Hi All,

Sorry I haven't written for a while, been having problems with the admin for the site, but we're all back up and running now.

I've been very busy the last six weeks....

World Cup Qualifier

I bowled terrible; this tournament sees the winner going to represent England at the AMF World Cup. This year’s representatives will be Dom Barratt and Lisa John!

Greek Ladies Coaching

After the World Cup Qualifier I went to Athens and spent 10 days training the National Ladies Team of Greece, before taking them to Germany to compete in the European Championships. We spent the time practicing on the Short and Long patterns in Athens and we really bonded as a group. It was a little strange for me not bowling but I definitely needed the break. The ladies did themselves proud, struggling a little in parts but for the team event they were fantastic, finishing in 9^th position, the highest position they have ever achieved. I really enjoyed the experience of coaching the team; it is definitely something I would like to pursue in the future.

It was very sad leaving them all at Stuttgart airport but  I flew home to an exciting new job!!!

Brunswick

The week after the Europeans I started working for Brunswick at their UK distributor, so far I am really enjoying the roll there.

English Open

The next tournament was the PTBC English Open at Nuneaton. This is the first year the tournament has been organized, to try and put UK bowling back on the European Calendar. It was organized by one of my closest friends and sponsors Alex Hamilton of Power Play Pro Shop. Unfortunately the tournament clashed with the Men’s World Championships so there were a few faces missing, but the tournament ran extremely well all weekend with out any hiccups. I bowled well too, qualifying high up so receiving byes through to the 3^rd round which was where the matchplay began. I won four best of three game matches before meeting Stuart Williams in the Semi Finals. Stuart had a great ball reaction, although he tried to let me win the 1^st game opening the 9^th & 10^th frames, leaving me to need a double in the 10^th frame to win. I left a flat 10 pin, and ended up losing in 2 games so finishing joint 3^rd with Matt Giles. Stuart went on to meet Paul Moor in the final where he was defeated. I used my Red Zone & Vapor Zone all weekend.

Viernheim Open

This was a very fleeting visit to Germany, I traveled with Kirsten Penny (my Doubles partner from the Worlds 2003). We flew in early Friday morning bowled Friday afternoon & evening. I didn’t bowl very well on Friday, but tried a few things out and got lined up for Saturday. I bowled well Saturday 1366, putting me in the top half of the field that qualified through to round 2. We bowled again and the field was cut down, and then arranged in to matches, again best of 3 games. I won my first match against a man from Canada, then I faced a PBA bowler Lonnie Waliczek, I had the best ball reaction I think I have ever had, shooting 273 & 279 to win the match by a big margin. Next I faced Pasi Uotila from Finland, again I opened up with 279 so over the last 3 games I had shot 831 my highest block. I used the Red Zone again straight up board 5. Then my reaction started to fade when the lane carried down and I made the wrong move, changing balls and moving left. In hindsight I should have stuck with the Red Zone and moved right. So I got knocked out in that round which put me finishing in 14^th position. Liz Johnson – former PWBA bowler won the tournament, bowling phenomenally well!

Next Tournament is the San Marino Open – See if I can defend the title from last year!!