Returning to Sweden following 8 years abroad Jorgen Sandman in 2001 registered a new company, Sandman Billiards Ltd. The idea was to offer coaching, consulting, organizing of activities & events as well as teaching within Billiards Sports. Whereas the company since its foundation mainly attracted foreign mandators, there has also been a few assignments for Swedish and Scandinavian mandators.

In 2001 Sandman Billiards Ltd. was assigned by the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) the task of developing an educational program for instructors and coaches. In cooperation with Ralph Eckert (GER), who together with Jorgen Sandman is appointed Head Coach by the EPBF, an education program encompas-sing six levels was proposed to the EPBF General Assembly in 2002. This program was accepted by the assembly, and the work on filling the program with contents got started.

In 2003 the educational material was finished for the first level of education - Instructors on club level. The education on this level actually got started already before the text material had been completed, and so far 127 instructors from 14 European countries and Australia (!) have participated. It can be noted that all of these instructors have been educated by Sandman Billiards Ltd. The education has been held in Austria, Estonia, Israel, Lithuania, Luxemburg, The Netherlands, Norway, Russia and Ukraine.

Now also the work on the second and the third level of the EPBF educational system has been finalized by Ralf Eckert and Jorgen Sandman. So far Sandman Billiards Ltd. has educated 16 instructors on Level B, representing 5 European countries, and 18 instructors on Level C, representing 3 countries.

In 2001 Sandman Billiards Ltd. was hired by the Danish Billiard Union (DDBU) as coach for the national team in the categories men, women and juniors. The DDBU at the time had three training centers in Aarhus, Copenhagen and Kolding - the ones in Aarhus and Kolding were equipped with Carom, Pool and Snooker tables. Together with the players training plans were worked out and on 4-5 occasions each year training sessions were organized at the training centers during prolonged weekends. Jorgen Sandman also acted as coach for the reaspective teams at the European Championships.

Some of the very best players in Denmark were not nominated to participate in the European Championships due to their lacking interest to practice according to the mutually agreed training plans. In spite of this the Danish Team took more medals than ever at the European Championships during the time when Sandman Billiards Ltd. was in charge, and so also the first two individual Gold medals through Charlotte Sörensen & Henrik Asperup. In 2004 the cooperation between the DDBU and Sandman Billiards Ltd. ended, a decision which was based upon the lacking of financial means. However, to a certain degree the success among the women and the juniors still is maintained!

In november of 2002 Sandman Billiards Ltd. was also appointed by the DDBU as well as the Danish Sports Federation (DIF) to educate instructors at a 2-day seminar in Kolding. Whereas a teacher from DIF was in charge of the general education, Sandman Billiards Ltd. took care of the Billiards specific education. Whereas this new task for Sandman Billiards Ltd. was meant mainly as an introduction with more seminars to come, no more seminars did ever take place. Again it seems likely that the financial situation of the DDBU did not allow for any follow-up.

Shortly after Thorsten Hohmann's (GER) victory at the WPA World 9-Ball Championship in Cardiff (GBR) 2003, Sandman Billiards Ltd. was offered to operate as a manager for Thorsten. However, since it turned out that Thorsten already was repre-sented by a company that supposedly was professional in this particular field, Sandman Billiards Ltd. declined the offer. It did not take all that long though before Sandman Billiards Ltd. again was asked. It turned out that nothing at all had been accom-plished by the professional company and Thorsten started to worry that his year as the title-holder would be lost without any new sponsors.

Even though Sandman Billiards Ltd. in the past never acted as a promotion company, the parties formed an agreement in February of 2004. Just a month later Sandman Billiards Ltd. represented Thorsten Hohmann at the BCA trade show in Las Vegas and a number of promising contacts could be established. The next month was then devoted to produce an introduction material that would present Thorsten Hohmann in the proper light, and as a result a 16-page folder emerged. The folder was then sent to a number of companies and bearing in mind that the next World Championship would be held in Taipei (TPE) only two months later, little time remained for Thorsten as the number 1 of the world.

As it turned out, the time factor proved to be the main reason why no agreements could be signed before next championship, and all of a sudden the year of glory ran out on Thorsten. Even though he played really well in the event, he did not reach all the way. Then again, besides Earl "The Pearl" Strickland nobody has ever managed to win the title two years in succession. There is little doubt that Thorsten Hohmann eventually will regain the title at a later stage though, and the work in order to promote Thorsten continued also after the event. In the beginning of 2005 the promotion work was taken over by Dragon Promotions, a professional marketing agency with a number of well-known players that are being looked after, but before this Sandman Billiards Ltd. had been able to contribute to a certain degree.

Thorsten Hohmann moved from his hometown Fulda (GER) to Jacksonville in Florida (USA) and Sandman Billiards Ltd. was able to assist in many ways to make this happen. Thorsten was offered the job as a House Pro in a newly opened club in Jacksonville. Sandman Billiards Ltd. was also instrumental in negotiating a deal with a company providing him with new playing equipment.

Not long after the message from the Danish Billiard Union (DDBU) stating that they could not any longer afford to hire Jorgen Sandman as its national coach, Jorgen got a new offer - to once again become the national coach for the Austrian federation, the ÖPBV. Having just been able to successfully pass the exam as a "Diplom-Trainer" in Austria this offer seemed logical and the timing could not have been better. Jorgen Sandman did coach the Austrian Team already back in 1996 & 1997 with great success and by this agreement he would now get a second shot at it.

Ever since back in 1992 Jorgen Sandman has been in charge of the coaching at the training camp in Bleiburg, and it was during this camp in 2004 that he was able to prepare the youth team for the upcoming European Youth Championships, to be held in Willingen (GER) the week after the camp in Bleiburg. That he was given excellent material to work with there is no doubt - the Austrian team became the best nation at the EC with 3 individual and 1 team gold medal, as well as a few silver and bronze medals!

In the fall of 2004 and at the WPA World 9-Ball Championships for Youth, taking place in Adelaide (AUT), it was going to go a lot better for the Austrian participants though. Jasmin Ouschan went undefeated all the way to the final and here she somewhat surprisingly lost to a young girl from Chinese Taipei. Jasmin's younger brother, Albin Jr., was also able to secure a bronze medal for Austria, only 14 years old!

Jasmin in action at the 2006 WPA World 9-Ball Championships in Taipei (TPE) where she won a bronze medal (Photo APBU)

The 2005 European Championships for Men & Women took place in the Netherlands and due to the fact that Jasmin Ouschan now finally, after 11 individual gold medals for Austria in the Girl's Division, participated in the Women's Division, another two gold medals could be taken down for Austria. Otherwise the Austrian team was not doing all that good and it is obvious that some work lies ahead.

Cetin Aslan was the only male player from Austria to qualify for the 2005 WPA World 9-Ball Championships, which took place in Kaohsiung (TPE). Cetin had a few very close matches but did not manage to qualify for out of his group.

Although not qualified for the 2005 World Games in Duisburg (GER) Jasmin Ouschan was offered a spot at the very last minute due to a player not being able to come. Not only did she grab the opportunity to play, she also ended up winning the event and thus organizing with yet another gold medal for Austria.

At the 2005 Euorpean Youth Championships Austria had to face being one of the favorites following the success from the year before. However, having three of the medalists from the year before were now to old and another, Albin Ouschan (Jasmin's little brother), was only allowed to play one discipline. Albin Jr. did win the 14.1 event in the Pupil´s Division and this was going to become the only gold medal for Austria.

In September 2005 the WPA World 9-Ball Championships for Youth took place in Velden (AUT) and the host nation of course was hoping for at least one medal. As expected there was nobody to really threaten Jasmin Ouschan in the Girl's Division and she went undefeated all the way through, winning the final with 9-1 against Helen Athanasiou (GRE). Through Sabrina Naverschnig and her surprisingly strong play throughout the event, Austria was awarded also a bronze medal. In the Junior's Division though, where Albin Jr. was going to repeat his success from the year before, Austria ended up empty handed. Albin lost in the quarter-final against the same player that also did beat him the year before - the gold medalist out of Chinese Taipei.

Front row, from left: Alexander Ahmed, Paul Bachler, Gerhard Scharnigg, Heidi Bachler, Günther Fuchs, Jasmin Ouschan, Peter Stimpfl & Jürgen Scherrer. Back row, from left: Tom Huber, Friedl Rassi, Roland Sprenger, Alfred Freisinger, Christian Holzer, Christian Steiner, Walter Nussmüller & Florian Göltl.

Jorgen Sandman passed his exam at the "Bundesanstalt für Leibeserziehung" (BAfL) of Vienna in the fall of 2003 and by that he officially now can call himself a "Diplom-Trainer". In turn this was an important step for the Austrian Pool Billiard Federation (ÖPBV), since only with a BAfL recognized coach it is possible to organize courses for future coaches through the BAfL.

The Austrian federation did not wait around for all too long before starting to gather interested instructors and players for a possible first course. According to the BAfL rules a total of 25 participants are necessary in order for a course to be organized, and this number was met by the Austrian federation in the fall of 2004. Mainly this was due to the work of Karlheinz Feichtner, whose enthusiasm would not be held back by the difficulties involved. By that the very first BAfL "Lehrwarte" course could start in March of 2005 at its institution in Innsbruck.

Less than a year later, in mid February 2006, a total of 16 ÖPBV Lehrwarte did pass their exams after a very demanding course and a large amount of exams on the various subjects, including Pool. The Austrian federation is now aiming at possibly offering another course for Lehwarte before in 2007 they will attempt to also have a first ever course for coaches in cooperation with BAfL Innsbruck.

There is no doubt that this step is very important for the future of Pool in Austria and the already educated Lehrwarte are now going to be in charge of the training in the various regional federations belonging to the Austrian federation. Since all of them are also authorized to work with the PAT System on various levels, there will be tests offered above all for the youth with the incentive of nominating the most talented kids for training camps and, of course, the national team.

Jorgen Sandman congratulates the 16 newly examined Lehrwarte and is looking forward to a great cooperation with all of them over the next few years. The 16 are: Alexander Ahmed, Heidi & Paul Bachler, Alfred Freisinger, Günther Fuchs, Florian Göltl, Christian Holzer, Tom Huber (LIE), Walter Nussmüller, Jasmin Ouschan, Friedl Rassi, Gerhard Scharnigg, Jürgen Scherrer, Roland Sprenger, Christian Steiner and Peter Stimpfl. More than half of them did pass their exams with the highest possible notes, providing the Austrian federation with a great deal of pride.