Update :-)

I still have the remainder of my stinking cold, which isn't nice. But what is nice, is that I've had the all clear for arthritis & inflammation of my joints!! I've been struggling with joint pain for quite a while now and my GP didn't know the cause. The specialist I have seen has advised me that I have overly flexible joints, which explains all the cracking, popping & movement I have. The pain comes from the joints not being protected or strong enough to cope with the movement. It also turns out my left leg is longer than my right and my left knee cap doesn't sit straight!

So what now?! Back to the gym, to work on core stability & balance. I've been referred to a physiotherapist & occupational therapist to work on my mechanics and to help me strengthen & protect my joints so I no longer get the pains I get now!!

It's so hard coming home after an amazing trip. Back to the norm, going to work, unpacking, washing & miserable boring weather! Urgh!

What does make it worth while coming home is seeing my 2 gorgeous nephews! I drove to see my sister, her fiancé & the boys today! I fed Finley some jelly for the first time and he loved it!!! I've attached a couple of pictures from their trip to the zoo yesterday :-)

I'm bowling a local tournament next week at Preston, back to the practice lanes this week so I will keep you updated after next weeks event!

Take it easy! Much Love, J xx

Home Sweet Home

Lots to catch up on.... I didn't want to write my blog straight after leaving the tournament Sunday as I had mixed emotions. It was important for me to relax for a couple of days and look at the bigger picture, rather than writing straight away when I was a little upset at being knocked out. So now it's Thursday morning, I'm laid in bed at home feeling appreciative for the life I live :o)

Sunday morning was 5 more games - total pin fall carried over an the top 47 joined last years winner Missy Parkin in the match play finals. I was drawn on the lanes today with Leanne Barrette-Hulsenberg - I was a little intimidated and nervous but it was such an honour to bowl alongside someone who has been around women's bowling for so long and been so good. I had a really good morning today on the lanes 208 209 182 232 223 - 1054 which meant I was +53 for 15 games ( 203.53 avg).... I wasn't quite sure I'd done enough to make the 48, I knew it was going to be close so the next 10 minutes were hell then the scores were in and I was 41st :o) So so happy!!

All 4 of us made the match play so we nipped out for some dinner then back to the bowl to get ready for our matches. My first match was against Megan Kelly. She'd caught my eye earlier in the week with how good she threw the ball so I knew it wasn't going to be easy. The match play was 3 game total - winner advances, loser drops into the contenders bracket. So basically you have to lose twice to drop out of the tournament.

I was 30 ish down after 1 game, had a couple of bad shots through nerves at the beginning but once I settled them I seemed to be OK. I made good shots and pulled 20 something pins back so we were almost even going into the final game. I wasn't quite ready to drop into the contenders bracket just yet and opened up with the front 7 - finished with a 268 and won the match 668 - 610. Phew!!

Match 2 - The top 16 seeds came in at this round and I was drawn against Clara Guerrero from Columbia. I'm not quite sure what happened in the first game against Clara but I could not figure the lanes out. I went high split - light split etc 126 and 80 pins down. I managed to pull myself together and finish the match with 2 190's but Clara played too good and 80 pins were too many to pull back. Into the contenders bracket.

Match 3 - Shannon Pluhowsky. Team USA Member and pretttty good bowler!! I was certainly being tested today :o)
I played OK against Shannon in games 1 & 2. We were both finding it hard to double on the pair and the scores were fairly low. I was starting to struggle with my middle finger now with my hand being so swollen. I wasn't making good shots and didn't feel comfortable. After game 1 Shannon was up by 10. Game 2 I managed to pull back 7 so it was neck & neck for game 3. Game 3 Shannon came out on fire and I didn't. I had another 180, Shannon had 260 to win the match 630 - 545.

That was it - tournament over. It all happened so quick. It was a tough 4 days and I learnt so much. My target this trip was to make the cut to 64. I did that - in fact I also made the cut to 48 and won a match in match play so I am very happy with the trip as a whole. I know I made some mistakes along the way, I made some bad shots when I needed to make good ones, made the wrong decisions sometimes about ball changes/movements but that's all part of the learning curve. I'll learn from these mistakes and bounce back even stronger!

Olivia made it through to Monday & still in the winners bracket so we all went down to support her on Monday...she played amazing but unfortunately dropped out at the last minute and finished in 7th/8th place.

Monday night we went shopping and I finally treat myself to some new sunglasses. I wanted RayBans but the frames I wanted only came in light lenses so I settled for a funky pair of Oakleys :o) Olivia & Jen left early Tuesday morning and I was being picked up at 4pm to go to the airport so what was I gonna do for the day? Sandra & I hit the sun loungers. We spent most of the day just laid in silence, enjoying  the peace & quiet after a mad 4 days. When we did talk it was laughter and memories of a fun trip, we shared what we had learnt and what our goals were for next time. I'd never really had the chance to sit & talk to Sandra before this trip but we certainly became friends this time and I'm looking forward to getting on the road with her again soon ;o) I also made friends with Jaime Perez this week, he does the videography for the IAB ( International Art Of Bowling) he's so much fun and contributed to me having a great trip. I loved seeing Olivia & Jen again too - 4 years is too long! I definitely wont be leaving it that long again - see you in 8 weeks girls!!

Dallas Fort Worth airport may have been the most boring airport I have ever visited. The shops were rubbish so I went for tea which I made last over an hour - cold burger #NotNice then sat for hours just waiting..and waiting. Sandra was keeping me updated with the scores from the show and I was happy for Diandra winning her first major! Somebody complained to the airline about my cold/cough/nasty chest and I had a bit of a to-do with the airline staff as they didn't think I was fit to travel home. Thank god they did let me on and after a 45 minute delay I was on my way home. The flight was O.K. I managed to sleep for 4-5 hours, so I knew Wednesday was gonna be fun! I was welcomed at the airport by rain & cold #Niiiiice but I was picked up by Wilson (always good to see a happy face after a trip away).

We went for some dinner with Emma Manning, had a catch up/gossip/rant about bowling & life then I was on my way to Nuneaton. I wanted to try something different with my finger inserts to stop them being too tight when my fingers swell. This was possibly the quickest visit to Nuneaton EVER!!! I was home for 10 and after a catch up with my Mum, Dad & Brother I was wiped out and in bed by 11:30.

I'm back in work today - that's gonna be tough after a week off. So hard coming back to reality after an amazing trip but work pays the bills and it pays for the next trip! Reno - for women's US Open in approx 8 weeks! Time to work hard and prepare :o)

Thanks for your support this week :o) Much Love, J xx

Saturday!

I'm in :-) geez that was close!

I woke up today with a big ass stinker of a cold, my head felt like it was gonna explode! Urgh!

Although we all still woke early, we managed to lounge around in bed this morning due to not bowling until 1pm.

We took time getting ready then me, Liv & Sandra went down to the bowl to watch some of the B squad bowlers. It was such a relief to see that the scores had dropped a little after yesterday!

The food at the bowl doesn't look too great so we went for a drive to find some dinner (lunch) after 30 minutes driving we finally decided on Arby's. I had a turkey & bacon ranch wrap which was beaut! No photo this time - Soz!

When we got back to the bowl I took my Victory Road Pearl into the pro shop as it was a little greasy after yesterday! The poor guy in the shop struggles to understand me - especially with the terminology I'm used to around my bowling and equipment :-/ I probably should learn some proper words!!!

Anyway, finally onto the lanes and I felt good in practice. I opened up with a 255 which helped me to relax more! I felt like I bowled much better today and had games of 199 201 190 & 201. I know the scores don't reflect how much I hit the pocket but I just struggled to kick out the 4 & 10 pins.

I managed +46 today so -1 for the 10 games. I knew it was going to be close as the cut was -20 after game 9. It was a nerve wracking 10 minutes waiting for the scores to update but when they did I was mega happy :-) placed 55th and 29 pins off the next cut. If I make good shots tomorrow hopefully I can pull that back and pinch a place in the match play!

I made $90 in today's block too from entering the high game pot & also brackets - bonus!

All 4 of us are in the cut so we went out to a Mexican restaurant to celebrate! I treated myself to a lime mojito which was yummy and the food was delicious too :-)

Tonight we went in the pool for the first time and although it was pretty cold I was determined to stay in there! Sandra & I mucked about a bit then got out and just chilled for a bit :-)

Now I'm blogging from a hot bath, drinking Mountain Dew & eating peanut M&M's :-)

Early start tomorrow for 5 more games at 9am (3pm UK time) so wish me luck!!!

Much Love,

J xx

It's Friiiiday!!

I didn't sleep too well last night - there was a huge thunderstorm which kept waking me up ( Don't like it!! ) Then I woke up with the start of a stinking cold - blurgh!

I have to say, I felt much better after my tub of Lucky Charms though :o) We really need these again in England!!!  

So finally I got to bowl. I was a little nervous going to the bowl today, I have the desire again and I want to do well so I get nervous cos of it! It's quite a nice feeling to have though - the want & the fight!!

I struggled to relax in practice this morning and I was having problems on the approach - they were really tacky and leaving scum on my heel so I was really inconsistent getting to the foul line. This carried on for the whole of the first game #NotFun I felt like I was throwing the ball O.K but wasn't making it happen.

When I moved to the next pair for game 2, it became apparent I was using the wrong ball. I thought the bad shots were me, when really it was because I didn't have the right match up. I switched to my Victory Road Pearl and automatically felt much more comfortable as I was seeing a better reaction on the lanes. I used the VR pearl for the rest of the squad and edged left gradually as they broke down more.

I felt like I played O.K today. I've certainly bowled a lot better during my career but I've also bowled a lot worse. I made a couple of bad shots each game and was punished with splits - usually in the 9th or 10th frame which lost me a lot of pins.

My games were 188 178 222 181 182 - 951. After both squads I'm down in 82nd which is a little disheartening but I'm only 37 pins from the cut to 64 and 61 pins from the cut to 48 so those numbers are makeable. Tomorrow we play on the second oil ( as B squad did today ) and the scores seem a lot higher on that oil. Hopefully I will match up better and get relaxed quicker...If I relax and make good shots I'm confident I can make up some pins! Fingers Crossed!

For dinner (Lunch) we went to Panda Express. This place is ace - kinda like Chinese fast food and it was delicious!!

After dinner we headed over to the USBC International Bowling Museum & Research Centre. It's the headquarters for the United States Bowling Congress and includes the museum, hall of fame, gym & 8 lane centre with state of the art coaching & research equipment. I walked around the place with my mouth wide open - I was so envious. I wish so bad we had somewhere like this in England. We can hope!!

Me, Olivia & Jen went to watch a film at the Cinema to kill some time. We saw 'Cabin in the woods' - One word.....STRANGE! What goes through people's heads when they think up films like that?!?!

After the cinema we went to the Cheesecake Factory to get some Cheesecake - obviously! I chose pineapple upside down cake cheesecake. We came back to the hotel and ate it in bed and it was beaut! Soooo gooood :-) Mmmmmm 

 I'm so tired, I don't think I've quite caught up on my travelling yet so I'm gonna try and get to sleep early again tonight. We're on the late squad tomorrow 1pm (7pm UK time) so hopefully get a lie in and chill out in the morning!!

Cross your fingers for me - I really wanna make that 64!

Until the morrow - Much Love

J xx

Queens - Practice

 Today has been a good day!

The sweeper could have been better. But it did help me to relax and get used to the surroundings. I had 572 for 3 games, I was throwing the ball fairly well, I just had a few splits in the last game.

Practice was an hour & 15 minutes on fresh oil for the tournament. I was really happy with how practice went, I found something with 4 of the 5 balls I have with me and felt comfortable on the lanes. The carry didn't seem too great today so may need to make little changes along the way with ball surface and little adjustments to hand & feet positions.

 I have 6 balls with me in total. RotoGrip Defiant, Rotogrip Outlaw, Storm Victory Road Pearl, Storm Nano Pearl, Storm Tropical Heat Solid & a T-Zone plastic.

The centre is lovely - AMF Euless Showplace lanes. 52 HPL Lanes. It's really open and spacious without feeling too formal and uncomfortable. I like it....

After practice today Sandra Andersson http://sandraontheroad.blogg.se/ & I chilled out by the pool for a little while - which was nice :o) We couldn't stay out too long as it was getting too hot and we started to get a little red! The pool is beaut though and as there's not many people about, it was nice & peaceful!!

We then did a bit of shopping & ate at The Cheesecake Factory - YUMMY!!!! So good! I still haven't purchased my Ray Bans :o( I've found the frames I like but the lenses they had were too light #BadTimes

It's 9:25 here now and I'm starting to get sleepy! We have the early squad tomorrow so will bowl at 9am (3pm UK time) so think it's gonna be bath & early bed for me!

Until tomorrow - Sleep good & have your fingers crossed for me :o)

Much Love,

J xx

Hotel Motel Holiday Inn

I got through security - They let me in :o) BOOM! Getting through the airport was pretty quick and my bags were the first on the belt!!

Olivia Sandham drove 6 hours from Kansas for the tournament so came to collect me from the airport - we managed to quickly check in then headed to the other airport to pick up Jen Higgins! I met both the girls at the World Youth Championships in Guam 8 years ago - Time flies!!!

It was fun in the car with Olivia - catching up on the lingo. We ate at Popeye's - I had Chicken, chips & a scone. In American - Chicken, Fries & a Biscuit....a biscuit? Seriously? It was like a savoury scone - strange!!!

We got back to the hotel about 11:30 and after we unpacked we got to sleep just after 12. I as expecting to sleep forEVER since I had been up for 23 hours but here I am now! Wide awake at 8am! The other girls are awake too so we're gonna get ready and go to the bowl to play the sweeper!

It's just a mini 3 game tournament that pays 1 in 4  - it's a good opportunity to loosen up though and get used to the surrounding. If I make some money then bonus :o)

We have official practice at 1pm this afternoon and we start our first block of qualifying at 9am tomorrow morning! The tournament info can be found here: www.bowl.com/queens

I'll take some picture and get them uploaded later today!

Much Love & All That Jazz!

J xx

Hello Texas :o)

Travelling Day....

Tuesday finally came...my last day at work and the start of my trip to Texas!! It was an early start cos I started work at 8am and as I was leaving straight from work I had to have all my bags and stuff ready to go! It's always sad when I say bye to Mum even though it's only a week - I'm definitely a Mummy's girl!

Work flew - I was in such a good mood all day and when 4pm came I was out the door and in the car to Nuneaton - the first stop to collect some new shirts (Thanks Vikki & Alex @ PowerStitch!!)

Next stop was Airport Bowl, Emma the manager had kindly agreed to let me have a pattern laid down similar to the Queens to practice on. Ray Teece dressed the lanes for me and Mike Quarry came to help me break them down and give me some advice on reactions & surfaces!

Practice went O.K I felt pretty comfortable and after a couple of surface changes & feet movements I was throwing the ball good and making strikes. It came about fairly quickly that I was going to have to watch my speed on this pattern. If I threw it too fast then the ball would go past the break point & not recover. #NotGood

This morning I went back to the Airport Bowl to practice again - the surface changes we made seemed to work well and I moved a step closer to the foul line to help me keep my speed down and get the ball hooking earlier!

I had lunch with the 'Wilson' and then made my way round to the Teece's. The Teece family are amazing and as they only live 5 mins from the airport they're the bowlers car park & taxi service to the airport - Much Love to them!!

Check in went super quick - the flight wasn't full so I managed to get allocated a seat alone with no-one beside me - BOOM! Happy Girl! I purposely left it late getting to the airport because I hate sitting around waiting - it gives me time to think and sometimes that's not good! I end up thinking of all sorts of weird & wonderful things, causing havoc in my head!

So here I am now.... 6 hours and 40 minutes into my flight. I've watched part of The Muppet's Movie ( I fell asleep) Read 50 pages of my book, watched We Bought A Zoo, ate tea ( dinner to some ) and drunk lots of tea ( No it's not the same thing ) 3 hours 20 minutes till I land and I'm starting to get bored....I wish I had my bouncy ball :-D

I love flying, I love taking off, the atmosphere and it's amazing for people watching!! The mum walking her toddler up and down the aisle to keep her calm and make her sleep. The businessman tapping away on his laptop. The annoying passenger who keeps pressing the call button. The man who has the loudest snore EVER. Someone with a terrible cough ( I better not catch that ) and the flight attendants! Some of them are so stereotypically American and I can't help but smile when I watch them!

My battery is getting low so I'm gonna stop...When this is posted I'll be in Texas baby - Living The Dream!

Will write again soon! 

Much Love

J xx 

6 days & counting....

Wow...I'm very excited but also starting to feel a tad nervous about my trip to Texas next week.

They had a couple of tornado's last week in the Dallas Fort Worth area, which is where I'm going. It all seems to have passed through now and the weather is currently estimated to be around 27 degrees - BONUS!

I've been trying my best to get organised for this event..I started to pack the other day and stopped when I packed underwear! I realised I would just end up unpacking and packing again anyway, so may as well wait a few days!

Tonight I'm gonna write a list - I get this from my nan. She makes lists for everything. If I don't do this I will forget something and more than likely it will be something important like my passport or bowling shoes! Once my list is sorted I can dig out everything I need and start to get things into my case.

I know I have 6 days until I fly but I'm pretty busy until then.

Tomorrow I am going to see Alex @ Powerplay Proshop to drill a new ball ready for me to take. I noticed whilst in Paris I have a gap at the top end of my equipment and need something strong but sharp off the pack - we are hoping the Victory Road pearl will fit in nicely.

http://www.stormbowling.com/products/balls/victoryroad

I'm hoping to catch up with some friends & family over the weekend. Monday is pack & get my @rse into gear day as I leave straight from work on Tuesday. I'm going down to stay with a friend Tuesday evening, closer to the airport ready for Wednesday. Ive arranged to have a similar pattern to what I will play on @ Queens put down at The Airport Bowl, so I can practice Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.

This should help me make the final choices as to which balls I should take with me.

I'll add another post soon with all my current equipment & layouts if you are interested in that sorta stuff!

Until then - here's an inspirational quote I saw the other day.

" I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying. " Michael Jordan

Much Love,

Jo xx

Happy Easter

Well I'm having a fab Easter so far. I had a long but very fun night out with work colleagues yesterday!

Today I spent time with my grandparents, auntie & cousins. I took my nan for a well deserved full body massage - although I was very jealous!!

Tomorrow I'm hoping to get a long practice session in at 1st bowl Sheffield. I want to send some time working on my balance at the foul line as well as understanding a bit more about my equipment.

Sunday I am seeing my sister & 2 gorgeous nephews at Eureka a science museum - designed for kids but clearly I'm gonna love that :o) My 4 year old nephew Dylan went bowling on Thursday - he had 10 games and took pleasure in telling me he had no aches or pains!

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!

Much Love, J x

2012 so far.....

January....

So I decided to get back into bowling competitively.

15th - Team England ranking event @ Romford.
This was the first tournament of the year and I didn't do very well. I hated watching the people I used to compete against rise way above me. This along with watching all the juniors that are coming through made realise I had a long way to go if I wanted to compete at the top level again - it was time to knuckle down.

20th - 22nd - Irish Open - Dublin.

When I first booked into the tournament I was using it as a weekend away, a chance to see friend's I hadn't seen for a long time, but since I had the fire back in my belly all I wanted to do was win!

I love the leisureplex @ Stillorgan. Ive had success there in the past and I am always welcomed by all the staff there which helps to make you feel relaxed and comfortable.

I played pretty good during the whole tournament but I could tell I wasn't at my best, I was tired, achey & threw lots of bad shots.

I finished the tournament 4th - I was a little disappointed because I saw the mistakes I had made but I couldn't be so hard on myself. I needed to give myself time to get to the standard where I wanted to be. Had a great weekend with great people - even if I was accused of looking like animal from the Muppet's!!!

February....

I'd been practicing a fair bit now and needed to figure out my equipment to make sure I had a suitable range to get me through the tournaments I had planned. I went to see Alex Hamilton @ Powerplay Pro Shop Nuneaton and drilled some new equipment.

5th - I bowled the PTBC Doubles Team England ranking event with Cherise Denham. This was another not so great tournament for me - we missed the finals by just a few pins and I kicked myself ( Not literally - but I did boot the toilet door ) for missing some easy spares throughout the qualifying block. Lessons learnt and onto the next event.

18th & 19th - I had the privilege of managing the Yorkshire Under 24's at the Inter County Finals in Nottingham. I had so much fun the team - Hayley Rumkee, Keira Reay, Lauren Husbands, Kim Hewitt & Suzie Webb - were a pleasure to work with. They all bowled amazing and we wont the event - wooooooo!!!!

26th - Team England ranking event @ Wellingborough was the next event for me. The tough lane pattern + a beaten up old wood lane surface made the tournament a real challenge. I didn't start off great... I was struggling to figure out what I needed to do to make the pocket let alone strike but after a couple of games I managed to settle down and start throwing good shots.
It was a long drawn out day, it hurt my brain because you had to think ALOT! But I battled through and won the female section - It felt so good to win again and even better that the hard work was starting to pay off.

March....

3rd & 4th - Welsh Open Rhondda
I hadn't bowled the Welsh Open for some time so I was really excited about going back. The drive was awful - I felt like it took a whole day ( 4 hours 30 minutes )
I came 2nd to Hayley White, who also won the Irish Open, by just a few minutes.
I'd played pretty good the whole tournaments but I let myself down by not executing good shots when I needed to.  Although I was annoyed and disappointed with the bad parts of the weekend, overall I was satisfied & quite happy.

10th - BTBA Nationals @ Coventry
I was sooo excited about bowling the nationals. I'd been asked to play with Jo Cundy, Kirsten Penny, Lisa John & Nicki Ainge. I hadn't bowled with the ladies for sometime and it had been even longer since Nick & I played doubles together.
We had a little road trip on the Friday down to see Alex @ PowerPlay for Nicki to finish off her new fit and for me to get a new low end ball. We had so much fun catching up on old times - we even saw a U.F.O.
Me & Nicki played good in the doubles. I posted 635, Nicki 668 for 1303 - we finished 4th but our other doubles pairing KP&LJ shot big & won the doubles with 1368.

Singles DID NOT go to plan - I had 555 :o( I played not very good, I read the lanes not very well and was just a bit clueless.

I got it together for the team event and shot 731 to help the team post a team score of 3464. We played really great as a team with games of 1197 1146 & 1121 - Yes we did win!!!!

I finished 10th in the all events with 1921 for 9 games!

22nd - 25th - Brunswick Euro Challenge, France!

Road trip to St Maximim - Sheffield to Nuneaton. Nuneaton to Newbury. Newbury to Q's House. Q's House to Folkstone. Folkstone to Callais on Euro Tunnel. Callais to St Maximim. Funnily enough I didn't get too bored on this drive - I had the company of Mike Quarry (Q) and Sam Rose so we had a laugh!

I went to this tournament in 2009 and was successful making top 8.

This year was not so great..... The lane condition was TOUGH. The standard of players was AMAZING.

I struggled to get my game to match up to the lane condition and I wasn't good enough to be able to adapt to play the area of the lane I needed to play. No excuses - I just wasn't good enough.

Still I had an amazing weekend - so much fun and saw some great bowling.

April....

1st - Credit Crunch Challenge, Team England Ranking Event @ Peterborough

I was really looking forward to bowling this tournament as it was a tough pattern on a really good lane surface. The pattern was pretty similar to the one we played on in Paris so I was hoping for a better performance.

After 6 games qualifying I had 1145, I wasn't overly happy with my score although I didn't think I'd bowled that bad. Just the odd bad shot here & there. I had to sit back and wait for the next squad to finish to see if I had made the finals.

I escaped the bowl and enjoyed the sunshine with an old friend Becki Jolly & her gorgeous son Tyler - we had a lovely roast and played in the park.....I am 26 really!!!

When we got back to the bowl I was surprised to see that only one female had beat my score so I was 1nd going into round 2. Round 2 went well for me and I qualified for the round robin finals in 1st place.

I wasn't feeling very well after bowling today, my joints were really sore and I was struggling with movement in my shoulders...I wasn't going to give in though. I enjoyed the winning feeling too much and felt I had a good chance in the round robin.

I battled through the round robin - 5 more games. I won the first 4 and lost the last but had already built up enough pin fall to stay at the top - another ranking win for 2012. :o)

Laura Marcham ( Fellow PowerPlayer'er') was 2nd. James Tidd won the men with Johnny Big B Wells IN 2nd

The drive home from Peterborough was hard...thank god for the arm rest & Costa coffee.

WOW That was a long post but I had a lot to catch up on. I'll TRY and post little & often in future....

So what's next........

Easter Re Entry doubles @ Airport bowl - a bit of fun, a relaxed tournament!

I travel to Texas, USA on the 18th April for the USBC Queens a major ladies only tournament - Mega Excited!!!