S2749C: Linda is a 14-year-old student who is passionate about playing snooker She wants to become a national snooker player: Sports Law Case Study, RP, Singapore

Linda is a 14-year-old student who is passionate about playing snooker. She wants to become a national snooker player and compete as a professional snooker player around the world. Her mother, Carol, who has always been very supportive, wants to hire the best coach for Linda. As Linda’s school does not have a snooker CCA, Carol scouted everywhere for a private coach.

As Linda’s school does not have a snooker CCA and most sports facilities were still closed due to the ongoing Covid restrictions, Carol scouted everywhere for a private coach who could come to their house which had a snooker table instead. In early February 2021, she came across Coach Chan Chee Beng in a snooker center.

His business card is as shown below:

Carol was impressed with his credentials and wanted to be sure that Chee Beng was a qualified coach. Instead of a monthly payment of $3000 for 8 sessions, Chee Beng offered Carol to sign a contract with an upfront payment of $11,000 for the whole training season of 9 months, starting from March till December. This would allow Linda unlimited training sessions with Chee
Beng. Carol thought that it was a good deal and accepted the offer.

Coach Chee Beng is also part of a research team that is formed to understand the physics of the snooker cue better. In fact, the research team was able to produce the first technology cue in Singapore that is able to reduce deflection when hitting the snooker ball. The new technology cue was called the “Tech cue” and would cost at least $2000.

The research team also researched the most effective posture for snooker players to perform at their peak. This technique is only known to the research team and Coach Chee Beng. This technique was relatively simple but it was very effective. Cuesports Singapore wanted to know more about this technique to see if it can apply to their national snooker players.