Eight Ball
15 December, 2025
National Championship adds to Jelly’s historic career
With an already illustrious career to her name, an exceptional performance at the recent Australian Eightball Championships saw Lauren Jelly take home several awards, including being crowned the national women’s singles eightball champion.
Bringing together 1800 competitors at the Robert Schwartern Pavilion in Rockhampton between November 11-22, the Australian Eightball Championships proved to be Jelly’s best yet as she was named Player of the Carnival in the women’s division.
The honour comes after Jelly topped the division in statistics at the championships and captained Queensland to a runners-up finish in the women’s team event.
The various achievements saw Jelly, born and raised in Horsham, be the first selection into the Australian Eightball Team for next year’s world championships in Morocco.
Despite previously winning a team world championship for Australia, Jelly had not won the singles title on the national stage.
But with the aim of a top-two finish, Jelly said it took one of her best-ever performances to claim the title as she won the grand final 8-5.
“Personally, my goal was to make the finals in the singles,” Jelly said.
“The furthest I had gone in the past was the semifinals in Darwin in 2014, so I wanted to beat that and make the final, and I was successful in doing so.
“I played probably the best pool of my life; everything just gelled, and I just got into the zone.”
Making the women’s singles title more impressive is that Jelly played 132 frames across ten days of singles and team competition, including a jam-packed day before the singles final.
“The second last day of the tournament, I had to play in the quarterfinals of the singles, which was a two-hour match,” Jelly said.
“Then I had to play in the team semifinal straight away against Victoria, and it went to a five-person shootout after a draw, so that went for ages.
“I then had to play my semifinal of the singles, and I got through that, followed by the team preliminary final that night.
“So I had such a big day, it was mentally exhausting, and I had to get my energy levels up to play the finals the next day.
“After my singles win, I had to play the team grand final, and unfortunately, our team lost to Victoria.
“So it was a mixed day of emotions. It was amazing that I won the singles, but I was disappointed that the girls didn’t win the final; however, I was very proud of them.”
The Australian champion first learned the game as a six-year-old from her father, Gary, but it wasn’t until she filled in for her father’s team as a young adult that Jelly’s passion for the sport emerged.
“He used to say that I learned how to play at the pub, standing on a milk crate, so that’s where it all started,” Jelly said.
“I didn’t properly start playing until my dad actually asked me to fill in for his A-grade team in Horsham when I was about 19, while studying in Ballarat.
“I came back and won two out of four that night, and I remember thinking, ‘Geez, I'm pretty good at this game,’ so I decided to join a team in Ballarat.”
From there, Jelly made a dramatic rise in the sport, earning a spot on the Queensland state team within a few years before going on to represent Australia at her first world championships in 2007.
“At Ballarat, I was put in division eight, the lowest division, but I am a quick learner, so each season I just kept on moving higher and higher,” Jelly said.
“I moved to Queensland after graduating in 2003, and thought I would trial for the state team and just missed out, but I was able to make the Queensland team in 2005, where I shot about 50%, which was pretty good for my first year at nationals.
“My next goal was to make the Australian team, and in 2006, I made the Queensland team again, where our team won the Australian Championship.
“From there, I was selected in the Australian women’s team for the World Eightball Championships.”
The 2007 world championships, held in Blackpool, England, would be an iconic career moment for Jelly.
In her opening game of the championships, Jelly went against 11-time world women’s singles champion Sue Thompson before making history as part of the first Australian team to take out the women’s team event at a world championships.
Jelly admitted her rise in the sport was quite dramatic, putting it down to her motivation and belief.
“The Australian women's team had never won the world championship team event ever, and we won it,” Jelly said.
“It went from like zero to 100 in a matter of years, so that was pretty exciting.
“When I have a goal in mind, I definitely try to go out and achieve it because I have the self-belief that I can do it.
“That was my thinking this year as well, believing I could win the Australian title.”
Jelly’s national championship performance adds to a long list of accolades in her career, which include representing Australia four more times at the World Eightball Championships, 13 appearances at the national championships, and numerous Queensland state titles.
Yet to decide whether she will contest her sixth world championships in 2026 and where her future in pool lies, Jelly is feeling satisfied following her 2025 nationals performance.
“This is the best event I've ever played in terms of my performance,” Jelly said.
“If I was to put pool on the backburner for a little while, then I'm very comfortable with the achievements that I've made in this particular tournament.
“I’ve dedicated a solid 20 years to it at the state and world level, so at some point I want to take a step back and do something different.”