The Story
Across the Street
From a hall across the street to the world stage.
Regan "Ablaze" Elie is a South African blackball player, reigning World Doubles Champion, and international competitor preparing to represent South Africa at the 2026 Blackball World Championships in London.
Raised by his grandmother in a modest home where discipline, faith, and education came first, Regan discovered pool at the age of nine while standing outside a hall across the street from his school.
Unable to afford table time, he cleaned neighbours' yards to earn enough money for another game.
Years later, the same boy who once watched through the hall windows became one of South Africa's most respected blackball players — earning provincial titles, national honours, and international championships along the way.
Today, his journey continues on the world stage.
“Every coin meant another game. Every game meant another lesson.”
Regan "Ablaze" Elie was born on 4 November 1996 into a home built on quiet discipline, strong faith, and sacrifice.
He and his brother Sergio were raised by their grandmother, Farieda, in a modest house shared by six people and held together by love, routine, and resilience.
In their home, Sunday mornings were never optional. Church came first. Farieda made sure of that. Between hymns, homework, and early bedtimes, Regan learned structure long before he ever learned competition.
From 2002 to 2009, he attended Sanctor Primary School before moving on to Sanctor Secondary High School. Education mattered deeply in their household. Farieda believed in doing things properly, and Regan carried that lesson everywhere he went.
But across the street from the school gates, another world was waiting for him.
Regan was only nine years old when he first noticed the pool hall. At the time, he knew nothing about championships, rankings, or international competition. He didn't know the names of the shots and the rules of the game. But something about the sound of the balls colliding against the cushions stayed with him.
The game found him early, and once it did, it never let him go.
There was only one problem: money. Farieda was the sole breadwinner in the home, and pool was considered a luxury they simply could not afford. There were days when Regan stood outside the hall with a cue in his hand but no money for a single rack. Some nights he never touched the table at all.
For many people, that would have been the end of the dream. For Regan, it became the reason he refused to give up.
If he wanted to play, he had to earn it. So he started knocking on neighbours' doors, offering to clean yards for spare change. He swept driveways, pulled weeds, carried rubbish, and worked under the heat just to afford another chance at the table.
After long days, he would head straight to the pool hall, play until the lights dimmed, then return home to finish his homework. Pool never came before school. Farieda would never have allowed it, and Regan respected her too much to test that boundary.
Years passed. The spare change became table time. The table time became matches. The matches became trophies.
In 2013, Regan was crowned U18 Top Provincial Player at the South African Blackball Championships. The same boy who once stood outside the hall unable to afford a rack was now standing on a podium.
A year later, he won the Eastern Cape trials and was named captain of the junior team. Under his leadership, the Eastern Cape junior side made history by becoming the first team from the province to win the South African Blackball Championships.
That evening, during the presentation ceremony, Regan heard his name called three separate times — Top Provincial Trophy, Team Event Trophy, and South African Number One Ranked Player.
As he stood there holding those trophies, his mind drifted far beyond the stage — back to the pool hall windows, back to the smell of freshly cut grass after cleaning neighbours' yards, back to the voice of his grandmother reminding him every Sunday morning: "You do things properly, Regan. All of them."
And he had. What began across the street from a schoolyard had now become a journey carrying him onto the international stage.
Because for Regan Elie, pool was never just a game.
It was sacrifice.
It was discipline.
It was faith.
It was purpose.
And he was only getting started.
