body posture and the details of this spectacular discipline that holds no secrets for him. "The British invented it in India during the 19th century," he says. He spent a summer in England as a young man to learn to play snooker. The other boys asked to go to summer camp, and he already knew he wanted to dedicate himself to snooker. He lives it so much that winning medals in Spanish championships isn't enough for him. Now he has taken a step forward and opened Barcelona's first snooker club, with four spectacular tables where enthusiasts are already playing. The Century Snooker Academy has opened its doors in the Congrés i els Indians neighborhood, becoming the major personal project of a group of billiard enthusiasts. "In Barcelona, we don't have facilities to play it. There are some tables hidden in other clubs or a bar. There was a private club that had a table in Sant Andreu, but unlike other places, we don't have an exclusive snooker club. So we created one; we want people to get to know this sport," he explains. Instead of complaining, they have taken action, convinced that more and more people will join. "It's fun, whether you watch it or play it. You have a good time as you learn and even more when you master it. The idea is to create a school and also be able to organize tournaments here," he says. They also want to organize Spanish championships and gain more members. "If we grow a lot, it will become too small for us," he says optimistically.

Melià works at Deloitte, where he is a tax lawyer. Playing, he plots trajectories, and when he works, his mind doesn't stop either. But it wasn't easy to balance a demanding job with his sporting career. For years, whenever he could, he would sneak off to a billiard hall in Sant Andreu where there was a snooker table. Now that he has opened the club, he has set aside a corner to work there when he can work remotely. This way, he won't waste time going back and forth through Barcelona, as he needs hours to train and compete at a high level against the best European players, many of whom are professionals. "You can't be a professional here, we are far from the British, or from Belgium and Poland," he comments. The club is the major life project of its partners. "I discovered billiards thanks to my grandfather, who played carom billiards. With him and my father, I learned to play billiards, but it wasn't snooker. I saw this discipline on television and told my father I wanted to try it. I couldn't even reach the table properly back then, but I was determined to do it. When I compete, I always think of my grandfather, and in fact, I have his billiard cue in my office," he explains. At fourteen, he started practicing at the Pedralbes Bowling alley and went to a training school in Sheffield for a summer. "The key moment was when I met Daan Leyssen at the Monforte billiard hall. He's from Belgium, where snooker is very popular, but he's been here for years. Together we fight to win the Spanish championships. You could say we are rivals, but what we are is friends," he says. It is with him that he has moved forward with his project of having a snooker club in Barcelona. First, Leyssen helped Aleix improve. Then they moved on to competing for medals, and now they want to leave a legacy with the club. "I've gone crazy the last two years looking for premises here in Barcelona to set up the club we wanted to set up. One of the major handicaps of this type of billiards is the size of the table. This table is three times larger than those you find in a bar," he says. And it's not just the table; you have to calculate the space to allow players to move around looking for the best angle," he says. In snooker, you have to pot the red balls. But between one red ball and another, you also have to hit some balls of other colors. "In an era with so much screen time, being able to play here gives you life. It allows you to disconnect. Millions of people worldwide enjoy it. And here, we are convinced that anyone who wants to come and try it will get hooked," he assures.