The day after...

Blood has been spilt. Souls, set free. Final suppers have been eaten. As the dust settles, the massacre that was BUSA 2007 can be seen, for all the fun and excitement it was.

Although it didn't start out well...

While I was nice and early, getting to the meeting point (Teesside Student's Union), one member was late. One member thought he was only driving, when in fact I'd told him he'd be taking part as well, she he didn't bring his shirt or bowling ball. The bus didn't come with directions to our destination (like it normally does) so the first leg of the trip was done entirely on my memory and the skill of the driver. Luckily once we stopped at a service station I was able to look at a road map and work the rest of the trip out.

So after starting nearly an hour late (8:45ish), we get to my house on time (11:35ish), thanks to the driver. I was able to get us to the alley easily enough (it's a trip I've done many times before). The driver pulls up outside the alley (12:30ish), the players get out and head for the alley, we head up stairs and I do a full two hour workout (in about five minutes) getting my equipment up the stairs. I register the teams and finally tell everyone 3 times where they're bowling and at what time.

1pm and finally we start bowling. I get 151, 155, 203 which as my mum so politely put it in the evening, "Oh bens that's crap!", still at least I got two drinks, oh the joys of hanging (a little game where if every player but one on a team gets a strike, the odd one has to gets drinks for the others). My main solace for the day is that pretty much everyone played badly, apart from two ladies who did exceptionally well.

We finished at 5pm, headed home, got changed and headed back into Nottingham, for some dinner and a night out; the dinner was fine, shame about the furniture. The night out didn't have a good start, the tournament organisers had booked out a bar for all the competitors, unfortunately one of our team mates didn't have a suitable form of id and the bouncers wouldn't let them in, so we headed off to find another bar, as we walk past one, the Hull team redirected us in, seems they had the same problem as us. We're pretty friendly with the Hull lot, so we joined them for a couple of drinks, and unfortunately played the matchbox drinking game, turns out I suck at the game, I've never regretted buying a pint of Guinness so much, I had to drink 5 fingers worth in one go. Needless to say I didn't manage all 5, only 3. And that was pretty much me done for the night. The clock was approaching 10pm and we had a 45 minute drive ahead of us so I called it a night, and we headed back to the house.

11:30ish and we arrive home, food and drink go down nicely, and we all talk about the days events, by midnight we start getting ready for bed, I graciously give up my bed to one of the club members, a decision I would soon be regretting. Turns out when one of the members said they snore, they weren't being entirely accurate, their "snoring" was more like a constant siren, ensuring that I only got about an hour of sleep, allowing me to re-acquaint myself with mums pottery and hear another member constantly bitch about said "snoring".

6am and it's time to get up. As is customary breakfast was had, lots of breakfast, even I, who do not normally have much of a breakfast, ended up having a fair bit, two glasses of apple juice, bowl of cereal and two pieces of toast. After everyone had some breakfast, we headed off to the alley at the intended time of 7am (believe me this makes a change). We got to the alley at 7:40ish, ready for an 8am start, thankfully my first three games were downstairs, unfortunately I still didn't do to well, scoring 156, 168, 111 however I did somehow managed to get an extra 4 drinks out of it. By the time I'd finished the previous three games the leader board was up, I was pleasantly surprised to find that after the first three games I was placed 50th out of 169, I was in the top third!

It was about 10am by this time, but it felt much later, I was still running off that 1 hour of sleep and any sugary intake I could get my hands on. Just as well I wasn't bowling again until around 1pm. Still a captains job is never, I had to stand (or sit) at the back of the lanes and give support to the other members who were bowling. Midday and it was time for the lanes to be re-oiled, just what I needed for a bit shut-eye, alas, it didn't happen, I could turn off, typical.

12:45 was approaching, which meant that I would soon have to get ready for my final three games of the tournament. Unfortunately, I was due to bowl upstairs, and my equipment was still downstairs, mustering super strength I picked up all 60+lbs of bowling equipment and carried it up three flights of stairs, turns out it was much easier than the method used the previous day. So here we are, the last three games and it's the singles event, my favourite. I had a strong start getting a turkey (three strikes in a row), stronger than the ex-team busa player (he played for Britain), unfortunately it went a bit tits-up after that and it turned into a rather rubbish 152 game. Never mind, I refocused in the face of adversity, turns out one of my team mates had gone above me on the leader board by two places, after the mornings games, determined to keep my place as the best bowling in all of Teesside I pulled out two games that were worthy of my skill and knowledge being 211 and 182. The gauntlet had been thrown down and I responded with a strong answer.

Although my bowling was done for the day, there was still one event left, the 5 man team. We were upstairs playing against Loughborough, the club no one likes (bunch of stuck-up-think-they're-so-good-but-they're-not-really-gits). Honestly I can't remember the result from the team event but it had been a long day and no one really cared. The important thing is that I retook my place as the greatest player Teesside has ever seen, my usurper being nothing more than a flash in the pan like Clubber Lang! (kids, ask your parents).

By about 6pm all the bowling was done, it had been a very long day and now we had a 3 hour drive back to Teesside, I said goodbye to some people I'd not seen in a very long time and "see you soon" to some people I'll at Sunday’s tournament in Sheffield.

So after 9 games, two days, four pizzas, 7 bus trips, 2 fish and chips, 2 chicken meals, more chips than you can shake a stick at, 1489 pins knocked over on my part, my overall average score for the tournament was:


165.4

Not a bad average, I was however aiming for around the 175 mark.

So my first tournament as chairman of the bowling club went well, no one was killed, no one got lost, there weren't any punch-ups and the trip home was surpassingly fast. While some may not have bowled their best, all bowled with spirit and never "lost it". Which I'm proud about, I've lead them well.

This is Benji Dude, asking you to take a walk in my shoes.