Extracts ...................Friday 21st JanuaryA long day ahead. First me and Donna drive back to Essex, basically to unpack my ‘Holland suitcase’ and then to repack and head off to Eastbourne for the 128 Classic, which is a big tournament for, you guessed it, 128 players. When we get to the venue—the Winter Gardens—I register for the singles, the pairs (I’m playing with Dutchman Roland ‘The Tripod’ Scholten) and the mixed pairs, when I’ll play with my lovely wifey. Although, she doesn’t play much these days, Donna used to be a good player who represented Essex over a hundred times and won a British Open Pairs title. I haven’t got a lot of time to prepare before the pairs and, perhaps predictably, me and Roland play like total tossers and go out in the first round. Well, I play like a tosser anyway. I feel bad because I know I’ve let Roland down. As I said, Roland’s from Holland and he’s a big lad. He’s known as The Tripod because, ahem, he’s a big boy all over if you know what I mean. ..........................................................
I
Thursday 5th May'Wifey' drives us up to Widnes today for the Premier League. We don’t usually travel up on the same day but I’ve noticed that when I’ve been staying in hotels before the other Premier League nights, I end up thinking about the game all night and wind myself up. It’s no good really, having too much time to stew on things. It’s a long drive for Donna. She’s a good girl, bless her. She says she doesn’t mind, but I know she does. I just like having her around. She always settles me down. I’m playing John Part. Despite being bottom of the table for so long, I’m playing well and I feel very concentrated when I warm up on the practice board. I used to think the warm-up was really just to loosen the arm and I wasn’t fussed about what I hit, but I’m starting to realise it’s about getting your focus right, about sorting your head out before the match. You only get out what you put in and I’m starting to think you need to be 100 per cent switched on in the warm-up as well for these big matches. The game goes like a dream and I beat John 8–4. It’s a good 8–4 from my point of view, if you know what I mean. I hit all my doubles and I’m not in any real danger at any point. I’d definitely call it a comfortable win. John seems to take it badly though. I’m chatting off stage with Colin Lloyd after the game and John just sprints up from behind Colin and head butts me. Quite hard. To be fair, he is only messing about (I think) but ..................................
|
||||||