News & Updates from Del Neubauer

My last news story was about the leaps & bounds my daughter has taken in her favourite sport. October last year was big for her and she continues to grow and commit herself to improving her game and motivating others to do the same.

The first half of 2019 has continued on that same roller coaster Cate was riding back in 2018. In April she competed at Toowoomba in the Youth Championships for tenpin bowling. Her championship squads were a bit below her average of 200 and she was upset with herself for only averaging 167.

But she came back firing on all cylinders during the Masters tournament the following day, averaging 206 and winning the title of TBAQ Youth Female Master 2019.Mothers Day saw me spending the day at a bowling alley at Tweed Heads, watching Cate and her friends compete in the Tenpin Queensland championships.

Cate went in hoping to defend her Under 21 Open Girls Masters title from 2018, which she also won in 2017.

The Masters Champions are based on the highest All Events result over the weekend.

As she is over 18 Cate competes as an adult, not a junior, however, the Masters is awarded Under 21 or adult.

She went into the weekend based on a competing average of 200, she had a few low games during her squads, however, out of her 9 games she bowled 5 of them over 200, one slightly under, & the rest she doesnt want to know about .

She finished the weekend with an overall total pin fall of 1830.In the Adults there is 4 divisions, which are based on their competing averages, this keeps it fair so that those bowling against each other are of a similar skill level.

Division 1 is the highest of these.

In the doubles and teams events the division is based on the total averages of the team.Cate achieved 1st place - Adult Ladies Division 1 All Events, 1st place - Adult Ladies Division 1 Singles, 5th place - Adult Mixed Division 1 Doubles, 1st place - Adult Mixed Division 4 Teams, and she successfully defended her title with Under 21 Open Girls Master 2019.

She only has next year to keep this going, as she turns 21 in March.She then rolled off for the chance to be part of the Brisbane Ladies team for Association Challenge.

She succeeded in gaining a place on the team.

The Association Challenge was held last weekend in Rockhampton, Queensland. The Brisbane team came home with some trophies to add to the various cabinets.

Ladies placed 2nd overall, a 5 man team from the Ladies won the Ladies high team game - scoring 1011 pin fall between the 5 bowlers, Brisbane combined team finished 3rd, and the High games for both the mens & ladies divisions came home to Brisbane.Now we wait to see what the rest of the year brings us.......

My crafting has taken a backseat in my life for the last month or so. A lot of my time has been spent coaching and taking my daughter to training.

Life has recently been a bit of a roller-coaster with Cate being named Captain of the Queensland Under 21 Open Girls team to compete against Victoria and New South Wales in the East Coast Challenge Cup, which is a tenpin bowling tournament.

Its only her second year competing in this tournament, and she certainly stepped up to the role of Captain, doing her best to motivate and help her team mates deal with the lanes in Sydney last week.The week in Sydney was full of ups and downs.

Cate finished 1st in the Open Girls singles event, and have a mini breakdown due to one of the chants from another team bringing back memories of a friend she lost in a car accident.

She finished the week competing in the Open Girls Masters tournament, going in as the second highest qualifier.

After five games, she was named the 2018 ECCC Open Girls Master, with the Shield being awarded to her at the presentation dinner, where she was also named as part of the 2018 Open Girls All star team.As if all the highs from Sydney werent enough, during her league yesterday, she managed to bowl the Perfect 300 game.

For those who dont know much about Tenpin Bowling, the perfect game is Strikes in every frame, closing with three in the 10th frame.

She has been so close to this on many occasions, quite a few of them this year, but always seems to either let nerves get to her or psyche herself out.