Ups and Downs of the season just gone...

Ups and Downs of the Season just gone…

Here’s a new one:

Give a review of your high spots and low spots of the last calendar year.

Disappointments as well as achievements. Come on, don’t be shy, even KT can’t win every time – although he almost managed to. ;)

Treat it as a school report if you like: hopefully you will have gained some “A-plusses”, but I for one have some “could do betters”.

Apart from the personal glory factor, what could come out of this is exactly how much bar billiards some people play in relation to others !

Not played enough.
Not got a team
losing my ability by the day.

But on the up side.......

.........got my cue fixed!!

[Chunky Monkey]

My downer this season - playing so badly in the Mid Sussex league matches.
My High - Winning the Mens singles and mixed Doubles in mid sussex, and worthing league winners and being introduced to some great people in Redhill and Worthing League (1st season in both)

Here's a definitive account of my season, which is full of highs and lows:
Have allocated star rating on a scale of 0-5 for each event, and will average it out for the whole season at the end.

July 2006 Kent Classic. Got through one round, then played a duff shot and got annihilated by Jean Over. Definite room for improvement. 1 star.
July 2006 Limes Triples. Usually do well but not on this occasion ! 0 stars.
July 2006 Surrey County Singles. Eclipsed by Tony Cross in the main competition but went on to win the Plate. 4 stars.
Jul '06 - Aug '06 Watney Mann Cup (for Handcross SC): Qr Final v Holbrook Club (Horsham). Team won 7-3 in successive nights; Semi-Final v Windmill, Southwick. Lost 5-6 over all in successive nights, Bill Kerr taking the tie-break. 3 stars.
Aug 2006 Bucks Open. Lost to Lloydy in Quarter-final of the Plate. 2 stars.
Sep 2006 County championships at Reading. Surrey were disappointed not to win Div 2, but we played well in parts. 3 stars.
Oct ’06 – Mar ’07 Mid Sussex League. The once-mighty Handcross Z finished 3rd. I retained the Premier Player of the Year despite losing my last 3 games, and as a result Derek Taylor had the Best Performance over all. Tables on the whole were poor, and everyone’s average suffered as a consequence. 4 stars.
Oct ’06 – Mar ’07 Redhill League. Team finished half-way up but bonded well. Lost more games than I usually expect to, thanks to very easy and high-scoring home top. Won last three games in style to qualify for Surrey County Singles on 1st July. 4 stars.
Oct ’06 – Apr ’07 SCBBA Home/Away Interleague. The Biggie ! Redhill’s 11-man squad triumphant over the best in Sussex. Managed 2 wins on away tables against the break. 5 stars.
Nov ’06 World Championships @ Jersey. Finally a Last 16 place (at my tenth attempt) – losing eventually to Harry Barbet. 5 stars.
Jan 2007 Redhill One-Day Mixed Pairs. Atrocious, we could hardly pot a ball. Worth going to though, if only for the Scampi ‘n’chips ! 0 stars.
Jan 2007 Redhill Team Invitation. Guested for Mid Sussex. We played quite well despite finishing bottom. 1 star.
Mar 2007 Sussex One-Day Interleague. Played for Redhill: Broke even, winning half my games in the top section. 3 stars.
Mar 2007 Surrey One-Day Interleague at Frenches Club. Played for County representative side and although heavily handicapped we finished winners. 5 stars.
Mar - May ’07 Mid Sussex Cup Competitions. Made it to the Team Cup Final and the Mens Pairs Final with John Turner, Runners-up in both. 4 stars.
Sep ’06 + Apr ’07 Mid Sussex Charity League. Huge disappointment in losing to the Brewers in the Semi-Final after the team performing so well in previous rounds. 2 stars.
Apr 2007 Mermaid (Hants) Open. Got through one round, then lost to Lloydy although I managed a reasonable break in the second leg. 2 stars.
Jan – June ’07 Redhill Team Cups. Lost in 1st Rd of Bill Burwood Cup, but Runners-up in the Presidents, after beating own A team in the Semi. 4 stars.
June 2007 Sussex Masters. (Seeded 20th) Thrashed by Chris Reeves in the main competition, but went on to win the Plate. 4 stars.
June 2007 Sussex Open. Made the Last 16 again, eventually losing to Nigel Senior. 4 stars.

So I make that 60 stars from 20 events, an average of 3 stars per performance. Hey, a slightly better-than-average season !

[milko]

60 Stars, that's excellent tommo, but I hope you don't make KT put his on here, because the Galaxy isn't big enough for all of his. ;D ;)


Whoops !, I'm showing my jealous side again. :)

[petem]

The Ups
Beating 4 good players in my first season.Tony Lewis,Chris Tupper and Arthur Brewster at home,Kevin Hall on the 3 Horseshoes top.
Winning a match 2-0 in the Sussex Open
The Downs
Geoff Jukes playing out the Stadium top against me in the last game of the season.Giving too many chances in a number of games I should have won only to end up losing
The Elms B finishing bottom of the Premier division

Anyway,can do better next year???

milko said:

Whoops !, I'm showing my jealous side again. :)

I'm sure you're not, milko as my post was inspired by your account of the Oxford League finals when you carried off ten awards. And the only ones you didn't win Steven got anyway. ;)

I take your point about KT though, I did a quiz recently on what he won last year, and if the stars for each event went up to ten he'd be in the several hundreds.

[Mark James]

Lows.

(1) Missing the first half of the league season through injury, and fearing for a short while that I might not be able to play properly again.

(2) Having to play a Worthing singles semi-final on the worst table I’ve ever seen. It had been moved from one room to another that day and was utterly unplayable by all 4 players. To exit the league's blue riband competition in that fashion was a bitter disappointment indeed.


Highs.

Along with Tony Lewis, winning both Sussex and Worthing Mens Doubles titles. To take on, and overcome, SirKT in both finals made it seem even more special.

[SirKT]

How can i be disappointed over losing any games after the year i`ve had ? :P

Well i do get frustrated sometimes. The trouble is i`m so fiercely competitive, if i weren`t, i`m sure that i wouldn`t be the player i am. ;)

My highs have to be in order-

Getting married to Lady H & moving into our lovely house :-*

World Title (always been annoyed that to have won it twice before when it was the BIOC, it didn`t count as the World title, yet it is the same competition!) ;D ;D ;D

All England Singles, `Back to Back` titles ;D ;D

Sussex County singles at the first attempt, beating most of the County team on the way! It also means i can try for a Hat-trick of AE titles. ;D

Winning the Worthing league with a new team, when only expecting to finish in the top 3 at best. Hopefully finding a budding star for the future on the way ;)

Winning the Brighton singles at the first attempt ;D

Seeing the lovely Lady H win her first Individual title & then winning our first Mixed doubles title together ;D :-*

Winning the Sussex open for a fifth time ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Captaining the Oxon County side to victory for the last time :'(

Grand Prix final
Kent Open (especially catching Milkos` 20k score) ;)
Bucks & Berks opens

Frustrations >:(

Defeats in the Oxon (typical now i`m not running it) & Mermaid opens were annoying but losing to a great mate like Mal wasn`t so bad.
No luck in Pairs competitions (excluding Worthing Mxd Dbls), losing in the first round of the British Open with Ricky and going on to win the plate. I was quietly confident we would win that one :-/ Brighton pairs i think was in the bag until Ricky unluckily black pegged. In the Worthing pairs with Ian,we were outplayed by Mark & Tony, who also done the same to Ricky & I in the County doubles.
AE Mixed doubles with Hayley, after getting a lifeline to get through in the group stages, never got going in the Final against Jean & Richard.

Losing to Barry in the Worthing singles after pegging my opener in the second game when 1-0 down.

I can`t be too disappointed about being Runners-up in Brighton at the first attempt, the Brewery Tap are a very strong team. Had either of our matches against them been 3-2 wins instead of defeats, then i think the title would have been ours.

And finally the Sussex Masters, again, not too disappointed losing to a good mate like Ian :)

What a year, phew :o

Thanks for your responses, it is always interesting to see how others see things from a personal point of view.

Mark - hopefully you're now fully recovered as some of your scores in the recent Sussex Masters and Open would seem to suggest.

KT - now I see I should have mentioned my silver wedding and thanked margo for putting up with me for all those years.

But I think there is one more high and low you could have mentioned (1 of each to balance things out of course) : Littlehampton's performances in the Sussex Interleague - triumphant winners of the One-Day competition but relegated in the Home/Away - if you'll forgive me for mentioning it. ;)

[SirKT]

No your right Tommo, shouldn`t have missed that.

It was a great team performance in the 1 day competition, very satisfying for me personnally and for Ian, both winning 8/8.
But as you rightly pointed out, the Home and Away competition was so frustrating. I think we lost at least 5 matches 3-4 and should have won them all.

[bigtj]

My highs are playing every home game against the break winning 6 out of 9 with an average of over 8k. The losses coming against KT 21K, Nige 17k and Barry Holt 17k.

Lows general away form and lack of consistancy even when given plenty of chances.

Another high is attending all opens except Oxford ( bloody work in the way ) so far this season and having the pleasure of watching the high standards in those events.

High having KT in the Worthing and Brighton leagues as it can only be good for all our games to play against the best, and know that the best will always give advice when approached.

[NigelS]

Here are my highs and lows.

Highs

- Winning the Mermaid Open in April, never went it to it with huge expectations as I had a tough draw. Played better as the event went on, and was dead chuffed to win my second open in 2 years.
- Playing for England in Jersey. An awesome match for any who took part in it. My contribution was only a point but it was a crucial one, and at one point a very unlikely one, in the 17-16 win.
- Winning the Watney Mann for the Brewery Tap. We really played well to win it, and to beat Terry Race at 5-5 on his own table was a big win for me.
- Winning the Premiership in Brighton. A culmination of 10 years of playing in Brighton where I have won every division bar the big one. Shame no Stadium this year, but the Horseshoes were strong opponents nevertheless.

Lows
- Losing two leagues at the death- Worthing league and InterLeague. Both leagues were lost on the final night, and both would have been won if it wasn't for the loss of breaks at crucial times. Worthing League probably hurt more as we led all the way, I have never won it before, and the team is split up now.
- The All England Singles. After winning it in 2002, I had a chance to join a very special band of players to win it twice or more - KT, McCluskey, Burrows and Sainsbury. Never really got going until my last game when I was already out. Didnt do myself justice. A difficult tournament to qualify for (especially with KT in Sussex nowadays!)
- Losing the All England team event final. We qualified for the final comfortably, and I won a very scrappy game against Pete Burton (1400-1300 I think) to make the score 2-2. Lloydy lost the decider against Phil Collins. I was hoping to make up for losing the only leg with the break in the 2003 final, alas it was not to be and I have 2 runners up medals in this event.
- Jersey- not a real low, as I played by far my best billiards on the Jersey tables to reach the last 16. It was just the closeness of my game with Trevor Gallienne where, I had 4 minutes to make up a 5700 defecit, I only ended 630 short.
Although there are the same number of lows and highs there, the highs have much bigger & better than the lows. I still feel I am getting better each year, and the motivation to play is still there which is half the battle. And who knows what will happen next year?

[Lord Cheeky]

Highs
1) Winning West Sussex League with my team, and the knockout cup.
2) Winning the one day inter league with Littlehampton
3) Playing a table out in a league match for the first time
4) Reaching Littlehamptons singles semi finals
5) Knocking out a former winner in the world Championships and getting through a couple of rounds only to lose to my tutor on the last ball for a place in the last 32 or 64 can't remember.
Lows
1) Littlehampton being relegated to div 2 in home and away interleague
2) Losing in Littlehamptons singles semi final when i had a opportunity to win it

Thats all i can think of at the moment

Bump !

It's that time again !

Here's a definitive account of my season, which is full of highs and lows:
As last year, I have allocated star rating on a scale of 0 - 5 for each event, and will average it out for the whole season at the end.

June 2007 Watney Mann Cup (for Handcross SC): Qr Final v Elms (Worthing). Team lost 2-3 away and 2-3 at home. Won one and lost one. 2 stars.
June 2007 Limes Triples. Champions for the first time ! ;D Partnered Benny Fuller and Nick Palmer. 5 stars.
July 2007 Kent Classic. Got to Last 16 :D , eventually losing to Mark Brewster. 5 stars.
July 2007 Surrey County Singles. Drawn in strong group (Jukesey and Vernon) and struggled to make any sort of impact. 0 stars. :-[
Aug 2007 Bucks Open. Won first round but lost to M.Brewster (again) in next. 3 stars.
Jun - Aug '07 Billingshurst Jubilee Team Cup (guest for H/X A) - we got to the Final but disappointingly lost it 0-5 to Roffey SSC. 3 stars.
Sep 2007 County championships at Reading. Surrey again disappointed not to win Div 2, but were runners-up to Oxon B. Won 2 out of the 3 that I played. 4 stars.
Nov ’07 World Championships @ Jersey. Beaten in 1st Rd by Fazza, but had a good run in the Plate: :D losing Qr finalist to eventual winner Phil Collins. 4 stars.
Nov '07 Won Kipling Challenge (9-a-side friendly match v select team from Northants) A superb evening ! 5 stars ;D
Jan 2008 Redhill One-Day Mixed Pairs. Partnered Lady H. Started well enough but faded badly, my fault ! 0 stars. :-[
Jan 2008 Redhill Team Invitation. Guested for Mid Sussex. We played quite well despite finishing next to last. 1 star.
Jan - Feb'08 Played in friendly Internationals for Surrey (i) v England (won 1 frame of Pairs) and (ii) v Jersey (won both Singles). 4 stars.
Sep ’07 + Feb ’08 Mid Sussex Charity League. Handicaps proved too great to overcome, and team did not make the Semi-finals. 0 stars. :'(
Mar 2008 Sussex One-Day Interleague. Played for Redhill: Team avoided relegation from the top section and I won five out of eight games. 4 stars.
Apr 2008 Surrey One-Day Interleague at Frenches Club. Played for County representative side and although heavily handicapped we finished winners. I won 5/5. ;D 5 stars.
Apr 2008 Portsmouth (Hants) Open. Comprehensively beaten by Ray Sturgess in 1st Rd, then lost to Graham Crosbie in the Plate. 0 stars. :-[
Oct ’07 – Apr ’08 SCBBA Home/Away Interleague. Redhill finished level on points with Runners-up Worthing A. Broke even and finished with 2 good away wins including one v KT on his home table. Won crunch game at the Swan when the score was 3-3. ;D 5 stars.
Jan – Apr ’08 Redhill Team Cups. Lost in 1st Rd of Bill Burwood Cup, but Runners-up in the Presidents Cup to our own A team. 4 stars.
Oct ’07 – Apr ’08 Redhill League. Team finished a creditable third. Finished in the Top Ten with a 5k average. Qualified for Surrey County Invitational Singles on 6th July. 4 stars.
May 2008 Played for England B Select in friendly v Guernsey B : won both legs. 5 stars.
May 2008 1st Guernsey Open. Quarter-finalist, hello prize money ! ;D Lost to eventual winner Nigel Senior. 5 stars.
Oct ’07 – May ’08 Mid Sussex League. Skippered Handcross Z - who had received numerous batterings - to the Premiership title by the slenderest margin: half a point ! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D Never has a captain been more proud of his team. Runner-up in Premier Player of the Year to Steve King. 5 stars.
June 2008 Sussex Masters. (Seeded 23rd) Despite winning 3 frames out of 6 played - including one off Nigel ! - lost all three matches on count-up. 2 stars.
June 2008 Sussex Open. Last 32 only this year, losing at this stage to Dave France by just 500. 3 stars.
Mar - June ’08 Mid Sussex Cup Competitions. Early exits in the Mens Singles and Mixed, and John Turner and I lost in the Open Pairs Semi-Final. But the Zeds managed to win the Plate. 8-) 3 stars.

So I make that 81 stars from 25 events, an average of 3.24 stars per performance. Hey, slightly better than last year ! 8-)

How has your season gone ?

Well a dramatic season though I did have my most succesful!

Highs
Sep 2007 - Win my first 5 games in a row in the winter league, thought I was going to do the impossible unbeaten ;D

Oct 2007 - Went to Reading Team Championship and won 2/3 only to lose to Steven Sheard.

Nov 2007 - Went to Jersey for first time, fantastic atmosphere, great people and good beer :D quite cheap too :o Got knocked out of the main competition by Nigel Senior (ranked 2nd in the world) and went on to last 32 in plate.

Dec 2007 - White Swan A team concedes only 1 loss at home since the start of the winter league!

Jan 2008 - Pairs with Phil Buckle got to Final!

March 2008 - Win Winter League Division 1 (3rd time for myself)!

April 2008 - Collect trophies :)


Now the Low points:

Sept 2007 - County Team fails to attend the County Event :( >:(
I don't think it's acceptable though I won't let it happen again!

Oct 2007 - Get 11,000 break but don't count because it was against Division 2 (stupid rule as you don't play the opponent you play the table).

Nov 2007 - Losing in the last 32 of the plate in Jersey by playing soo crap, I seriously had a chance!

Can't remember the time but we had to pull out of the Oxford Open as my dad was to have surgery.

March 2008 - Lost a 13,000 break which would of won me the highest break prize, I didn't like the barracking straight after though from my team >:( They should be a bit more sensitive!

Lost the pairs final.

So has my season been good?

It can be better, I really wanted to quit after our no show at the county event. A big thanks to Phil for his help in talking me out of it, though I won't be talked out of it next time!

Personally I noticed I have been getting bored also of all the PC in Bar Billiards in the league. If I can't play my best at all times then what is the point?
I hope next season I enjoy it better or I will end up being dis-interested in it all.

3 out of 5, next year I aim to attend MANY opens and maybe become Cambirdge Singles Champion!

Jun 12, 2008 19:31:54 GMT @sithlord said:

Oct 2007 - Get 11,000 break but don't count because it was against Division 2 (stupid rule as you don't play the opponent you play the table).

March 2008 - Lost a 13,000 break which would of won me the highest break prize,

3 out of 5, next year I aim to attend MANY opens and maybe become Cambirdge Singles Champion!

3 out of 5 Johnny, your season matches mine.
I'm glad you stayed with it following the incident over Cambs puuling out of the county championships last year - just after you had been selected for the first time. That would have peed anyone off. Good on Phil for talking you round.

11k and 13k breaks are pretty good for the age of 19, believe me.
You may have a long way to go to become a KT, but you can set your sights on maybe emulating Chris Reeves who has made it into the England team at a very young age.

Keep up the good work !

tommo

[fazza]

Jun 12, 2008 17:36:20 GMT tommo III said:

How has your season gone ?

I'll tell you everything I remember about this season........














































I beat Paul Sainsbury last week, then lost to Tony Walsh when he played the table out.

My memory is not what it was!

[Chris_Sav]

Downs over the year

The biggy is losing so many people I have held in such high esteem to that awful disease.

Passing sixty.

Losing the battle to keep my little village Post Office going.

The realisation that my right eye is never going to be the same again and having to compensate all the time cueing. Carrying on my poor season last year by losing four of my first five local league games, totally lacking the confidence to play the game.

Deciding that, realistically, keeping my match set of tables is out of the question. I cannot justify putting the extra money into the project, needed to cover the recent Bar Billiards Ltd. news, now that circumstances dictate that I do not compete nationally.

Ups in the last year.

Slowly getting back to something like decent form, winning eleven on the trot in our Spring Cup and playing a table out for the first time for over a couple of years.

Winning my tenth open singles title down here in my fortieth season.

Having a good interleague and getting the number one in Kent ranking back.

This forum!!! its continued development and the essential communications tool it has become, especially in the recent Bar Billiards Ltd crisis.

Sav.

[NigelS]

Here are my high and lows for 2007/08

Highs

- Guernsey Open – winning this tournament was definitely the highlight for me. To beat 3 world / Jersey champions (Millward, Sheard and Gallienne) plus Phil Collins was a great run especially on Jersey/ Guernsey type tables which I have struggled to get to grips with in the past in Jersey. Even without winning it would have been a highlight of the year anyway as it was great to have this new tournament on the calendar.
- Kent Classic – probably the best I have ever played over the course of one day, after beating KT on a tough table in the last 16, I didn’t miss in 3 matches (maybe more of a testament to how good Sav’s table are) from the quarters onwards.
- Sussex 1 day interleague – A fantastic day. To win with a depleted team was brilliant, the brief return of the Chubbseter and Wellie teammate Pete Brown turned out to be inspired choices for substitutes.
- Brighton Masters/ Off the Spot weekend – I completed a unique double over the weekend and took myself up to 7 Brighton Individual titles, just one short of Steve Mariner’s totlal of 8
- Brighton Doubles – over the years I haven’t had the chance to team up with best mate Marcus (apart from one go at the Sussex Doubles). This year we decided to have a go at the Brighton Doubles, winning it and beating the British Champs (KT and Rick Dewdney) in the semis
- Brighton League & Cup double – How we won the league this year I do not know (a black peg form Colin Green when 4k up with the bar gone at 2-2 certainly helped us at the Romans). The team showed its toughness with great 3-2 wins over the Montreal and the Albion in the last two weeks. Great deciding games played by Reevesey and Lloydy.
- Worthing League – I would certainly put our season has a high. It was great fun having Pete and regg3y in the team and to pull off 8 successive victories was awesome. We couldn’t quite keep it going but were only 2 wins away from the title – but then a certain ladies team turned up at the Duke….

Lows

- Jersey – Shouldn’t really call this a low as I played very well over the weekend and there was no disgrace losing out to Jim Millward in round 4. But it was a disappointment as if I could have held on to beat Jim I felt there was a good opprtunity to go a lot further in the competition than I have done before
- All England team – a big anti climax for the Brewery Tap. Probably going in as favourites after winning the Watney Mann, we never performed on the day and could only finish 3rd in our group.
- Sussex Masters – a title that eludes me, I made the final this time. The disappointment was softened somewhat as I lost the final to teammate Chris Reeves who picked up his first Sussex title.

Without a doubt a lot more highs than lows fro me this year. A difficult year for bar billiards in general but it looks like we are turning the corner with the tables situation and many of our leagues are surviving which is the most important thing.

:o Forgot to mention I won the Under 30's.

Got 80% win percentage in the league compared to Liam who got 60%.

Great input from the Forum Directors, and the third one may come along too in a minute as he made it to his first Singles Final. Okay he didn't lift the title, but Sparky: there were many present who envied you your position of an opportunity to entertain a crowd on Finals Night. ;)

It sounds as if Sav has been through the mill a bit in the last 12 months, but let's hope the corner has been turned and we can once more see you at a few Opens. :-/

A great season for Nigel by his own high standards, and I'm sure the bits that he's left out - in between the highs and lows - instead of being 'mediocre' would be high points for most of us ! ;)

[bigtj]

Captaining the Schooner to the division one title in Worthing, being part of the division one winners for the same pub in Brighton.

Making the Brighton Doubles final with Rick Cunningham. A downer being not playing well in the final letting my partner down.

Down having a bad inter-league season, only coming second, although I did not have a to bad a season personally.

Up my performance in the one day inter-league, only loosing one leg to the formidable Mrs Brackenbridge.

Bad performance in the opens, although not one of the favourites do feel I let myself down at that level, and would like to put the spanner amoung the works of some of the high ranked players occasionaly.

Downer loosing the final of the Brighton Plate final, again winning my own game somewhat luckily.

High watching my pal and team mate win the plate of the Sussex open, well done Bill. Seeing Terry Molloy back in the Worthing league, especially seeeing him go his first 11 games unbeaten. Another high having the pleasure of watching the best perform whilst at the opens.

Positive meeting so many nice people from all areas during the season, friends old and new. That followed by the downer of loosing so many of those friends to illness, but positive from that is the good memories they have left.

Another positive taking part in this forum, and enjoying a great evening against the boys from Northants. Also doing well at Bournemouth with a makeshift doubles partner.

[Lord Cheeky]

Ups first
Littlehampton Singles Champion.
West Sussex Singles Champion.
West Sussex Mixed Doubles Champion.

Downs
Losing Littlehampton League on goal difference.
League leaders in West Sussex with 3 games to go and losing all three to finish 3rd.
And lastly not being able to play as much Bar Billiards as i would like due to my condition.

Jun 13, 2008 18:46:15 GMT Lord Cheeky said:

Ups first
8-)Littlehampton Singles Champion.
West Sussex Singles Champion.
West Sussex Mixed Doubles Champion.

Wow, Lord Cheeky, that's impressive. You seem to have the county carved up west of the river Arun, and even over the border into Hants.
Lord of all you survey ! ;D


Agree with TJ, friends are important, and what a wonderful community we are all part of in bar billiards. 8-)
Hope we can sort something out again with Northants - it certainly was a memorable occasion.

[BB Warrior]

My first end of season "report" and the end of my second season back after a gap of 25 years..... :o

A brief summary of my first season, if only to give a comparison to this:-

Played for the White Horse in Ditchling in Mid-Sussex League, nice pub but not the best table! :( We ended up mid-table in Division 1, with me winning 10 and losing 10 with an average of just over 3k! :(

Biggest highlights of the first year were winning the Mid-Sussex Doubles with Colin (Uncle Max) Mansfield.... and the trophy for the highest away break in the League. ;D

Lowlights were lack of consistancy.... hit some good scores but also had some nightmare evenings! The table at the White Horse and not being able to enter the Singles Competitions because the captain there forgot to enter me! >:(

Apart from that, the first years report would say - could do much better! :(

Moving on to this season....

Mid-Sussex League.
I moved to Hurst Club, which has a lovely table and a really nice bunch playing there. We won Division 1 of the League (by half a point thanks to a 5-0 win in the last game of the season! 8-)) and I finished 3rd in the overall players list with 20 wins and 5 losses, my average went up to 4.5k! ;D
Good improvement on last season - 4/5.

Mid-Sussex Team Cup.
Lost in first round of main competition, but went on to reach the Plate Final, which we lost 3-2 to Zeds. I lost to Tommo in the match that probably decided it. :( 2/5

Mid-Sussex Singles
Entered both the Men's Singles and 1st Division Singles..... had a great run and ended up winning both! :o ;D ;D 5/5 (would have been 6!) ;)

Mid-Sussex Doubles
I really hoped that we could defend our title, reached the quarter finals but lost there to Tommo & JT. Had chances, but blew them. >:( 1/5

Lewes League
Having decided to play an extra night a week (to improve my play) I was pleased to join CKRBL. Team finished 3rd in the League while I was 7th in the Players List with 12 wins, 4 losses and average of just over 4k. Enjoyed the season, but could do better. 3/5

Lewes Team Cup
Lost in first round, with me giving a particularly inept personal performance. >:( 0/5

Lewes Singles
Lost to Sir Jock on a tricky Horns Lodge table which he got to grips with much better than me. Disappointed with my own performance. 0/5

Lewes Mixed Doubles
Partnered Jenny Edwards and we reached the semi-finals before losing to overall winners. Played well in patches, but could do better. Enjoyed the good company though! ;D 3/5

Worthing League
Having been invited to play as a late substitute in January, I then played a few games before the end of the season. Standard much higher than either Lewes or Mid-Sussex and was pleased to win 4 out of 5. Also learned a lot from watching Sir KT and the others playing. ;D 4/5

Worthing League Cup
Played in the first 3 rounds, winning 1 and losing 2. Disappointed to be dropped for the Final, but glad team won 3-2! 2/5

Interleague
Played for Mid-Sussex B, having been invited to be their "sacrificial lamb"! ???
Team ended up 2nd (behind Mid-Sussex A! >:() while I won 7 and lost 2, finishing 3rd in Division 3 players list with average just under 7k, leading points scorer and highest Div 3 score of the season (13,620) which is my personal best! ;D 4/5 (would have been a 5 apart from 2 disappointing performances!)

Interleague 1-day Cup
Won 3 of my 5 games, team finished 3rd. 3/5

Sussex Singles
Lost in first round to overall winner Ricky Dewdney, although I was pleased with my own performance in the game - he just played very well! 3/5

Sussex Doubles
Partnered Trevor Rees, we flew through the first round but lost the next to Senior & Senior. 3/5

Oxford Open
My first open, reached the last 32 which was better than I had expected for a start, before receiving the biggest butt-kicking I have ever had from Phil Collins when I let myself down. :( 3/5

Mermaid Open
Lost in First Round, then beat the Reaper in Plate before losing next round when trying to chase opponents 8k opening break with 5 minutes left on table! :o 2/5

Guernsey Open
Lost to Tommo (again! >:() in first match, but then hit my highest break (11,620) on the way to reaching Plate Semi-Final. Great weekend, topped off by next item..... ;D 4/5

England B Invitation v Guernsey B
Was delighted to be picked, could have played better but won my match 2-0 despite feeling very ill and spending most of the rest of the day in bed. ;D 8-) 4/5

Sussex Masters
Was down as 1st Reserve, but was asked to play when someone else went home! :o Lost the last group match, but played in the Plate, beating Ian Lelliott before losing to Big Bill Kerr in quarter finals. ;) 3/5

Sussex Open
Lost in first round, got a bye in first round of Plate then lost in next round. Played like a total wally in both!! >:( 0/5

I make that 51 out of a possible 100.

Although I feel that I have made progress this year and have achieved the goals I set myself at the start of the season, there is still considerable room for improvement all round in my game and I will work on that for next year.

Overall though, it's been a great season....... really enjoyed the Opens, meeting lots of new people and watching the best players in the world - hopefully learning a few things from them as well. ;D ;D

A very comprehensive and articulate summary Dave.

You have emerged from your 25 year layoff to become a player of considerable stature. Having a chance of playing in the Sussex Masters is no mean feat, as points are difficult to come by for the 'minor' Leagues north of the South Downs.

Where did you play your billiards before ? My involvement with Mid Sussex dates back to 1981 but I don't remember you being around then. There was a very good player called Mike Ingram, but he played for Portslade... any relation ?

Sorry if I appear to have been a stumbling block in some competitions ! I entered your name in my Black Book when you destroyed JT and myself in the Open Doubles Final a year ago, and it seems I forgot to cross it out ! ;D I promise to do so now. ;)

I like your style in awarding your great season only 51/100. Like me, you always strive to do better. Even a 1% improvement on the previous year is good enough for me. Once it starts to slip in the opposite direction, I'll probably hang up my cue for good........

[BB Warrior]

Thank you for your kind words Tommo, much appreciated..... ;D

I'm not sure about "player of stature" though..... :o ..... unless you are referring to my size!! ;D I would possibly say that "emerging, occasionally dangerous" would be a more accurate description! ;)

Before a couple of years ago, I last played in the Brighton League (about 1979 - 1981 if I remember correctly) for the Ladies Mile in Patcham...... I think that I just about managed to win more than I lost - some things don't change! ;)

I often used to play at the Portland in Hove in those days as well, learned a lot from Dave Elliott who was one of the best players around in those days, along with Terry Race and Jean Over..... although she may not thank me for reminding her of that! :-/

I do remember Mike Ingram, although he is no relative, he was a very useful player.

I had to give up playing because I was given a choice by my (now ex) wife between bar billiards or darts, darts won because I was playing that at a much higher level in those days. 8-)

Yes, I have fallen foul of you a few times in the last season... :( Perhaps I should start my own version of your black book for next season, with your name as the first entry - maybe it well help me next time.... ;)

Having won 50% of my games last year and averaged just over 3k, at the start of this season I set myself a target of 75% win ratio and 4k average in all matches - except opens, where I didn't really know what to expect.

I've ended up at just over 79% on win ratio and an overall average of just under 5k in Lewes, Mid-Sussex, Worthing and Interleague matches. I've also had my first 10k break and hit 3 other 10k scores since the start of 2008 as well as winning the Mid-Sussex singles titles. :o

At the start of the season, I would certainly be delighted with that........ but I am very competitive and I like to push myself harder.

So, next year I will be aiming to push the bar higher...... if only to try to keep up with you!! ;D ;)

Bumping this thread as it's nearly that time again !

Jun 14, 2008 14:03:08 GMT BB Warrior said:

So, next year I will be aiming to push the bar higher...... if only to try to keep up with you!! ;D ;)

Well, you certainly managed that and have overtaken me by a considerable margin.

I am starting to prepare my analysis ready for publication in June, and shall be particularly interested to see the submissions of both BBW and Mr Reaper amongst others when the time comes, as they have both had fantastic seasons to date. ;)

[BB Warrior]

I had forgotten about this thread Tommo........ interesting reading to look back. 8-)

Will have to start to think about what to put in about this season...... ::) ;)