National Under 25's

[NigelS]

The Under 25's will take place at Reading on 23rd November. If you wish to play let me know and I will put entries on this thread to give me an idea of numbers

1 Henry Brooks
2 Chris Reeves
3 Lewis Stratford
4 Johnny George
5 Ian Gordon
6 Steven Sheard
7 Sam Alder
8 Martin Cole

[H]

I'm in as you know!

[shaggy]

Hi Nigel,

my son Lewis Stratford will be there.

Hi Nigel how does the format work, is it group or straight knock out?

I would also like to enter this year please.

[NigelS]

Nov 11, 2008 22:06:41 GMT @sithlord said:

Hi Nigel how does the format work, is it group or straight knock out?

I would also like to enter this year please.

Depends on entries. Last year there were 12, and we split into 4 groups of 3, winners progressed. If there are more it may have to go to straight knock out, but that also depends on entry to the mixed pairs.

[BFG]

Just to be sure................!

Nipper will be there as on the other thread.

Cheers Nigel

Was that address correct? ???

[Ian Gordon]

Hi Nigel

I would like to enter this please.

Thanks

Ian

[bigtj]

Helen Brewster please Nige.

[NigelS]

Nov 12, 2008 1:20:36 GMT BFG said:

Just to be sure................!

Nipper will be there as on the other thread.

Cheers Nigel

Was that address correct? ???

Yep address was correct BFG. What is nipper's name and I will add it to the entries on this thread

:D I must be the first from Cambs to enter this :O

Isn't Steven Sheard entering??

[milko]

Nov 17, 2008 13:08:14 GMT @sithlord said:

:D I must be the first from Cambs to enter this :O

Isn't Steven Sheard entering??

Thanks Johnny, I forgot this one.

Yes, Steven will be participating in the Under 25's, unless I find it too painful to play in the Mixed Pairs with Pauline, in which case he may take my place. :(


Keith.

Good idea to have Auntie Pauline to protect you and where necessary deliver one of her famous "back-handers". ;D ;D ;D

Nov 17, 2008 13:30:14 GMT milko said:

Nov 17, 2008 13:08:14 GMT @sithlord said:

:D I must be the first from Cambs to enter this :O

Isn't Steven Sheard entering??

Thanks Johnny, I forgot this one.

Yes, Steven will be participating in the Under 25's, unless I find it too painful to play in the Mixed Pairs with Pauline, in which case he may take my place. :(


Keith.

:) Good because I'm on form, though he will need to have an average day! :(

I am going however due to raod conditions may be 10/20 minutes late.

[SirKT]

Congrats to Steven Sheard on winning the title, beating Martin Cole (West Sussex) :o in the final.

They had already met earlier in the day due to being in the same group, along with Chris Reeves and Johnny George. Quite a tough group for Martin & Johnny to qualify from (first two to qualify).

Steven won all 3 group matches & Martin won 2, taking the scalps of Chris Reeves & Johnny.

In the other group, Henry Brooks won both his matches against Ian Gordon & Lewis Stratford. Now i`m not quite sure who got the second spot, but whichever young un` it was had to face Steven in one of the semis.
The other one saw Martin Cole take on and beat Henry Brooks.

Perhaps someone can post the scores on here when possible

[milko]

Well done Steven, thoroughly deserved, as you played well all day, with some high breaks.

He just failed to get the highest break of the day after he missed the 100 in his Semi Final win against Ian Gordon with about 18,300.

That went to Chris Reeves who lost his first two matches. :o

There looks some good young players about at the moment, after seeing some part of the matches myself. :)

[H]

As far as I remember had a very scrappy semi final with Martin first:

H 4500 - 1500 Martin
H not a lot - 6900 Martin

Those are approx scores from memory. Tough slow table, with whippy pockets and Martin played a blinding slow steady opening break in the second leg. I had a break of enough to win, but got a ball whip out of the 100 hole and knock a peg over. Martin then played her out for a win. Well done to him!

As a little aside, I am tempted to come back next year but would really prefer not having to wait nearly 4 hours between my last group match and the semi next time!

[NigelS]

Nov 24, 2008 16:12:57 GMT H said:

As a little aside, I am tempted to come back next year but would really prefer not having to wait nearly 4 hours between my last group match and the semi next time!

I take it Sam Alder didn't play and therefore you played a group of 3, H? The format I sent Dave was for 8 under 25's so you were due to play 3 games. There is only so much that can be done in advance when you are not sure how many players are going to play and players drop out for whatever reason.

[H]

I understand that, just the winners of each group were decided pretty early on, and during a number of series there were empty tables, with players due to play each other not playing...didn't understand that one! Not to worry, it was just very frustrating at the time.

[NigelS]

Well I am not sure why players who were supposed to play each other were not playing? Did everyone complete the games or did some leave when eliminated? I am sure I will find out when I get the results off Dave next weekend

[BB Warrior]

Congratulations to Steven on winning the Under 25's....... also to Martin Cole for reaching the final and taking a couple of good scalps along the way! :o ;D

[SirKT]

Hi Nige
I think the reason for the un-used tables was because of the formats used.
We had two groups of 5 and two groups of 4 in the Pairs. I think Dave used the one for 4 groups of 5, therefore when we should have played D5 in our group, there wasn`t a pair. We had nearly a 3 hour gap between our 1st & 2nd group game.
Sam Alder didn`t play so that was a group of 3, hence the gaps in that one.

[H]

Understood, but was it necessary that the Under 25s Semis and Final took place alongside the mixed pairs ones? I know I wasn't the only one to suffer with having to wait so long to play I just felt it was a little bit disorganised (taking nothing away from Dave, who I could see was working his socks off!)

[NigelS]

As there were 18 pairs and 7 under 25s one series could have been eliminated. I didn't see the point of doing a format for anything less than 20 pairs though as that format should be a 7.15 finish, but with the late start and raffle and probably having to calcualte group positions as well I guess it must have over run.

H, it is far easier to put the semis of the under 25's alongside the semis of the mixed pairs. The reason for this is that you have got to try and find tables that neither player has played on for the semis, that may not be possible if there are only a couple of tables available whilst all the missed pairs group games are being played out.

[H]

Ok. Well perhaps the only real solution is to have entries in beforehand rather than registering on the day as Milko had suggested. Does this little moan mean I am playing against the break next Thursday?

All I will say is the main problem for me was that at no point was I told how long I would have to wait or anything, I just sat there, wondering if my name would be called out next series. Maybe if there are going to be long waits for people those people should be informed so they can go occupy themselves while they wait. In every past tournament I have played in in Sussex, all the times and fixtures are given to the players prior to the event and so they know when they are playing and these problems can be avoided. Perhaps that should be considered for the future

[NigelS]

Would I do anything as mean as to put you against the break next week H?

Yes I did always put a playing schedule up on the wall for all to see. People do want to know when they are playing. Remember this is Dave's first year doing the job and I am sure he will take any constructive critisicm. But it is a tough job and he is doing it on his own (with a little help from me behind the scenes). In yesterdays circumstances I may have made your group a double round robin so you played 4 games each as that would have used up the 3 tables not used for the missing players matches, and saving you the long gap, but that is easier said with hindsight. As I said on the other thread the mixed pairs/ under 25's is the trickiest tournament to organise (although the over 50's/60s's can be a pain if a 60something makes both finals!)

Entries before hand is not the solution, I did the with the alternative rules one year where I published all the start times as well so people did not have the 11.30 registration - and then a third of the players did not show. People get ill on the day and there are other reasons for people not showing. It would create more choas believe me.

[nipper]

hi guys... i just want to say thanks to every one involved in the tournaments yesterday it was a great day, support was good, every one seemed fun and felt very welcome... even if no one knew who i was lol. thanks again will look forward to it next year oh and another well done to steve definatly deserved winner!on the day ;) maybe next time lol

Nov 24, 2008 18:17:13 GMT H said:

Ok. Well perhaps the only real solution is to have entries in beforehand rather than registering on the day as Milko had suggested. Does this little moan mean I am playing against the break next Thursday?

All I will say is the main problem for me was that at no point was I told how long I would have to wait or anything, I just sat there, wondering if my name would be called out next series. Maybe if there are going to be long waits for people those people should be informed so they can go occupy themselves while they wait. In every past tournament I have played in in Sussex, all the times and fixtures are given to the players prior to the event and so they know when they are playing and these problems can be avoided. Perhaps that should be considered for the future

First of all well done to nipper who played brilliantly, he beat Chris Reeves and Me and I don't know about the final game between him and Steven?

Also well done Steven on your victory, you are the best under 25 at the moment 'nough said ;) ;D 8-)

Agree with H on the waiting around. At no point were we given a sheet with series on. So I went up to ask which I don't mind doing. However if everyone was to do that we would be their all day.
Was it me or were the tables 4,6,7,8 in poor playing condition??
I am not moaning about them, just thought that watching them players were REALLY struggling to even do the break shot (especially table 8).


Good day altogether though and enjoyed it. I must of got the shot of the day though 8-) off the back to pot the 100 hitting the ball on the side nearest to the black. Quite simple yet looked stunning ::) ;D :)
Chris did get his revenge, unfortunate it was against me though :( he got an 18,000 run out, I only replied with 10,000 :(
Well played though!

Was that you H scoring my game, I wasn't sure?

[nipper]

i do agree about the condition the tables where playing on the day but surely bar billiards is a highly skilled cue sport and the condition of the table simply tests your skill of the game... would you not agree?

Well done to all those who played in the National Under 25s. You are of course the future of the game, and it sounded like a great competition. I look forward to seeing full scores in due course on the AEBBA website.

Congratulations to Steven once again, but a special pat on the back to finalist Martin 'Nipper' Cole - a very bright star who's just burst onto the horizon.