Playing Pool in Gibraltar

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 level...

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 ...

Event poster signed by the visiting players, courtesy of Paul Heard The EBA European Championship was looming closer as a dreary February led into March.  I have been getting regular practice, although as usual, never as much as I would like, and I have been taking regular exercise - well, walking the dog once a day.  But it was the visit to Gibraltar last weekend by the IPA Professional World Series that made the best warm up to a tournament I have ever experienced. Cue sports enthusiast and a good pool buddy, Paul Heard, of Premier Cue Sports in Gibraltar, had been negotiating with the IPA since the middle of last year to bring the World Series to Gibraltar.  The event created included the professional Gibraltar Final, the Gibraltar Open, a team competition between Team IPA and Gibraltar Select and a light-hearted Last Man Standing competition which all took place during Easter weekend in what was a festival of pool as well as a tremendous success.  ...