HelsBels.net

Long time, no blog.

A lot has been happening. I arrived home from the trauma that was Russia - and dealt with all the rubbish aftewards, for reasons many of you won’t know and I don’t care to discuss.

Had a pleasant Christmas and New Year. Part of it spent dressed as a pirate.

Now, we’re coming to the end of February. My bowling isn’t good at the moment, my confidence has been knocked and I’m struggling to get it back up. I’ve started going back to the gym and I’m looking forward to seeing the results. I’m working two jobs, but I will be quitting the pub job soon enough.

I have turned into a Sudoku addict, to go with my ItBox addiction.

I also discovered that I suffer from London commuter rage. I think that is par for the course though.

 I really need to get this site tidied at some point; however I do have other things that I need to do, so this isn’t a priority. I just wish I had more time.

Oh my faithful readers, you have all deserted me. No longer am I witty, but whiney. I must remedy that…

So, the round of 24 is now underway. The girls finished this morning - Jo Allsebrook fighting well and unlucky to miss out on the top 8 by just 30 pins.

The men are on now. I doubt anyone can catch Jason Belmonte - destroying the pins. I would say he’s a surefire one for the stepladders - it’ll depend on what happens there as to whether he wins.

I spent some time watching the Finnish bowler earlier - very unusual technique, with a really smooth release. He gets around the ball so well and is just so smooth.

The Brazillian lad is also very impressive. The revolutions he generates are amazing - especially when you think about how smooth he is with it - AND accurate. A winning combination, I do believe.

It’s been very interesting watching the different styles of play and different ways of dealing with the stress and pressure. Some bowlers you can see getting frustrated, others hide it well. The female player from Belarus was not the best player here - but she was a delight to watch as you could see how much she enjoyed it, how much she loved being on the lanes and you could see the kick she was getting out of it. Bad shots? She just smiled and shook them off. More people should be like that (myself included.) My way of dealing with it was to get fairly aggressive. Not as a person, just with the way I was playing. I think it worked as I shot well, and was pretty pumped up and helped me to move it up a notch, though it wasn’t enough.

I did receive some nice compliments yesterday, which made me feel good. Some great bowlers said I played well, a lot of people came up to me to tell me how unlucky I was and how I fought hard in the last game.

C’est la vie I suppose. I played well. Yes, I had some lucky shots, but you cannot have 24 lucky games.

Grant threw the ball well, he got some nasty breaks at times. I think he finished 48th.

Pictures soon. I’m off to watch the blizzard.

xxx

They say it ain’t over until the fat lady sings…

Well, I fought right until the end. I was 58 off the cut going into the last block of 6 games. The scores went up this morning - a whole different ball game and I knew that I needed to pull out something special today.

I shot 1256 for the 6 games today. 235 last game. To miss the cut by 10 pins.

I averaged 198. That’s what the cut came at, except I was the wrong side of it.

So many ‘if onlys’ and ’shoulda, woulda, coulda’s.’

If only I hadn’t missed that 3-pin, opened the last game with a 4-9.

If I had moved inside earlier when I shot 170, instead of making the move too late.

I received a lot of compliments today. I’m also somewhat ashamed to admit that I just barked at the press to “GO AWAY!” They came up to me when we were waiting, said I did well, that it was close, how did I feel? Ha, don’t ask a 21 year old, menstrual female who has just bowled the biggest tournament of her life that question.

I’m cried out now. But…I’m gutted.

So, here we are, finally in Russia.

I would have updated before, however after the sage of the missing luggage, this proved to be tricky as the charger for G’s laptop was in one of the lost suitcases. That’s right, ALL of our luggage went missing. As a result, I got no practise, so I will be going on cold. However, I’ve been informed that the lanes are completely different, so maybe it will work in my favour. Who knows, I can’t pretend to be thrilled about it, but there is nothing I can do about it. G played two-handed in practise just so he could get a feel for the lanes (he borrowed a ball and had his shoes in his hang luggage) and did it well. Very amusing watching the cameras follow him around!

I am watching him bowl his 4th game now; after a slightly shakey start as he had some nasty splits, he has settled in well and has a nice look on the lanes. Ball is coming off his hand well and his scores are increasing every game.

Belmo (Jason Belmonte) looks to be blitzing the pins - gotta love the two handed technique, quite devestating! Portugal are leading at the moment, but I think USA and Australia will get past.

Paul Moor and Darragh McLoughlin both shot 1153 and 1129, respectively.

Grant is now going up for the tenth frame of his fourth game. Unlucky 4pin left on the first shot,  but he makes the spare easily and finishes on 218, for a 769 for the first 4.

Update again later,

H xx

Well, HelsBels.net has just received a long overdue makeover. I appreciate it looks terrible - unfortunately at this moment I don’t have my own computer, so I have had to use my housemate’s. When I get my own computer sorted out, I will be redoing it again to my own liking, but until then this will do. At least I can now blog.

I am settled in London now rather well, but on that another time. At the moment, I am focusing on the upcoming QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup, where I am representing Northern Ireland.

My arsenal for the event is as follows:

Roto Grip Epic Battle, Roto Grip Horizon, Roto Grip Winning Streak, Roto Grip Venus and my spare ball.

 I am playing the TE Doubles this weekend in Macclesfield, with Andrew Want. Hopefully that will go well, unfortunately I forget how to throw the ball in tournament at the moment!

 Later.