Stan Moody

Stan Moody (born 14 September 2006) is a British professional snooker player from Halifax, West Yorkshire. In February 2023 he won the WSF World Junior Championship, and with it earned a two-year card on the World Snooker Tour starting with 2023–24 snooker season.

Early life
Moody, a pupil at Ryburn Valley High School in Sowerby Bridge, Yorkshire, started playing snooker in 2015 after first playing pool during a family holiday. He won English national snooker championships at under-14, under-16 and under-18 levels. After playing Mark Allen in an exhibition match in Bradford, Allen was impressed with Moody's cue action and nicknamed him "The Action".

2021–22 season
In January 2022 Moody marked his debut ranking event match, and first televised match, with a first-round win over the top-32 player Lu Ning at the 2022 Snooker Shoot Out, held at the Leicester Arena in Leicester, England. The win gained Moody plaudits from the likes of Jimmy White who described him as a “serious player”, and led to Moody being dubbed “a future star of the sport”. Speaking after the match Moody described the experience by saying “I was a bit nervous to start with but once I had potted a few balls I felt composed, I kept my nerve… It surprised me, how bright the TV lights were. The table was amazing, quicker than what I am used to. The crowd was good”. In the next round he lost to Oliver Lines in the lowest scoring shoot-out match of all time. Lines called it a “nightmare draw” for him because he and Moody practise regularly together at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds. In March 2022 Moody finished the season as the runner-up in the EPSB Under-21 Premier Development Tour standings to Burnley's Lewis Ullah.

2022–23 season
At the WSF Junior Snooker Championship held in Sydney, Australia in February 2023 Moody showed tremendous form, dropping just one frame in the round-robin phase of the competition with 3-0 wins over Zac Cosker and Christiano de Azevedo, and overcoming Devlen Brown 3–1. In the last 16 and quarter-finals he whitewashed Jayden Dinga and Jake Crofts 4–0. Moody defeated Ukrainian Iulian Boiko 4–3 in the semi-finals before winning the final 5–1 against Liam Pullen. With this win he was awarded a two-year place on the World Snooker Tour from the 2023–24 snooker season. That same month Moody reached the final of the WSF Championship in Sydney where he lost to Ma Hai Long.

He entered into the invitational 2023 Six-red World Championship held in Pathum Thani, Thailand in March 2023.

2023-24 season
Moody was entered into the draw at the 2023 Championship League held at the Morningside Arena in Leicester, England from 26 June 2023. He started with defeats to Wu Yize and Pang Junxu before earning a draw with Hammad Miah. At the English Open in October 2023, he took World Champion Luca Brecel to a deciding frame, before losing 4-3. During the match he completed a 121-point century, the highest of his pro-career.

Moody secured his first win as a professional in October 2023, qualifying for the Northern Ireland Open with a win over Zhou Yuelong. He followed up that victory with wins over Rod Lawler and Gary Wilson to reach the last-16 of a ranking event for the first time. He did not progress past the last-16, however, as he lost to Yuan Sijun 4-2. He qualified for the 2024 Welsh Open with a 4-2 win over Sean O'Sullivan.

Personal life
Moody paid tribute to his father Nigel who helped him as a young snooker player and “done everything for me, paid for everything, takes me everywhere and looks after me, does the things that people don’t see…I’m very grateful.” 2005 World Snooker Championship winner Shaun Murphy has been described as a mentor to Moody. Murphy said he was approached by the Moody family and “I was honoured to be asked [for the mentor role] because but for the guidance of senior pros when I was that young…I might not be here now. There is huge potential there.”