Let's have your match reports on the good, the bad and the ugly. I'll start with all 3! I joined a scratch team for the National with 512 teams at Ruoms. I had played in a doubles with a scratch player the day before and was generally happy with my game. The terrains were the usual tarmac with stones and difficult to shoot and point. I was asked to shoot and whilst I explained that I normally point or middle as my shooting isn't good enough to succeed in a National of this level it was decided that was my spot. In general I played mediocre as a shooter, hitting around 55%. We managed to win the first game in a long battle, then waited 90 minutes for the 2nd game which was another LONG battle and we lost 13/12 which put us into a barrage against the team we played first. I hadn't eaten anything and bought a coke for a quick sugar fix and started to smash carreau for almost every shot and we won in 4 ends. My team mates departed for some reason and I got a message from them saying meet at 3pm on terrain 128. I arrived there at 2.45pm and the opposition were there practising. I then waited, and waited and waited. I sent messages to any team mates who I had just met that day with no response. Then after an hours I received a message saying we had lost by default as I hadn't shown up! The original message had a mistake, it was terrain 118 and a long way from where I was waiting. The lesson here is to check myself for terrains and not rely on others for information. I have also built a temporary terrain on the slip road by the house with some gravel to prepare for future Nationals on a similar nightmare piste.

Tomorrow is like to organise a Zoom watch where we assess a game and have a discussion about the tactics, strategies, performance etc and see if we can have a bit of a social get together. I’ll post the link tomorrow in this thread as I’m playing in a local comp right now. 7pm French time is 6pm UK time

Coming back from the PE‑IR Challenge League, I’m still buzzing. It was a fantastic event and yes, lifting the trophy as Challenge Champions certainly adds to that feeling 😎 but honestly, even without the win, the whole experience was outstanding. You spend 2 days surrounded by old friends, new faces, nice to meet @Lee Herring, and constant play on varied terrains against tough opposition. It’s the kind of environment that pushes you, teaches you, and reminds you why you play the game. Scotland sent a squad of 16 players, all brought together specifically for this tournament. Most of us had never played together before. Each team had an experienced captain, with the rest of us there to develop our skills, tactics, and confidence in a major competition setting. On paper, my team was probably the least experienced of the group. But from the first morning, we were a team. Our captain, @Malcolm McKenzie , ran a rotation system so everyone got meaningful game time and also sat out occasionally as the sub. We were encouraged to think tactically, be honest about our form, and make decisions for the good of the team, am I playing well? Should someone else take my role? Is it better if I sub out? That mindset made a huge difference. We won 9 out of 11 games, including several where we came from behind against strong opposition. I went into the competition as a shooter/middle role. By lunchtime on day one, I knew my shooting wasn’t where it needed to be for this level of competition, two boules lost from missed shots per end isn’t helpful. So I shifted into more of a pointing/middle role, and it immediately steadied my game, when asked occasionally to shoot as middle I was far more accurate and consistent and therefore was more help to the team. Mentally, I stayed strong throughout, but I do want to understand why my shooting dipped. It wasn’t catastrophic, I think I only had one truly bad shoot, but even small lapses matter at this level. That’s something I’ll reflect on and work on.

In competition when marking the jack, I sometimes accidentally move the jack only a tad I simply move it back to where it was, should I be telling the opposition?

Tonight I’m joined by @Jimmy Skog for a special Zoom training call. Jimmy has been suffering with the mental side specifically his inability to let bad shots go and his tendency to focus on the negative in his game. This causes him to abandon his trust in himself and hunt for quick fixes in the moment. Everyone is invited to join this call as I believe it will help many of you.