“It wasn’t even close. She was the best women’s player in Canada by far.”
-Kirk Stevens

“I’m not prepared for losing, I’m playing with a killer instinct now.”
-Natalie Stelmach on her ambition to win the Women’s World Championship.

Natalie Stelmach was a pioneer of Canadian women’s snooker, a five-time national women’s snooker champion and the first Canadian to compete in the Women’s World Snooker Championships. Born in Sudbury, Ontario she was an avid athlete and as a teenager she began playing snooker in 1973 at Family Billiards & Holiday Lanes, owned by Gabe Tarini who introduced her to the sport and became her coach. She was a prodigy from a very young age.

Stelmach achieved early success in her career, making her first trip to England to play in the 1976 Women’s World Open in London. At only 16 years of age, she was by far the youngest entrant. She lost 3-1 in the first round to Lettie Hayward of Wales but impressed the British with her play. There was no tournament held between 1977 and 1979 and Stelmach returned to play in the 1980 Championship losing in the semi-finals 3-0 to former Women’s World Professional Champion Agnes Davies of Wales. She played again in 1981 but lost 3-1 in the quarterfinals to Fran Lovis of Australia.

Her best result came in 1984 when she reached the final of the Women’s World Amateur Championship by beating Maggie Beer of England 3-1, Gaye Jones of England 4-0 and third seeded Caroline Walch of England 4-0. She lost the final to the upcoming 15-year-old superstar Stacey Hillyard 4-1.

Stelmach won the World Mixed Pairs Championship in 1981 with partner Cliff Thorburn, the 1980 World Snooker Champion, by defeating Vera Selby, the 1976 and 1981 Women’s World Amateur Champion and English professional John Virgo on total points scored, 262-239, in the final.

Natalie Stelmach dominated Canadian Women’s snooker in the late 1970s to early 1980s winning the Canadian Women’s Open Championship in 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979. In April 1979 Natalie Stelmach told Canada’s national magazine, Maclean’s, she had never lost a match to another woman in Canada. Her era of supremacy ended briefly in 1980 when she was defeated 4-3 at the Canadian Open by unseeded Freda Anaspasiadis. Also hailing from Sudbury, Anaspasiadis had defeated second and third seeds Sue LeMaich and Maryann McConnell without losing a frame before narrowly defeating Stelmach for the title.

The following year, Stelmach regained her crown winning the 1981 Canadian Women’s Snooker Championship with decisive victories beating Grace Nakamura 3-0, Maryellen Homenchuk 3-1, Sheri Richardson 3-0 and defeating Maryann McConnell 4-1 in the final. Stelmach made a tournament record break of 56 in the third frame of the final.

Known for her precise shot-making and ability to read the table, Stelmach was the first women’s player in the world to make a century break, scoring 109 points in a non-competition game in 1977. Stelmach also made the first recorded half-century break by a woman in competition, on route to winning her fifth Canadian Open title in April 1981.

Natalie Stelmach was a trailblazer in Canadian snooker and by the early to mid 1980s Canadian women were regular competitors at the World Championships in England. She is recognized as one of the best women’s snooker players in the world and for her unrivalled supremacy in Canadian women's snooker during her era. She passed away in 2011 and was inducted posthumously into the Canadian Snooker Hall of Fame in 2022.