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/
No comments:
Post a Comment