A final goodbye....

So it's time to go home... Mixed emotions.

The bowling didn't end so good.... I felt confident going in to the final block of 6 and started OK with games of 222 202 222 & 210. The lanes played so different compared to the other 2 squads and all the bowlers found a whole load of carry down which made carry really hard. Luck was definitely not in my side in games 5 & 6 as I left five 7-10 splits from pocket shots. Unfortunately I let this affect my confidence and then missed a couple of other spares. I had games of 184 154 to finish on 1194 for 6 games making my total for 18 games 3724.

I didn't want to write my blog straight away because I don't like hanging onto negativity and I was pretty down and disappointed and that would have reflected in my blog. When I look back at the tournament at a whole I have a lot of positives to take and I have learnt more valuable lessons making me a stronger person & better bowler.

The last 3 days have been a bit of a whirlwind for Lisanne & I. Neither of us made the cut so we took advantage of being able to let our hair down and enjoy being able to relax. We did a bit more shopping, sunbathed by the pool, hit the casino tables and sampled a few cocktails!

I have met some new friends here in Reno, had some valuable conversations with knowledgable people and watched some amazing bowlers. The final last night was an experience, the opening ceremony included a choir, military, fireworks & an aeroplane! The bowling was crazy and due to the elements the oil was challenging and the ladies played the finals with spare balls - fair play to Kelly Kulick for rising above and winning the tournament! She led from day 1 and the $40k was definitely deserved.

I always have mixed emotions just before I come home. I'm excited to see my friends & family, I love England and I cant wait to come home for Fish & Chips! But I miss 'living bowling' When you're away on a bowling trip, everyone shares the same passion! I love being around people who love the sport as much as I do! It's hard to explain to people that aren't involved within bowling but trust me -it's amazing!

So it's time to come home, as always the 7 days have passed so quick and I have learnt more valuable lessons to take away ready to improve for next time!

I have a couple of weeks off now to relax and recover from the jet leg before playing the Euro Fives with Powerplay Pro Shop at Norwich! It's a Team England ranking event so equally important, we are all bowling for points to get us into the Nationals squad and hopefully selected to travel to the Championships next year!

It's time for me to get to the airport, fingers crossed for non delayed/cancelled flights :-)

Thanks for your support as always!

Much Love, J xXx

A jump in the right direction...

Lisanne & I both had a nice relaxed morning yesterday, late breakfast then took time getting ready to go to the bowl for our squad at 3pm.

Yesterday was so much better on the lanes! I found a good reaction with my Storm Crossroad after I touched it slightly with a 2000 pad. I opened up with 243 and felt happy with with how I was playing. I followed this with a 208 & 279 - damn you 4pin!! It was then time to move to the other side of the the centre and guess what... My balls hooked up early! This side of the centre is so much hotter so more than likely this is the reason for the change. I panicked and started to fish around for something new that wouldn't hook early and scraped a 181. When I moved lanes again I went back to where I was before and had 205 & 206 for a 6 game total of 1320 which puts me +130 for the 12 games!

After day 1 I was in 106th place, today I made a jump of 42 places to 64th. The cut is 50th and currently it stands at +169

We bowl another 6 games at 8pm (4am UK time) I'm hoping for a block just as good or better than yesterday to give me some chance of making the next cut!! :-)

We had a really fun night last night! Lisanne & I met up with Olivia for some fun :-) we had cocktails, gambled some and played in the arcades! Spent about $10 trying to win a smurf which is worth about $3 but she's cute ;-)

The lanes have started to be installed outside beneath the arch - its gonna be amazing!

Don't have much planned for today, just relax and prepare for the bowling later!

Wish me luck :-) Much Love, J xXx

An eventful 48 hours.....

Well Heathrow to San Francisco went good, nice flight, good food, quick & easy through customs! I turn on my phone to an email telling me my flight is cancelled - the joy. Then another email saying I was scheduled on a flight at 10:35pm the next day - Erm I don't think so!!!

After arguing with the airline and them not being able to get me on another flight my only option was to drive!! 4hr drive seemed OK til I hit San Francisco rush hour traffic - Blurgh! I did get to drive through the forest near Lake Tahoe which was beautiful though! 5 1/2 hours later I arrived at the bowl at 9:45pm so I missed official practice, which wasn't ideal!

It didn't take long to realise I was ready for bed, I met up with Lisanne after her practice and we came straight to bed! We are staying in the Circus Circus which is......... Strange! It's clean and our room is big but it feels like we are 50 years ago :-/

It is connected to the Silver Legacy & Elderado so between the 3 hotels it's huge, loadsa restaurants and lots of slots!!

I slept good last night and the car didn't need to go back until 4pm so we decided to take advantage & drive to an outlet mall! The shopping started off slow but it soon picked up! Bought myself 2 new Adidas jackets, Tommy Hilfiger polo shirt & sunglasses, some Vans and a pair of cute Vans for my nephew :-)

Onto the bowling...... The bowl is amazing, so big I could get lost ( I haven't as yet ) I started off real good 223 268 & 210. I then moved to the other end of the centre and noticed a massive change in reaction, the midland was really burnt up and my balls started hooking a lot earlier so I made a move inside and scored 190. The next 2 games were not so good, I chased the lane left but kept hitting the burn. When I got far enough left to avoid the midlane I couldn't get my ball to recover :-/ in the last few frames of game 6 I decided to make a move right and change to a weaker ball that would get through the mess! I ended up with 162 157 for a total of 1210.

Disappointed doesn't come close, it doesn't feel good to go from +100 to +10 in 3 games but I do have some positives to take!

I played the lane good at the start and I felt like I was throwing the ball good too. I missed 4 spares in the last 2 games but before that my spare game was also good! We won't play on the 'burn' again so I'm hoping I can find a reaction like the first 3 games on the fresh pattern tomorrow & Sunday!

We play tomorrow at 3pm (11pm UK time). Have no plans for tomorrow just chill out & relax :-) its nice bowling in the afternoon & evenings - all morning to take things at a slow speed!

As you're all waking up it's time for bed for me! I'll leave you with some photos of the snowy mountains from my flight & of the National Bowling Stadium!

Much Love, J xXx

The Reno adventure begins.....

So.... It's finally here! I've been excited about this trip since the seed was planted in November last year. 7 months on, I'm checked in @ Heathrow terminal 1, eating breakfast waiting for my first flight to San Francisco!!

I've been a little bit jealous cos my friend & roomie for the week arrived in Reno yesterday - I had to work! Bad Times!

So... What am I doing in Reno?! Women's US Open at The National Bowling Stadium. If you've never seen that place pop it into google - it looks AMAZING!!! The tournament website is www.bowlingsuswomensopen.com there is about 190 regular entries! It's a long format with practice starting tonight and the first block of qualifying beginning Friday at 7:30pm for me.

Today is gonna be a long day! I have an 11hr flight to San Francisco, a couple of hour connection before a 58 minute flight to Reno! I should arrive in Reno at 5pm (1am UK time) I have official practice at 9pm -10pm which will be 6am UK time! Hoping to sleep a bit on the plane!

Friday morning 10:30am I am playing the singles & doubles event in the USBC Women's Championships! I'm very excited to get on the lanes tonight for practice :-)

Reno is 8 hours behind UK time so think of me when you're all tucked up in bed tonight!!

Much Love, J xxx

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