At the tender age of just 12, Jack, who also plays for the Surrey County Pool Association Youth Team, qualified for the England Youth Team, a side which features the top under-18-year-old players in the country.

Jack secured his place at the trials for the England Youth Team after finishing as one of the top eight under-18 players in the south-east of England at the end of the 2007 inter-county season.

Qualifying to trial for England was in itself a huge achievement for one so young and as far as Jack was concerned that was as far as his ambitions went.

'I wasn't massively confident about qualifying because there were lots of good players after very few spaces,' says Jack.

But Jack confidently potted his way through the field and kept his nerve to knock in a tough black in his deciding match to claim his spot in the England set-up.

'Potting the final black to get me through was brilliant. Once I'd knocked it in loads of people came over to me and kept shaking my hand and taking my picture. It was nice that everyone was pleased for me,' recalls Jack.

'My mum was there with me and she was in tears. She said she thought her heart was going to jump out of her chest because it was beating so fast! My dad couldn't be there but I phoned to tell him and he was in tears too.'

Jack now joins an exclusive list of only three players who've qualified for the England Youth Team at such a young age - and one of those was the current World Pool Champion Gareth Potts.

But it was very nearly a different story for the pupil at Overton Grange School in Sutton.

Jack was born 14 weeks premature and had to overcome several life-threatening illnesses as a baby. Thanks to expert medical care at Queen Charlotte's in Hammersmith he pulled through but he did suffer profound deafness as a result of his early birth and he now has to wear bilateral hearing aids.

But Jack's clearly overcome his early traumas - and it's onwards and upwards in the pool world. So how far does Jack think he can go?

'I'd love to following the footsteps of Gareth Potts,' says Jack. 'But my immediate goal is to stay in the England Youth Team and become a better player.'

'For the moment, though, I'm feeling great and I'm walking around with a big smile on my face. I've always dreamt of playing for England and I can't wait to wear my England waistcoat!'