Catch up May 2008, exams and world champ!

Hello

I am sorry for not updating my blog. I have been very busy. I am about to sit my SAT exams and am getting ready for my new school year in Ecclesbourne secondary school. I am very excited about it.

I have just been to the World Championships in Cambridge. I have been practicing very hard for this tournament and have been playing well in the EASB junior tournaments taking frames and matches off very good players. My breaks in practice and matches have been more consistent.

I played very well in the World Championships. I came 4th in my group which is my best finish since I started playing in the championships in 2006. I won 2 matches and came close against the 2007 World Billiards Champion Chitra Magimairaj in our frames even though I lost 3-0. I made it to the semi finals of the World Plate event and lost in 2 close frames to the winner Malgorzata Sikorska - we had played in the groups as well and I lost 2-1 to her. Before the semi finals I beat Jan Hughes 2-0 and Martina Lumsden 2-1.

On sunday 4th May I played in the World Ladies Junior Championships. I beat 15 year old Georgina Holloway 2-0 in the semi final and went into the final with alot of focus. I played 15 year old Joanne Davies and played my best match snooker ever to win the match 2-0. I pretended I was playing Reanne and concentrated really hard to pot the balls and play safe where I needed to. Mum and Dad were very excited and proud and couldn't believe that I had played so well. I had my photograph taken with Ellie, on my own and with Joanne and our referee Dan.

We came back home and I took my trophy into school. My teacher Miss Lemmings was very excited when I showed her the trophy.

I am going to continue to practice my snooker but I also have to practice for my county pool game for Derbyshire ladies which is in 2 weeks. In my last match I won 4 out of 4 and got the player of the match. Dad was playing for the County mens B team and got 3 out of 4 which he was very happy with.

My dad has told me that I have been selected to play billiards for England in the Junior Nations Cup in Vienna in August. I was very excited to hear this. I love billiards but I don't play it that often. A couple of weeks ago I went to Pontins to play in the European Under 19 billiards tournament and played some of my team mates for the austrian tournament. I played well considering that I haven't been playing.

I came second in the Junior snooker red league last season and will be getting another trophy at the next exhibition at the club. This time though I am struggling and have found it difficult to win the close frames. There is plenty of time left though to move up the league table :)

That's all for now. I shall try and update my blog more often after sats. Thanks for looking at my website.

Thailand

Hi everyone, just letting you know how I got on in Thailand and what I got up to.

The flight from Heathrow to Bangkok was 10 HOURS and my legs were killing me and to make it worse when we landed it was boiling hot. We also had to wait about 40 mins for the bus and a further 4 hours to get to the hotel.

The hotel was really nice and we got a great room too.

I won 3 frames overall and I came close to taking a frame or two off a world champion as well! I was very nervous in my first few matches but settled down in the end and relaxed.

1st I played Chai Zeet Huey and lost 3-0 she was a very good player and she had a 50 break against me, then I played Diana Bukina and lost 3-1. I had a chance to win the match but lost out when I was in snookers. I then played Santhinee Jaisekul the Thai lady and lost 3-0, she was very good indeed and beat me easily. She has a strange cue action but it really works and she pots balls from everywhere.

I played the russian Kharlova Svetlana next and lost a close 3-2 which, again, I could have turned into a match win if it wasn't for tough snookers and miss calls.

I then played Wendy Jans (the world champ) and lost 3-0 but took her to the blue in the 1st frame and close in the other frames. Wendy wasn't feeling her best as she had a bad sunburn. It is always nice to play the best ladies because I can learn from playng them.

I finally played Yu Ching Ching and lost this match 3-0. Yu Ching-Ching played very well and the Asia seems to have alot of very good players, including a brilliant young 12 year old called Nicha who played Reanne in the group stages.

I practiced with Michael Rhodes, Reanne Evans, Dan Ward and Reanne Evans. The England team inluding Colin Mitchell were brilliant with me out there and spent alot of time with me. David had 10 centuries before he was ust knocked out in the last 16 to Stefan Mazrocis.

It hasn’t just been the snooker though I have been swimming, going to the gym and I got a massage. I have also been doing my homework which consisted of maths and english which included reading.

I also met a girl called Nicole and she is 14. Her mum is Kathy Parashis who represents Australia. Nicole was brilliant and so was her mum. They took me to the zoo one day and I saw lots of animals; snakes, monkeys, massive spiders, leopards, cheetahs, lions, tigers, elephants, emus, rhinos and lots more.

We went to the mall to eat a few times to have a change from the hotel food which was usually chicken satay or burgers and chips. The mall has lots of shops and an amusement arcade where I beat David Lilley in a car racing game after he had beaten my dad. I also beat him in air hockey (david is you are watching hahahah) There are big fish there as well, approximately 7ft catfish called giant catfish, sharks and sting rays.

To get to the mall we had to use a tuk tuk. Tuk tuks are little 3 wheeled bikes with seats on the back, there is a picture of one in my picture gallery. The tuk tuk drivers used to race against each other, very fast, and there are no seat belts in them. Also there are no sides to the bikes which made it very exciting but also scary. Dad was frightened when we first went on one because we were in different tuk tuks, I was with Dan and Reanne, and we were in front going through tiny gaps very fast and he was unhappy that the drivers were driving so fast with me.

I also went to the tiger temple on Friday as well and I got to hold a tigers head while it was sleeping and have a photo with the cubs they were so cute. The journey was 5 hours each way and we went to Kwae. I walked across the bridge over the River Kwae and dad told me about the history of the bridge and how the prisoners of war built it along with civilian prisoners. We went to the cemetary as well. It was very interesting. We stopped at a roadside cafe and ate some Thai food which was OK. When we got to the temple I was dressed all in pink and they wouldnt let me in because you cannot wear pink in front of the lions so my dad bought me a T-shirt and I wore his coat as a skirt. You can see that in the photographs. I had a preying mantis on my back as well. Not like the normal bugs in this country.

We had the celebration dinner at the end of the event and there was a world karaoke champion there who sang a song to me and I had to get up and dance with Nicole. It was great.

Coming back home was longer on the plane, about 14 hours and when we got back dad drove home. We got back into the house at 1am.

I have Reannes trophy which is awesome and have taken it to school to show my friends, with her permission.

I am back now and practising for the England Under 16's at Rushden on 8th December. I have played my first Junior league match since I got back and beat the Derbyshire under 15 champion Andrew Foster 3-2 which upset him a bit I think. That means that I have only lost 1 game out of 6 matches and have a chance to stay in the top league at the end of the season.

Red league snooker

I won the junior snooker club green league last season and now play in the red league which has the derbyshire under 17 champion in it Tom Kerslake.

I have done very well so far with 2 wins from 2 games. I played Tom Kerslake yesterday and lost the first frame, I won the second frame and the third frame to lead 2-1 but then I lost the next 2 frames. It was still a good result and should keep me from the bottom of the table. That was my goal for this first season. I have set goals for this year with my dad. I shall write about them later.

I had a late birthday party at the snooker club with my friends. There were 13 people who came to it. It was a pool/snooker party and everyone enjoyed themselves. There was lots of food and everyone was playing for prize money. I just walked around helping people to play.

catch up.

Hi everyone,

Sorry i haven't been doing my blog recently. I have been busy practising so here's the latest news.

I recently made a 56! in practice and I know I have made breaks before but I am more more consistent now and i keep getting higher breaks over 20. It's cool.

I played in the East Anglian Ladies Championships in Cambridge. I had 4hours sleep the night before and half an hour sleep in the car on the way to the match. It was very tiring and i lost in the 1st round but i did play in the plate. I got through 2 rounds then into the final i was up against Vicky Ashby. I lost but it was close and I got a really nice trophy and i know tried my best.

!!!!BIG NEWS!!!! I HAVE BEEN INVITED TO PLAY FOR ENGLAND IN THAILAND! I am very excited. I was very brave when i had the injections i had to have one in each arm the colour drained from my face because of shock. I am practicing hard to play well against the other ladies. I know it is going to be hard but it will be a great experience. I am going with Reanne which is brilliant. I will definately keep you updated while i am in Thailand and will do my blog and take pictures while I am there.

Ben Woollaston

Saturday 14th July:

I went down to my local snooker club for one of their junior exhibitions. The special guest was Ben Woollaston who was the European under 19 champion when he was an amateur, but now he is a pro GO BEN!!!! There is a draw but not for the players who play first and last. The winner of the green league plays first and the red League winner plays last.

I was chosen out of the bag and selected to play Ben in the second game. I was very nervous but tried my best I played a couple of good shots including safetys but Ben was too good.

He was trying very hard to get a century and he managed it in his last game of the exhibition. It was excellent and everyone was very impressed with him and his game. We had photographs taken and Ben presented me with an exceptional achievement keepsake to replace the main trophy I won a year ago.

I will be keeping an eye on Ben and hope that he does really well in the pro game this year.

Belgium

Hi everyone here's what I've been up to lately, I went to the European Team Championships in Belgium with my fave player in the ladies game, World Ladies Snooker Champion and World Number 1 Reanne Evans.We came third in the tournament in the third and fourth play offs. We had a chance to it make to final of the major tournament when we had a decider against Belgium 1, Wendy Jans and Isabelle Jonkheere. Reanne played very well but Wendy put her in a tough snooker which Reanne struggled to get out of.

Reanne was excellent during the tournament. It was a great experience for me and I know she carried me in our matches but I did try my best. I even played on Belgium television and made a 20 break winning the televised frame against Belgium 2.

I was and am very proud to have been picked to play for my country.

Update

Hi everybody, sorry I haven't been doing my blog I have been very busy with school and snooker but here's what I have been doing.

I went on holiday to haven holiday camp not so long ago and it was great. On the way down my legs were hurting really bad because we had been sitting in the car for so long around 6 hours. When we got out of the car I was relieved and stretched my legs which felt really good. We had to go to the local shop for food and then we had to unpack but it wasn't all bad. We went to a show that night and played a family prize bingo it was really fun, then we played in the arcade for a while.

The next day was different because we had lots more fun.

First we went swimming i had to go to the shop to buy Ellie(my cheeky little sister) some armbands. They had a massive water slide which unfortunately I didn't get a chance to go on:( in the night we did the same as the night before but stayed longer.

This time we had a pop party mix, games (me and my dad won a game)Ellie played a game on stage called sit in the bucket and lots more. The next day we went to the beach I skipped a pebble over the sea and played with Ellie in the sand, after that we had a really nice meal.

HANNAH J

Hannah's dad

Hi,

This is Hannah's dad. Sorry that she has not been updating her blog lately but she has been a very busy girl. Hannah has played in Belgium in the European Team Championships. She has played in the World Ladies Championships and also at Pontins in the 8-11 tournament. During this busy schedule Hannah has been writing into a journal so that she can update her blog readily.

Hannah is on holiday at the moment (half term) and will be attending the Snooker Academy tomorrow to practice and meet up with her friends from this years Pontins Star of the Future tournament.

So, Hannah will be updating her blog soon - possibly after her venture into an EABA billiards junior tour played at the Cueball club, Derby on Sunday.

Oh and Hannah has also been selected to play for England again in the European Championships in Carlow in June!!!!

For good measure I have also changed her blog to pink which I think will really make her day.

Many thanks for reading her website and this blog.