Byron Bay’s Damien Smith
in action at the NSW Eight-ball Championships in Casino last weekend. Smith finished second.
2005 NORTH COAST OPEN TEAM COMPS
The NSW 8ball singles title was fought out at the Oxford Hotel at Casino over Saturday and Sunday and attracted a field of 23 for the best of 11 double elimination event.
Before I get into the pool, all and sundry agreed (a first ever for a group of pool players) that the Oxford Hotel was the very best venue they had played at, high praise indeed, and the meals were outstanding, that praise coming from a couple of lads that are pretty good on the tooth. So our heartfelt thanks to the owner and staff for making the event a pleasure to play in. The hotel provided 4 excellent tables, and along with numerous prizes provided by the NSW 8ball organisers (no doubt heavily subsidised by The Pool Shop man who has the best and most competitive prices in Australia without a doubt, if he hasn`t got it he will get it for you, or it can`t be got) throughout the day, it was an event to remember. My only regret was that work commitments caused me to miss a great weekend.
NSW Ranking Tournament no4 Venue Brunswick Heads Hotel 31st July 2005
Another successful ranking tournament with 27 players trying out, a predictable final result with Peter Watt winning yet again this time coming from the losers side to beat Geoffrey Atkinson twice in the final 3-1 and 2-0, however the positive out of playing Watty is that the players can see how far they have to raise the bar to be competitive, and it is plenty let me tell you. Some notable performances today came from yet again Tezza Stevens who for the 2nd straight tournament took care of the number 2 seed and current NSW rep player Damien Smith (who was sporting a very close new hairstyle, trying to emulate my own I am thinking however mine is permanent) perhaps a rivalry is developing there (2-0 to Terry at the moment, we will keep score for you), while on Terry it is fabulous to see players getting individual sponsorship and Terry is one of these and his sponsor lawyers@barwickstevens.com.au are to be applauded. I did notice that “the whingeing pom” failed to appear for the first time, his phone ran hot up until tea on the 1st day of the 1st cricket test when our aussie boys peaked for 180 odd runs however strange as it may sound nothing has been mentioned since and to miss today ??? hmm 4 tests to go as well.
Evans Head Ranking Tournament 3rd July 2005
Another successful ranking tournament was run at the Illawong Hotel at picturesque Evans Head, the hotel has to be congratulated for the facilities, 4 tables which played right up to tournament standard and the meals at their JAGZ restaurant were just sensational, it`s not often you hear from hungry pool players that the burgers were tooo big, but it was a fact great value for money. Enough of that onto the pool, last time we or that should be “I” said that a certain Terry Stevens played way below his usual brilliant best (in fairness to the scribe he was flogged 1st round of both sides of the comp) however credit where credit is due after being poleaxed (black in the deciding frame) by yours truly in the 1st round of the main draw Terry knuckled down and fought his way into a semi final playoff in the back half where he had Greenie on toast to advance to the final but slipped on the last gimme yellow and the green machine clawed his way back and won the decider. More of the finals later or is that latta, anyway god bless the aussies for getting a tie off the poms in the cricket final, the "whingeing pom" would have been unbearable although come to think of it he was anyway, god help us if it rains and they draw a test match.
NSW eightball`s second playoffs were held today the 5th of June at The Metropole Hotel in the picturesque town of Lismore, once again 32 players played in the double elimination best of five tournament, the field was bolstered by several locals, plus the Coolangatta legend Geoff Atkinson (you just ask him he will tell you), the tables weren`t up to standard but the whole point of the playoff series is to promote our game through out northern NSW, the next playoff is at The Hotel Illawong, Park Street Evans Head, to be held on the 3rd July, again a 10.00 start, Oops I digress unusual for me, back to todays games, good to see Greg Dingle there along with Steve Chapman and Michael Cowling from the Gold Coast Diamonds, Johnny “spiderman” Latta was our genial host and while not in the sparkling form of last year, his effort to ease a huge huntsman (it was dead at the start I think) onto the shoulder of Mark “kayband” Morrison, (if it wasn`t dead to start with, when Mark noticed it I would have to say the yell would have frightened it to death) was better than any pot out on the day. The big pockets and high cushions along with some savage rolls made it a tad like russian roulette, but we all adapted to the conditions and had another great day,
NSW8ball started their first of 4 qualifying playoffs that will decide the 32 players that will playoff on the 10th and 11th September 2005 at a venue to be decided to decide part of the 8 person NSW representative side to play in the AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL EIGHT BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS to be held in Western Australia.
The day was an astounding success held with the kind permission of the Hotel Brunswick, (see below)
Dec
21st Australian National Eight Ball Championships 2004 Open Teams Leading Players NSW Open Pos Name Played Won % 1 John Spink 42 25 59.52% 2 Peter Watt 42 24 57.14% 3 Simon Spink 35 18 51.43% 4 Johl Younger 22 15 68.18% 5 Damien Smith […]
Jun
2004 N.S.W STATE TEAM PLAY-OFF