Playing Pool in Gibraltar

A different kind of pool! Image by  Pexels  from  Pixabay Yes, I am having a break this summer. Not so much a summer holiday - just a couple of weeks off towards the end of August to chill by the sea is planned - but a break from pool. That does not mean I'm not playing pool, it means I'm taking a break from intense practicing, or playing in tournaments. The only pool I'm playing at the moment are the ranking series of matches twice a month. And that is enough for me during the summer. Come September, I'll be stepping up the preparation for the competitive league tournaments, cup tournaments, and, of course, the EBA Nations Cup in Cyprus in November. I do wonder if I might come in for some criticism by not being at the table as frequently as I can, practicing shot after shot, and sometimes I confess to feeling a bit guilty that I'm not. But the way I see it, you don't have basketball players running around the courts all day every day, or football playe

Gibraltar Seniors Team at EBA European Pool Championship 2018, Bridlington It's been a mad hectic couple of weeks travelling, playing pool, then trying to settle down to normality afterwards. There's always a build up to an international tournament. Besides being caught up with league matches, the GibOil Cup and Plate tournaments coming to a head and trying to fit in extra practice, there's the tension and the anticipation at playing some of the world's best players. The chill, the grey skies and cold rain of the Yorkshire coast did not dampen our spirits as the Gibraltar team headed for the venue that first morning. We had left behind blue skies, temperatures well into the twenties and a city making its first moves to the annual beach season, but we shrugged off the chill of a typical British spring morning and strode into the opening ceremony heads held high, proud to be waving the Gibraltar flag. The excitement ran through all the players like a current o

Image courtesy of GPA I've been sorting out my packing, passport, cue and kit this week, getting ready for the trip to the EBA European Pool Championship in Bridlington next weekend. Looking forward to it, I certainly am, but it would be all too easy to let the event get on top of you or affect nerves. So, along with making sure my team tops and trousers fit comfortably and that my new shoes aren't going to rub my feet to shreds (I am a great believer in being totally physically comfortable when playing a match), and getting in some extra practise in between work engagements, I've been doing lots of relaxing. Ok so some of my favourite ways to relax is watching the game. This weekend, it is the  World Snooker Championship at The Crucible in Sheffield, and there's been some cracking matches. I watched James Cahill showing Ronnie O'Sullivan the door, something that still has the pundits twitching. It was a brilliant match to watch and if there was someth

It may be Easter and that may mean a bit of chocolate and a few indulgences here and there, but we are on countdown to the EBA European Pool Championship 2019, so, once today is over, it's down to pre-tournament preparation. I guess every pool player has his or her own particular routine that they use to get ready for a major tournament. I had a chat with some of my pool playing buddies and had a trawl round the internet to see what preparations seemed most popular among players. Here are the most common ways that players seem to like to prepare for a major tournament: Think about what goes in           Intake of food and drink is key to how your body performs in any circumstances, and in            particular in stress situation such as competitive pool playing. Eating well - not too little, not             too much - helps you to stay focused and keep up your energy levels. Keeping carbs under            control and increasing lean protein and vitamin-rich f

The Royal Oak pool player - winners of the 2019 GibOil Plate. A great team with which I was privileged to play. Let's celebrate the victory first and foremost. And what a match it was: 5 - 4 to the Royal Oak who battled it out in the final against the Hackney Carriage. Reaching the final of this annual Gibraltar pool competition is an achievement in itself; it is the result of several months of regular matches against some pretty good teams. Gibraltar's is a small community and the pool family just a tiny part of that small community. We all tend to know each other and at some point in the year we are likely to play each other. We can get to know each other's games quite well. This in itself poses quite a challenge, especially in your individual competitions - you can get complacent, or, on the contrary, you can feel a bit intimidated if you're up against a player that you feel is more skilled than you are. The Gibraltar Seniors team at the EBA World Cup at B

Friday afternoon. Sunshine and showers and a howling gale tossing the boats in the Marina about their moorings. A rush to the venue after cutting short my work day and before I had much time to think, the doubles match, postponed from a few days ago, was under way. It was a tough match. Later, Her Ladyship Indoors, who had come along to watch and lend her support said (expletives deleted): "It was like watching you mix concrete with a teaspoon." Always direct, Her Ladyship. But that is pretty much how it felt. Every shot was an effort, every movement felt as if I had a steel reinforcement bar shoved up my jumper, or across my shoulders. I struggled to position the white, every pot was a bonus rather than a given, and even my legs (quite handy for steadying you into perfect balance at your chosen position) felt as if the knees and ankles had seized up with rust. I had been alright half an hour earlier, or so I thought. My doubles partner was not faring muc

I don't think there's anything quite as inspirational as watching one of your favourite sports live. Don't get me wrong, I am a happy armchair sportsman a good deal of the time: football, boxing, athletics, Formula 1 - you name it, I'm happy to watch it from the comfort of the sofa. But when you play a particular sport, it is an inspiration and a learning opportunity to watch the experts at first hand. This was another weekend of total immersion in cue sports in Gibraltar, this time with the Dafabet World Pool Masters 2019. 24 of the sport's top stars traveled to Gibraltar from all over the world to play in this tournament and as a local player, it was a treat to watch them. David Alcaide - Champion Photo courtesy of  Matchroom Pool 9 ball is a tough game. My game is blackball (8 ball pool - smaller table, different rules), partly because Gibraltar has only one 9 ball table and access to it is not always easy, whereas 8 ball has a strong followi

Gibraltar was the venue for the Betway Gibraltar Open tournament, a ranking event in the World Snooker Tour. Snooker was my first love as far as cue sports go. I played all the time as a teenager and by the time I was in my early twenties I was playing on the semi-pro circuit. I had potential, but not quite the essential mix of skill, dedication, determination and opportunity that combine to create a pro, let alone a champion of the callibre that we see on these tours. I had planned to go and watch the Gibraltar Open - what an opportunity to spend time watching some of the world's top players showcasing your favourite sport (besides pool!). Then Her Ladyship Indoors dislocated some bone or other in her foot and I ended up with the housework, shopping and dog-walking, as well as running around after the Teenage Tyrant. Damned domesticity getting in the way of life again! So, I watched it on TV instead - thank you Eurosport - and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Stuart Bingham rai

Gibraltar Seniors at EBA World Championship 2018, Bridlington, photo courtesy Shaun Rumbado It's been a while since I've posted on this blog. And since I've played pool well. 2017 was a washout - too much on my mind to focus. And 2018 was an unmitigated disaster as far as playing any really decent frames were concerned. I tottered through two European Championships, one Nations Cup and one World Cup and emerged mostly feeling let down by my own relatively poor standard of playing. In fact, last week was the first time I played a proper match for months - I had toyed with the idea of simply giving up, but I enjoy the game too much! Age hurts - along with my fifties have come all those niggling little ailments, and those aches and pains: the joints creak almost audibly, especially during late matches, and the old lumbar twinges as I stand . And the eyes! Good grief, I used to have superb eyesight until what seems like only a few months ago. Now I bend to the table

Dave Anderson and Dad (John Anderson) proudly wearing the Gibraltar national team tops at Bridlington We are here again: Bridlington, the European Blackball Championship.  I have to admit to feeling a bit dazed at being here, so much has happened in the past 12 months, most of it a distraction to playing good pool, so this year I have  a huge challenge ahead of me. This year has been full of personal distractions.  I started my own business and had to put heart and soul into getting that off the ground.  Playing pool was almost a form of relaxation rather than training for international games. Then, at the start of 2017, along with the joy of becoming a grandfather again with the birth of our first granddaughter, came the devastation of losing my mother to cancer.  It's hit me hard.  Suddenly, playing pool, training, competition, didn't seem so important.  It has been hard to pick up enthusiasm the past couple of months. My Mum and I  Until last week, when not o