What could you have been a pro at?

I was quite handy at snooker but being able to put a 100 break together isn't anywhere near good enough in the standards required. I'm just a small fish in a massive pond unfortunately.

I can vouch for that. I played very seriously for years (didn't golf as a teenager) and whilst good, never got very far out of the local scene. I gave up aged 23 and found something more frustrating..... :o

I had my 1st 100+ break at 14 year old and some people thought I might make something out of it. But when you see the standard of amateur and junior players these days its just rediculous. They get big breaks every time they go to the table. Standard just far too high these days for me to even dream about.
Now I play golf.... Average at that too!! :)
 
Absolutely nothing.
I've never been "good" at anything. I always seem to get to the "decent" level and then hover.
Decent at Badminton
Decent at Eton Fives (went to a posh school! And they don't play Pro)
Decent at Cricket
Decentish at Golf
Decentish with a Bass Guitar

etc etc etc etc etc
 
I wanted to be a pro golfer. Got down low enough but couldn't afford to do the PGA's. Played a few assistant events and it was obvious I wasn't good enough even on that small circuit. Hung on as the assistant for another six months once I couldn't do the exams and got disenchanted and found Fosters and women (sometimes both on the same night)
 
I was once pretty good at this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0baHwTNfGY

I did used to run the 1st 3 passes as this, but after that, it was a whole different level, - the rope gets shorter each pass, meaning you have to lean further to reach each buoy.
And bearing in mind, the boat is running @36mph, each pass sees the skier zipping across at circa 60-70mph between buoys, which I can confirm knocks the sh1te outa ya when you hit the water.

Other than that, eating,....sleeping or lusting women.......
 
I was a very decent rugby player , playing Royal Navy and combined services teams up to under 23 level.....but actually just loved playing the game for fun and hated it when it got too serious . I was ( well , still am although even more so :) ) a big lad and looked more like a prop but was very fast with it so played anywhere in the backs from 10 outwards - inside centre was my specialist position though. Sport for me though was always about the pleasure of playing...not winning so i guess thats where i lacked the neccasarey 'winning mentality' that most professionals have in bucket loads.
 
I could have been a decent 800m runner. Represented the Army at the British Army Athletics Championships. Clocked 2mins.5secs - not too shabby but that was with not very good training. Just used to turn up for training each morning and ran around the track for about an hour without any real structure to it. And I used to smoke about 20 fags a day :eek:

Golfmmad.
 
Thats you and me both then. I actually did fish in the junior nationals for Leeds, and beat Tommy Pickering at a match at Hayfield lakes in Doncaster, and numerous other matches with my match squad Wykebeck recovery Leeds. I was a bit handy with my pole.
Isn't the match fishing scene a great competitive environment. Although the old traditionalists (round here anyway) moan about the commercial fisheries and that side of modern match fishing, I must admit I enjoyed that the most, cant beat a 100lb+ bag of carp. But I started up just fishing local matches on the broads and River Wensum, mostly bream and roach. There is definately more skill involved in that........
oh no I want to go fishing now.
 
Smoking. At age 21 I could smoke more fags than anyone else I have ever met. Could have turned pro easily. In fact, had that been available, I might have been able to afford to carry on. Sadly, I had to quit due to lack of funds. Who knows what might have been.
 
I was into swimming as a kid and was doing well until I broke my neck at Motherwell swimming pool in 1984. I was diving in at the shallow end and my feet slipped and cracked my coupon off the bottom..... After 6 weeks in hospital I was allowed home with a zimmer due to my muscles deteriorating.

A year later I did a 3 mile sponsored swim to raise money for a hospital for paraplegics.
 
I was into swimming as a kid and was doing well until I broke my neck at Motherwell swimming pool in 1984. I was diving in at the shallow end and my feet slipped and cracked my coupon off the bottom..... After 6 weeks in hospital I was allowed home with a zimmer due to my muscles deteriorating.

A year later I did a 3 mile sponsored swim to raise money for a hospital for paraplegics.

Kinell, that was a close call........did you have muscles :D
 
If i had been good at anything when i was younger i would have gone for it,unfortunatley im only good at laying bricks and thats debatable.
 
(How was the Forest Pines weekend?)

Not bad. Weather was kind, hotel was good, courses were in good nick apart from the greens which had recently been hollow tined and sanded. Couldn't get to grips with them and if I did manage to get on in regulation I 3 putted nearly every one, walking off with 2 points at best, 1 point more likely.
Plus got very tired towards the end as I played 6 rounds in 5 days, and found it too much. Couldn't hit an iron to save my life during the final two rounds although my driving was reasonable.
So all in all a reasonable week-end, great banter, but golf....could have done better.
 
Glad you enjoyed the weekend Rob, but where's James,what have you done to him, is he still recovering? :D :D

Golfmmad.
 
Glad you enjoyed the weekend Rob, but where's James,what have you done to him, is he still recovering? :D :D

Golfmmad.

Just spoken to him and like me he is absolutely knackered! As I say, 6 rounds in 5 days is going it a bit now (certainly for me it is). Playing Cooden and Karsten Lakes golf courses prior to Forest Pines wasn't a good idea with hindsight but we had great fun and would love to play Karsten Lakes again. The majority of the holes were good 'uns but it most probably had one of the best par 4's I have ever played anywhere. It was called "Roy's Creek" (I think) and it was that good that James racked a 9 up on there (he was 2 over up to that point!).
A fantastic golf hole and worth going back just to play that one 18 times over.
:D
 
Glad you enjoyed the weekend Rob, but where's James,what have you done to him, is he still recovering? :D :D

I've slept all day Chris. :D

The trip was great fun, hotel was excellent, I can honestly say I've never eaten so much for breakfast.

Playing golf with Leftie is always enjoyable, also met Vig and I can confirm he's a top draw fella (who pays with nice crisp £5 notes :D).

Smiffy always makes me laugh so sharing a room was relaxing to say the least (although watching him strut his stuff in his underpants whilst frequently checking himself out in the mirror is a bit disturbing)

The courses were excruciatingly tight with smallish greens (typical hotel course) and I only took the one ball with me ;) so was glad to bring it home again after 4 rounds ranging from 29-33pts.

Can't really complain about much at all, there were some hilarious moments and some not quite so funny ones but it all adds up to a memorable trip.

Seeing Leftie hit 23pts on his final back 9 was a pleasure, that man is a legend and bombs it off the tee!
 
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