We had the final round of the Diablo X-Ball trials yesterday and what a day it was, we had fourteen players going for the last 6 remaining spots on the team to represent England.
After Lord knows how many games we played in an attempt to create differentials between players to make it easier to pick them, we finally made the decisions.
In all my 16 years as a pro player and captain of various teams, this was by far the most difficult job I have ever had to do.
After the first two games of the day, the hair on the back of my neck stood up as I watched these guys go at it and everybody who was watching these games knew that what we had here was an unbelievably rich vein of real talent and all of it English !!!!!!
If anybody needed convincing as to the selection polices adopted for this team, then those first two games did the job....No Argument !!!
So the final six players chose were:-
Sam Keats
Jack Wood
Bowen Pratt
Tom Pemberton
Steve Brown (Junior)
Wayne Kelly
These guys join the four already chosen of :-
Mark Toye
Nick Truter
Jamie Abbott
Chris Edwards
We have two reserves of Andy Williams and Digger if anything goes wrong.
I can't really say much more than, I am really proud to be part of all this, to be around so much talent and enthusiasm, it was a privilege to be around these guys and a sincere thanks to all of you!!!
I also wanna make a special thanks to all those who took part and never asked for a penny in payment, they just did it to be part of the team, patriotism, whatever.
A big thanks to WDP who on hearing we needed a site, offered us the use of theirs for free.
A massive thanks also to Owen and Jed and those at WDP who know the 'real' meaning of support and patriotism.
They are now major supporters / sponsors of this team along with PGI.
To all of the following a big, big thanks !!
Adrian, Geoff and Boz from Diablo.
Beaker, Ledz (when he gets his ass away from the TV), Mark and Nicky.
To Dave Phee and Chrissy Edwards for your advice on certain matters.
To Richmond for giving me the chance to be part of all this and the loyalty he has shown in recent times.
And a special thanks to all those at PGI and on this board who have supported me and trusted what I was doing !
And now this phase of the whole X-Ball is over and after all the crap I took from certain quarters, all the hard work, all the travelling, all the time and money it cost me, what are my feelings?
Well, it's been emotional !....... and worth every single penny and every single second....and then some
Hee hee, I love this frikkin game and I'm a lucky man, I know that much......EAR EAR
Robbo
After Lord knows how many games we played in an attempt to create differentials between players to make it easier to pick them, we finally made the decisions.
In all my 16 years as a pro player and captain of various teams, this was by far the most difficult job I have ever had to do.
After the first two games of the day, the hair on the back of my neck stood up as I watched these guys go at it and everybody who was watching these games knew that what we had here was an unbelievably rich vein of real talent and all of it English !!!!!!
If anybody needed convincing as to the selection polices adopted for this team, then those first two games did the job....No Argument !!!
So the final six players chose were:-
Sam Keats
Jack Wood
Bowen Pratt
Tom Pemberton
Steve Brown (Junior)
Wayne Kelly
These guys join the four already chosen of :-
Mark Toye
Nick Truter
Jamie Abbott
Chris Edwards
We have two reserves of Andy Williams and Digger if anything goes wrong.
I can't really say much more than, I am really proud to be part of all this, to be around so much talent and enthusiasm, it was a privilege to be around these guys and a sincere thanks to all of you!!!
I also wanna make a special thanks to all those who took part and never asked for a penny in payment, they just did it to be part of the team, patriotism, whatever.
A big thanks to WDP who on hearing we needed a site, offered us the use of theirs for free.
A massive thanks also to Owen and Jed and those at WDP who know the 'real' meaning of support and patriotism.
They are now major supporters / sponsors of this team along with PGI.
To all of the following a big, big thanks !!
Adrian, Geoff and Boz from Diablo.
Beaker, Ledz (when he gets his ass away from the TV), Mark and Nicky.
To Dave Phee and Chrissy Edwards for your advice on certain matters.
To Richmond for giving me the chance to be part of all this and the loyalty he has shown in recent times.
And a special thanks to all those at PGI and on this board who have supported me and trusted what I was doing !
And now this phase of the whole X-Ball is over and after all the crap I took from certain quarters, all the hard work, all the travelling, all the time and money it cost me, what are my feelings?
Well, it's been emotional !....... and worth every single penny and every single second....and then some
Hee hee, I love this frikkin game and I'm a lucky man, I know that much......EAR
EARRobbo
