EPBF LAUNCHES SMARTPOOL

Oct 4, 2020

The project “Smart-Pool” was introduced by the Dutch Federation to the General  Assembly of the EPBF in 2019 in Treviso / Italy. Already in 2018, first events  were held during the „all-in-one“ European Championships of the EPBF in  Veldhoven, The Netherlands.  







After a first evaluation meeting after the  European All-in-One Championship, it became  clear that this project was getting a lot of  interest from schools in the Netherlands. So  much interest that it was even decided to expand the project within the Netherlands It  was then also decided to try to roll out the  "Smart-Pool" project Europe-wide. The  Koninklijke Nederlandse Biljart Bond (Royal Dutch Billiards Association) and  the EPBF then "joined forces" and started making plans on what such a European  approach could look like.  



The project, which combines pool billiards and mathematics at a new level, was  advertised to all EPBF members, and at the end 5 national member federations  and the EPBF decided and declared that they will invest in this project. The 5  members are: Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Cyprus, The Netherlands and the  EPBF.  



SmartPool Europe is a project of the European Pocket Billiard Federation, in  cooperation with five, National billiard federations and mathematics  organisations, all across Europe. The expertise and networks of the billiard  federations, the mathematics organisations, combined with the research expertise  of Mulier Institute guarantees good execution and dissemination. 



Smart-Pool's goal is to make beta courses more attractive through the  combination with pool billiards. For schools, a curriculum has been developed in  which the elements of pool have been translated into mathematical issues, for  example by visualizing pool billiard situations.  



The reason for this was the realization that children often don't think math is  'cool', but also doesn't want to play billiards or know what billiards is. By turning  both things with Smart-Pool into something positive, we strengthen the math/  numeracy skills of youth and introduce them to pool billiards.  



After the 5 above-mentioned members had declared their willingness to invest  in this project, it was decided to apply for a European subsidy via the EPBF, as  the European Governing body for pool and situated in the Netherlands, for  this project through the European project institute "Erasmus +".  



After submitting all the necessary paperwork, we have now received the joyful  news that the project "Smart-Pool" is eligible for a European subsidy.  Erasmus+ has now officially announced that the EPBF will receive an amount  of € 422,950.00 in the next 3 years to roll out and supervise the project in these  5 countries.  



The EPBF will be responsible for administration, facilitation and evaluation of  the project and the national member federation will be responsible for the  implementation and specifications in their country. Together we will contribute  to the development of curricula, course material, website, learning platform  and other resources needed. The EPBF board did nominate the EPBF treasurer,  Mrs. Ine Helvik, as project leader for this prestigious project.  



“Smart-Pool is a perfect fusion of pool and mathematics. Bringing our sport to  the kids and not depending on the kids coming to us is the future.  We are delighted that the "Smart-Pool" project is now also being introduced in  5 other countries. The subsidy we receive for this will certainly lead to the  project becoming just as successful as in the Netherlands”, according to the  EPBF President - Gre Leenders.”