At an age when most teenagers are drafting up an excuse as to why their homework was submitted late, there are two burgeoning snooker prodigies spending their free time ruminating over angles, spins, and century breaks.
14-year-old cueists Ellise Scott and Michal Szubarczyk are rising through the ranks at breakneck speed and are garnering plaudits from some of the best-known faces in the game.
Scott, from the small town of Eastleigh in Hampshire, began her career in 2022 at the age of just 11, and won three Under-21 titles on her way to becoming the best-rated junior player earlier this year.
The teenager, who also impressively reached the last 16 of both the 2024 British Open and 2025 Belgian Open tournaments, attributes inspiration to pick up the cue to her snooker-playing brother O’Shay Scott, 16. And in an interview last year, she set herself the lofty ambitions of one-day playing at the Crucible and becoming the top ranked player in World Women’s Snooker (WWS).
Who can blame her? In Scott’s first tournament outside of Britain when she made the short trip to Bruges, the amateur valiantly took Rebecca Kenna to a deciding frame before narrowly losing 3-2.
Now, she is gearing up to face former World No. 3 and two-time WWS champion, Bai Yulu at the Shoot Out in Blackpool next month. Though an unenviable task, victory would make Scott one of the youngest-ever winners of a World Snooker Tour tie.
The 14-year-old was nominated to participate in the quirky event, held between December 10 and December 13, by the governing body World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA).
At the tournament, which features unique rules such as ten-minute matches and a shot clock of 15 seconds for the first five minutes and ten seconds for the last five, Scott will be alongside famous faces such as world champion Zhao Xintong, Shaun Murphy and defending title holder Tom Ford.
While the test of taking down Yulu proves fierce, Scott has proven her talents on many occasions already having also beat Tessa Davidson on her way to the EPSB English Women’s Championship, in which she was again defeated by Kenna.
‘I hope to encourage other little girls to join and play,’ Scott said in a 2024 WPBSA interview.
The teenager has been surrounded by snooker in her family, with her brother O’Shay aiming to reach the big time. Scott’s uncle Daniele Zagaroli also used to play and competed against her favourite men’s player Ronnie O’Sullivan in the 1990s.
O’Sullivan, however, has been spending his recent time with the equally impressive wonderkid Szubarczyk, who is making undeniable waves in the game and will also visit Blackpool for the Shoot Out next month – facing Jamie Jones.
The Polish 14-year-old was across much of the snooker headlines this week, after winning the IBSF World Snooker Championship with an impressive victory over Ali Alobaidli – who is 18 years his senior.
The amateur championship is famed for its winners going on to have stellar careers in the professional game, with World Snooker Championship winners Ken Doherty and Stuart Bingham both claiming the title at one stage.
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Before Szubarczyk secured the big win in Qatar, O’Sullivan shared a short video of him practicing with the youngster who he described as a ‘great prospect’ on social media.
The snooker legend wrote: ‘Sharing the knowledge in Nanjing. Great to spend time with the youngest professional on tour, Michał Szubarczyk. A great prospect for the future.’
Szubarczyk already sits just outside the top 100 in the men’s rankings and, like Scott, has claimed tournament wins over players far older than him. Earlier this year, he won the European championships at Under-16 and Under-18 levels.
He also almost broke O’Sullivan’s 33-year record of becoming the youngest-ever player to qualify for the World Championship at the Crucible after being narrowly defeated by Dean Young in April.
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His reward for an incredible rise? A two-year card on the World Snooker Tour and bout against six-time former World Championship finalist Jimmy White – who is also a former IBSF World Snooker Championship – later this month.
Szubarczyk will be eager to impress against the veteran, 49 years his elder, in the UK Championship qualifiers, and has already been on the receiving end of fawning praise from one of the tournament’s former winners.
Speaking to Metro earlier this year, Mark Williams said Szubarczyk was ‘one of the best 14-year-olds I’ve ever seen in my life’ and that he was ‘up there with O’Sullivan’.
