How long will it take YOU to identify the author?? 

I’ve been fortunate to travel the world and to live in many parts of this country and out of this country and traveling with Shuffleboard ranks right up there near the top!

The Inaugurals you keep hearing about are a great way to travel with others that gives you something in common, which always seems to be more fun than striking out on you own.  John Barnett usually makes the arrangements and John leaves no stone unturned at least twice.  You can bet the details will be right with John and the Allen family, as a group, ensure you will see all the sites.  The price is always reasonable and the joy you see on the faces of the people in the country where you are teaching the game of “Shuffleboard” is reward enough for the time you give.  Everywhere we’ve been the people just love the game, especially the young.  It makes you question why we don’t have the interest in North America.

You usually start traveling in the game of Shuffleboard when you leave your district and start playing State tournaments and depending on how confident and independent you are, you will either stay with another player, someone you know or by yourself at the beach or some other place you’re seeing for the first time.  In any case it’s often a new experience and fun so you decide you’d like to do more of it and eventually that leads you to travel out of State to play a National Tournament and a whole new World opens up to you.  Whether it be in the mountains of North Carolina at Hendersonville or the shores of Lake Erie at Lakeside in Ohio, you’re sure to have a good time.  Just to show you the “silver lining” in a dark cloud, it was last year that the International games were cancelled in Nova Scotia, I was a member of the U.S. team, and before the smoke cleared I got an e-mail from Larry Farris in Lakeside inviting me to come play the Summer Nationals, as I had promised I would do someday.  He egged on by daring me to bring a partner and try to stop he and Jacques from a 3-peat, I did and I did.  Lakeside was beautiful and no place has ever treated in-coming players better.  I hope to return!

Someday maybe I’ll get to Canada and out West, as well as to some of the Eastern States to play.  More to look forward too!

Earl Ball June 20, 2004