Help me get to the European Disability Snooker Championship

Hi, I'm Matthew Lester. I began playing snooker at a very young age, and I spent my childhood playing on a snooker table which sat on top of four tins of beans for legs. I grew up like any other snooker player wanting to emulate my heroes and play at the Crucible. It wasn't until I was 13 that I found out there was snooker tournaments for players with disabilities. At that time there were only two disability snooker tournaments per year. I played disability snooker between 2002 and 2005, before I switched to wheelchair pool, as there were more tournaments. I played wheelchair pool for 12 years, but snooker has always been in my blood. In May 2023 I joined the World Disability Billiards and Snooker tour (an organisation ran by the WPBSA) and returned to competitive snooker after 18 years.

After playing in three tournaments I am currently the World No.10 in the wheelchair snooker world rankings. I am looking for help to cover the cost of flights and a week's accommodation for myself and a personal assistant, so that I can enter the upcoming European Disability Snooker Championship in Albufeira, in Portugal. The tournament itself is played between 19-23 October, but I would need to arrive in Portugal on the 17th October, ahead of the opening ceremony on the 18th. The deadline for entries is 20th September.

The decision to create this crowdfunder hasn't been taken lightly. I am aware of the current financial climate. Any support is appreciated, even if it is just sharing the page.

Thanks for reading.

Matt