European Womens Championships Day 8

Jemma, Jenny, Lisa, Nicki, Zara & Me messing around before the team event!
BIFFY!

Day 8 : Thursday 12th June

Last night Denamark won the trios event, defeating France in the finals! Germeny & Holland picked up the bronze medals!

We didn't stay around the bowl to watch the finals, instead we headed downtown to a restaurant called Bone's! It was a lovely steakhouse with the bestest Salad Bar I have ever ever seen! The meal was good and we all had a great time!! After a cup of tea and a little time in the hotel lobby we headed to bed to get some sleep ready for the early morning!!

Today is the first day of the 5 man team event! Our team was drawn in the first squad so it was yet another early start!! We played 3 games on the short oil and will play the following 3 tomorrow on the long oil.

The whole team was comfortable on the lanes today and played really well together!

England

Zara Glover 192 214 211 - 617
Lisa John 236 236 179 - 651
Jo Allsebrook 238 201 243 - 682
Jemma Smith 213 185 212 - 610
Jenny Billingham 184 206 225 - 615
For a team total of 3175.

After the first shift we are lying 2nd behind the Danish team who scored 3314.

We will be in the top half of the teams after today's bowling so the team will not play until the afternoon squad! Wahooo - lie in!

I've made some more changes to my equipment to try and get a better look on the long pattern, I have scuffed down both my Roto Grip Cell & Hammer Black Widow using the green pad. This has roughed up the surface hopefully helping the ball hook a little more and give me more room to play with.

After all 6 games we aim to be in the top 4 to earn a spot in the semi finals. The higher we can finish the better as the highest seeded team picks the condition to play on for the match.

Fingers Crossed for tomorrow!!!!!

JoJo xxx

European Womens Championships Day 7

After bowling yesterday we decided we needed to get away from bowling for a while! The way we did this was perfect......shopping for banquet clothes, watching Sex and the City @ the cimena and then a lovely meal! I twas really nice to spend time with the girls outside the bowl and it really helped us to relax! :o) Happy Days!

Day 7 : Wednesday 11th June

After both shifts of trios yesterday we were lying in 7th place, 64 pins behind 4th place which is the cut for the semi finals.

Today didn't go great for us as a unit. Jenny played great again 193, 216 & 215 for a 624. Nicki settled loads batter today with 183, 190 & 234 for 607. I had similar problems to what I did on the long in the doubles, I was always there or there abouts but it was never quite right. I seemed to have something for 3 or 4 frames then it would go and I'd spend the next 3 or 4 frames hunting. Today I had games of 188 174 177 for a 539.

We were still 4th in that shift but the 2nd shift is carrying 3 teams with big scores from yesterday! Unfortunatley one of them isn't our other team - yesterday didn;t go well for them, struggling to find a consistent reaction. The lanes didn't appear to be hooking from the very edge which makes the short pattern very tough.

I spoke to Chris about my ball selection for the long, I am going to make some surface changes to 2 of my balls. The Roto Grip Cell I will take down to 1000 to get it hooking earlier so I will be bale to play deeper into the oil and still get a good backend reaction. I'm also gonna take the surface down slightly on the Complete NV as it just goes too far down the lane before reacting, which isn't right for the long pattern.

Jem, Lisa & Zara are just starting practice so we better go and watch!

Write again soon,

JoJo xxx

European Women's Championships Days 4, 5 & 6

Day 4 : Sunday 8th June

Day Off!!! Jemma & I had a day off today, was a bit weird having a day off during championships but it was quite nice to relax and perfect opportunity for Jemma's ankle to get better!

Day 5 : Monday 9th June

Me & Jemma had the early shift today - Urgh 6am alarm's are not my favourite!

After a bad start on saturday we were determined not to start like that again and we came out fighting! 225 for me & 212 for Jemma, we were both feeling good! When we moved to th enext pair I was forced to play different to the first game and sturggled to find something for a 160. I struggled for the rest of the squad after this, getting close all the time but never looking too convincing. Our scores were as follows

Jo Allsebrook 225 160 195 163 190 170 = 1103

Jemma Smith 212 194 192 199 159 224 = 1180

As a team, over the long & short games we finished on 4775.

Zara & Lisa played there final set of 6 in the afternoon. They were in a good position for a medal spot after the short and started well on the long. It was very tense and they so very nearly made 4th spot for the finals but unfortunatley fell 14 pins short. It was an experience watching them play and me, Jemma, Nicki & Jenny sat at the back getting nervous and filling up with tears!

Sweden's team of Helen Johnson & Nina Flack went on to win the Gold medal, Tina Hulsch & Patricis Schwartz from Germany in 2nd and Denamrk's Anja & Mai Ginge Jenson shared 3rd place with the other Swedish team Therese Forsell & Diana Alfredson!

Day 6 : Tuesday 10th June

Trios started today. Shift 1 was at 9am - that bloody 6am alarm again :o( Jenny, Nicki & I were in this shift, in practice we saw a noticeable difference in the short pattern to the other days, they seemed to be a lot hookier! We all got sorted in practice but for both Jenny & Nicki they changed as the game started!

Jenny managed to find it again moving further towards the right hand gutter but Nicki was struggling to find something consistently! Our first game was a good starting game for us as it gave us back a bit of confidence. Jenny 201, Nicki 163, Me 269.

The 2nd game was lower, Jenny had a good start then her reaction went. She managed to make the change to another ball before too many pins were lost and struck out for 214. Nicki still had the same sorta problems for a 160 and I had a 175. I struggled carrying the corner pins in this game and I opened a split in the 8th frame.

Into the 3rd game and we came back fighting, Jenny had lots of strikes for a 245 game, Nicki flushed the pocket for 12 shots only carrying 1 at the beginning and 5 at the end for a 217 and I rounded them off with a 237 for a team game of 699!

This made our team total 1881 and 4th plae in the shift behind Germany, Denmark & Holland!

Jemma, Lisa & Zara are on now for the first 3 games of there trios on short! Tomorrow we all play a further 3 games on the long condition.

I will write again tomorrow!

JoJo

xxx

European Womens Championships Day 3

Day 3 : Saturday 7th June

Doubles started today! Nicki & Jenny bowled at 9am, Jemma & I were bowling at 1.30pm so we stayed back at the hotel, had a later breakfast and headed down to the bowl about 11am to watch the last game and get ready for our block. Nicki & Jenny had a steady start finishing 2361 as a team. After speaking to the girls & Chris it seemed they were both hitting the pocket lots just struggling to carry the corner pins.

Nicki Ainge 183 200 180 213 149 219 = 1144
Jenny Billingham 182 172 227 210 226 200 = 1217

The weather has been great here the last couple of days so I took advantage of the sun and did all my stretches outside, on the grass, in the sun - Happy Days! I decided against changing any surfaces as all th eballs looked ok during Official Practice! Practice looked good for us both except our thumbs been a little swollen from the heat, I managed to open up my thumb slug enough but Jemma was still struggling to get it off her hand cleanly.

The first game is one I wanna dwell on, I missed 2 single pins (10pins) and Jemma hit her ankle twice and with the ball still catching quite a bit we scraped together a total of 309. Things didn't look good! We took time after the first game to re-group, we decided to forget the 309 and start again! As you can see from our scores we definitley got fired up and the scores were much better! We had a great time on the lanes, the atmosphere was brilliant and between Jemma, Myself & Coach Chris Buck we worked together to keep fighting and make the right moves at the right times! We finished on a total of 2492 which is a good starting block for the next 6 games and we all left the lanes feeling very happy.

Jo Allsebrook 174 212 212 232 256 193 = 1279
Jemma Smith 135 191 235 238 190 224 =1213

We managed to find somewhere proper to eat last night, a lovely cafe restaurant in the shopping mall! It was an eventuful night with lots of laughs and giggles about ridiculous things but it helped to relax us after a long day bowling!

I'm down the bowl this morning watching Lisa & Zara in their first block of 6. Jemma & I have the early squad tomorrow so it seemed a good idea to get used to the early start - sensible! I am having a very clever few days - Check me out!!!

JoJo xxx

European Womens Championships Days 1 & 2

The team ready for the opening ceremony!!


For the next 10 days I will be in Odense, Denmark for the European Women's Championships! I will do my best to update day by day but some days I'm guessing I'll just be tooo knackered!!

Day 1 : Thursday 5th June

Talk about early start - Jemma's alarm went off at 4.30am Urgh!!! I travelled down to Jemma's Wednesday night so we could have an early night but I went to see Adam, left there later than planned and got to Jemma's about 10.30! After chatting and getting excited about the trip we got to sleep about 1.30am!

So early start, everyone arrived at Gatwick nice & early ready for the flight which was only 1hour & 15minutes! We flew into Billund which is quite a way from Odense and the tournament wasn't providing transport. We had to get a bus to the nearest train station then a train to Odense and then we could phone the organisers for a pick up - Nightmare! It wouldnt have been so bad but we had heavy suitcases, heavy-ish hand luggage and it was super hot! Good job Eric Hayton drove all our balls here!

We finally arrived at the hotel about 2.30, dropped the luggage off quick change then for some food! After food we headed down to the bowl to have a look around. Jemma, Zara, Nicki & Jenny decided to have a bowl and loosen up but me & Lisa decided against it.

Day 2 : Friday 6th June

Today was the official start for the tournament. Official practice, Opening Ceremony & Welcome Reception. There was 3 sessions for practice, we had the 1st starting at 11am. After slicing my finger with the bread knife ( don't worry, left hand!!! ) we got down to the bowl, cleaned some balls and made some slight changes to some ball surfaces!

Official practice is played on both the Long (44ft) and the Short (34ft) patterns, alternating each pair! We played on a set of lanes for 10 minutes then made a shift so we covered the whole centre! It's a really good opportunity to see how the lanes play across the centre and see how the lanes break & carry down throughout the squad.

I brought 8 balls with me but after official practice I had to reject 2 balls and register the 6 I would use during the competition.

Here's what I decided to keep

Long:
Roto Grip Cell
Hammer Black Widow

Short:
Brunswick Blast Zone
Storm T Road Pearl

I also have the Ebonite Complete NV which I had a look with on both patterns and of course my trusted spare ball!

Opening ceremonywas like any other, all the teams marched in from one side, stood and posed for photos, all the official oaths were spoken and then we had drinks & nibbles as a welcome reception! The weather had been great again today so was nice to be outside on the grass!

The doubles pairing were decided today. I will play with Jemma, Nicki & Jenny, Lisa & Zara. The doubles competition is 6 games short & 6 games long played over 3 days, sectioned into 3 squads playing at 2 times each day, 9am & 1.30pm. Nicki & Jenny squad 1, Jemma & I squad 2, Lisa & Zara squad 3. I will bowl at 1.30 tomorrow (saturday) and 9am Monday morning!

I'm really looking forward to bowling now as I was really happy with how I played and the looks I had during official practice! Just really hope this continues into the tournament!!

Wish me luck :o)

JoJo xxx

Eric Hayton is here reporting on his website http://www.itenpin.co.uk/ & you will also find results, pictures & videos at http://www.ewc2008.eu/

May...

Queens was a fantastic experience and I had an amazing time! I did not bowl aswell as I would have liked but the advantage of me not proceeding to further rounds was that I got to watch some of the best bowlers in the world! I learnt lots and come away feeling a much stronger person on & off the lanes!

May has been a bit hectic, came home from America played the Welsh Open. Good weekend came 5th :o)

Week later I had Team England training camp to prepare for the European Womens Championships & the World Youth Championships. Was a very long & tiring week, was hard work with bowling everyday along with classroom and equipment preperation.

Bank Holiday weekend was the Scott Banks Memorial Trios - Great weekend as always, played well but not well enough in the round robin final, finished 5th! All scores, reports, videos & pictures can be found at www.scottbanksfund.org.uk

Few days later Me & Adam head over to Belgium to play an EBT Event - The Belgium Open. I drove to this one which was an experience in itself but I survived - woop woop :o) Had a fab time, really enjoyed the bowling and the time spent away. I bowled really well making the final step 1 then qualifying making the round of 32 for matchplay also! At the end of the tournament I was the 2nd placed lady which earnt me an extra cash prize so it was a good trip all around! All results e.t.c can be found at www.ebt-belgium.eu

Tomorrow I leave for the European Womens Championships in Denmark. I'm staying with Jemma tomorrow night then driving to the airport at silly o clock thursday morning! This trip has come round so so quick so today I am mega excited! You can follow the tournament at www.ewc2008.eu/

Better go now and finish packing and preparing other bits & pieces!

JoJo xx