Player Information

Nickname/Web username: Livvy
Year of birth: 1973
Year started playing pool: 1991
Current team: Entertainers

Background

Ian Livingstone is one of the most respected figures on the East Kilbride scene, with a wealth of trophies to his name. With nearly twenty years of experience playing competitve pool at various levels, he has recently been appointed the chairman of the EKPL for season 2009/10. Ian is a former Scotland ‘B’ team player, and was part of the team (along with fellow East Kilbride player, Billy Edmond) that took home the World B Championship in 2004.
Over the years, he has done a lot for pool in general in East Kilbride. Ian has donated a lot of his time to running “pool schools” for younger players coming through, and also donating trophies to tournaments, such as the Masters, and even the current Old Firm Charity Shield.
With so many successes behind him, there is one particular match, however, that sticks in his mind…

“One year I got to 2 finals with the Greenhills and got beat – once in a famous play-off where there were 3 dishes from break (I done one of them, but we lost 2-1), and we never got trophies for being runners-up that year for the first year ever!”

Singles Information

Greatest pool achievement in singles:
Getting to 8th in the SPA rankings, and also getting to a semi final of an IM.

Honours in singles competition

POTY Winner 2001
POTY Tied but lost play-off 1997, 1999
POTY RU 2006
Murray Open – 1998
Westwood Singles Champion (Masters, best of 19) 2003
Semi final of IM
Several EK Masters wins, 3 Masters wins this season
Also, over the years I won a tv (Murray open), a dvd player (Scotland A v EK in Westwood), a video and a high-fi – you don’t get prizes like that any more!!!

Team Information

Aspirations for the current season:
Win the League with Entertainers, and also do well with the Superleague team. Last 4 would be great.

Greatest pool achievement with a team:
Winning the World B Championship in 2004, along with doing 2 out of 2 dishes off opponents breaks in the final.

Honours in team competition

Scottish B Team World Champions 2002, 2004 Semi-Finalists 2003
EKPL Champions 1997 (Mr Q’s), 1999 (Predators), 2000, (Mr Q’s), 2006 (Entertainers)
Robert Black Cup winner 2000 (Mr Q’s), 2007 (Entertainers) RU 1999 (Predators), 2002 (Greenhills), 2003 (Wizards), 2004 (Wizards), 2005 (Entertainers)
EKPL League Cup winner 1999 (Predators)2000 (Mr Q’s), 2004 (Wizards), 2007 (Entertainers) RU 2002 (Greenhills), 2003 (Greenhills), 2005 (Entertainers), 2006 (Entertainers)
EKPF Champions 2001, 2003
EKPF Cup winner 2002, 2003
EKPF Shield winner 2001, 2003
EK Doubles Champions 1998 (with Davie Dewar)
UK u19’s Doubles (Representing Scotland) Runner-Up 1990
Cue Here Superleague Challenge (representing East Kilbride) 2005

Cue

Make: Cue Master
Acquired: Bridlington (World Championships) 2004
Cost: £25
Tip size: 8mm
Who retips it?: Oby

General Questions

Who, or what, inspired you to play?:
My neighbour taught me how to play snooker when I was about 6. When I was 18 I used to go to the Greenhills on Thursday evenings and play in the £1 pool tournament – pub rules. At the weekend I would play in The Loft and eventually played with their team. Although I was a student and lived in Edinburgh during the week I would often get the bus home to EK on Tuesday’s evenings and the early bus back to Edinburgh on Wednesday morning.

Favourite EK team you have played in?:
Predators – to play with so many good players in the one team; Billy Edmond, Tony McCallum, Jim Moffat (who won POTY), Mark O’Brien, Marty Thom. It was a joy to watch some of these guys on the top of their form.

Favourite EK team you haven’t played in?:
The Sharks. Were always the team to beat every season and ironically someone always did! Great pool players in the team who I always enjoyed playing against. Most of them have all been team mates at Superleague level at some time or other. Good bunch of guys that love their pool.

Best player you have ever played against?:
Ross McInnes, because he’s the best player ever.

Best player you have played alongside?:
Alec McDowell, showed great talent when I played with him in the Scotland B team before going on to be Scottish Champion. I think it was watching me that improved his game!

Favourite pro players (Pool or Snooker):

• Stephen Hendry
• John Higgins
• Pat Holtz

How would you rate the current standard of pool in EK?
It has improved every year I’ve played in (since 1996). I do think that there is a gap in the 18-30 age group where there are not enough players up there challenging – not none, just there could be more! The majority of the players winning are the wrong side of 30, but I hope I’m gonna be proved wrong over the next few years.

What do you think we could do to raise the standard?
I know how to raise the standard of my game – play/practice more, enter more tournaments. I think we have the infrastructure in EK that can let talent flourish be it at local level or Scottish level. It’s up to the individual to put the time in to improve. In the last 12 months we’ve had the EK Singles, The EK Masters series, a Greenhills tournament and the Lower League Singles, as well as Scottish level with IM’s and Scottish singles.
Individuals will progress if they are playing in tournaments. The more, the better for your pool. If you do well, the rewards will come with places in the Superleague and up to Scottish International level. Myself and Billy Edmond are examples that players can work their way through to International recognition from East Kilbride. Arthur Russo played in EK for years, then once he started the tournaments became, in my opinion, a far superior player and a top Superleague A player. It definitely helps playing tournaments.