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...

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.  ...

The beginning of January is full of resolutions and promises to self to make a new start, to do more of the right stuff and less of the naughty stuff (or in my case, in case Her Ladyship Indoors is reading,no naughty stuff at all.....and to do more stuff around the house). I get bored with the whole new year resolutions thing.  I set off with only a bit of tepid enthusiasm on New Year's Day and have broken most of them that very evening, never to resume giving them any attention again.  Hence why I still can be described as....ahem....portly.  But 2016 looks set to be a big year for my game of pool, so I am going to have to focus. Firstly, I was hugely relieved to have come through the rankings in 2015 to make the national squad and be invited to play in this year's international tournaments.  It was a tough call because I missed a number of games during the summer months when I was away spending time with family and supporting my wonderful Mum who was dia...