Well this Bank Holiday weekend saw me bowling in Leeds at the 10th Anniversary Scott Banks Memorial Trios tournament. The tournament is run in memory of Scott Banks who died tragically in a car accident at such a young age. Sue, Scotts Mum has set up the fund to raise money for the hospital where Scott spent his last few days and to help fund the development of youth bowlers in the Yorkshire area. This fund has helped to fund some of the most promising youth bowlers currently competing in the UK.
The majority of the tournament was singles however there was a side event of Trios, in which I bowled with Dan French (House Pro) and Nicki Ainge. We started off pretty strong finishing the 4 games qualifying on +110 and breezed into the second round. The lanes started out very quick, I was surprised how little friction there was as my balls were not hooking a great deal in practise and through to about the 8th frame of the first game. However that wasn't the case through the whole squad, it was similar every block, before the first game was finished the lanes opened up and the scores were very high on the whole. There were quite big differences noticed from lane to lane, especially at the low end of the house, however most were easy to compensate for.
I started off using my Thunder Zone, pin below and the cg in the centre of my grip. I have polished this up as it was 800 out of the box. This is my earliest rolling ball so once the lanes opened up I switched to my pin up Ultra Zone in qualifying. I have changed a few things in my game and I am getting a lot more read in the Mid lane now so could really open up the lane and create a lot of area with my Ultra Zone. I finished qualifying in 6th position (top 18 going through) all 18 women would bowl a further 4 games then cut to the top 6 for a round robin. I came out of the blocks sprinting on Monday morning opening up with 486 in the first 2 games, then moved to quite possible the worst pair of lanes I have ever bowled on lol. I had real trouble getting any ball down the lane on lane 3, everything got into a roll as soon as it hit the lane then didn't hook on the backs. I managed to scrape 224 and 180 on that pair but was glad to get off there. This moved me up to 3rd position on +147, we then had the second and final round of the Trios event. We had a steady block 697-606-619-624 to finish on 5056 and in 7th position.
After a re-dress of the lanes we went on for the round robin. I had a funny draw where I only played on two pairs of lanes for the entire final, which could be a plus or minus depending on the pairs... I opened up with really wierd ball reaction, everything was backing off no matter how much up the back of the ball I got and how aggressive a ball I threw I could not get anything to roll up. I opened up with a poor 157 and lost the match by 1 pin lol so neither of us had a good reaction! I moved to the next pair and was pleased to see my ball turn over. I then shot 221 (WIN), 200 (LOSE), 237 (LOSE) and 279 (WIN) unfortunately leaving a little bit late to catch up the eventual winner Hayley White. This was Hayleys first every Adult Team England win and she bowled fantastic in the finals shooting 1180 for her 5 games and winning all her matches! I finished in 2nd place and was very happy with my performance, it's been a while since I've made such good decisions and been able to follow the lane transition as well as I did for the whole weekend.
As well as the excellent tournament, the Scott Banks has a great reputation for the social side of the event. They always organise the aptly named "Big Night Out" on the Sunday night. This event involves and auction and raffles usually with some amazing prizes all to raise money for the fund. As part of this Bowling Vision and Brunswick have been fund raising for the last few months selling the World Tenpin Masters merchandising with all profits being donated to the Scott Banks Fund. So during the Big Night Out I had the pleasure to present Sue Banks-Walker with a big cheque for £1058!
It is a great pleasure to donate this money to such a great cause that has already helped our sport so greatly in the Yorkshire area and I'm sure will continue to do so for years to come!For further information on the tournament and charity please visit their website:
http://www.scottbanksfund.org.uk
http://www.scottbanksfund.org.uk
