Blog

Creating the Blackball Table

Throughout his career Ross had identified Optima tables as the best manufacturer in the business, Ross approached the team at Optima and shared his vision for the ultimate pool which was as follows –

• Superb playing surface
• Made using the highest quality materials
• Extra clips to hold the cushions down allowing a uniform bounce on all cushions
• Reduced pocketed ball bounce out
• Tight pockets (tighter on the elite table)
• AW Hainsworth cloth to provide excellent speed and ball control

As mentioned previously, we wanted to create a pool table for the everyday player whilst also creating the highest quality table on the market. Working with Optima we created 2 versions of our table: the ‘Elite’ for tournaments and professional players and the ‘Club’ for our more casual customers. At Blackball Tables, we are the only company that offers tables for both casual and professional use, putting us in a unique position.

The Story So Far

Fast forward a few years, a national pandemic, and a lot has changed for Blackball Tables. Ross has decided to take a step back and our new Managing Director is his wife and ex-professional snooker referee – Michaela McInnes (whom you may know as Michaela Tabb) who has some astonishing accolades of her own.

Michaela blazed the trail for other aspiring female referees in a sport where, traditionally, men had always refereed. Michaela was the first female referee at a World Snooker Championship final, and it was so nice she did it twice! As well as officiating the game our MD was also quite the player herself back in the day, captaining the Scottish ladies’ pool team and winning a number of solo titles, including the UK Women’s Singles and the European Pool Championships.

After leaving her refereeing career behind Michaela decided to enter the world of the business.

“It has been a massive learning curve…and still is!” Michaela admitted when asked about what it was like to make the switch from refereeing to owning her own company. Michaela then went on to speak about the intricacies of the business world and how deciding where to spend money has been a huge challenge for her, deciding where best to invest in a business with so many moving parts can be a tough one sometimes.

As far as Blackball Tables are concerned, we have seen our business grow exponentially over the past few years with our bespoke tables now being sent to every corner of the globe. We have tables everywhere from Australia to Morocco, and we have big plans for the future. Our tables have also been selected for use by professional associations such as the World Blackball Championship. Our product portfolio has also expanded to pool accessories, cues, cloth, chalk, tips and every other piece of equipment under the sun just look at our homepage.

Our Values –

• Customer Focus

At Blackball Tables our values come straight from the top, we are a customer-focused company. Michaela and Ross have both mentioned that in the past the customer service they had received in the industry was sub-par, therefore we aim to change that. We communicate with our customers at every stage of the selling process, we also like to say thank you a lot.

• Quality

Secondly, we value quality. The original reason the table was expertly created in the first place – to use the best materials, and the best design to create the best possible playing surface. ‘Created by a Champion. For Champions..” isn’t just a cool tagline!

• Homemade

All our Blackball tables are manufactured in the UK, we believe this gives us the best possible control over the quality of our product.

What comes next?

We want to continue growing! Our table is the best on the market and we want to establish ourselves as the go-to people for pool tables and all accessories.

We also have plans to diversify our product portfolio further so watch this space👀