Target Darts at the Land, Leisure & Tourism Show

Playing darts at the Land, Leisure & Tourism Show.

I attended the recent Land, Leisure & Tourism Show at the NEC in Birmingham and one of the stands and attractions that caught my eye was the one from Target Darts.

I had three games on the Omni Auto Scoring Darts set-up where I played against 'Dartbot' in three games where I was whitewashed!

It was such a slick system to play on and brilliant fun.

I even got to have a photo with the Sid Waddell Trophy, aka the PDC World Darts Championship Trophy!

Find out more

Check out the Target Darts and the Land, Leisure & Tourism Show websites for more information.

Related posts:

• Darts
• Pub Games
• Leisure

The BIG Sports Weekender is coming to Mulligans Guildford this weekend!

Mulligans Guildford is hosting the BIG Sports Weekender this October.

Thank you to the team at Mulligans Guildford for sending over the information below about the brand's first BIG Sports Weekender event.

From Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th October, Mulligan’s Guildford is hosting the BIG Sports Weekender, with live sport, 50p wings, bottomless fries and one of the town's cheapest pints of Guinness, plus the chance to win Premier League tickets.

From the 3rd to the 5th of October, Mulligans Guildford is launching the BIG Sports Weekender, where sports fans of all ages can catch all major games on the venue’s 100" TV screens, enjoy food and drink deals, and enter a draw to win Premier League tickets as well as more epic prizes!

Darts at Mulligans Guildford

In addition to the usual games offered at the venue, such as crazy golf and electro-darts, Mulligans Guildford will be showing a variety of live sports during the BIG Sports Weekender. From Premier League and EFL to the Singapore Grand Prix and Rugby League, there will be something to keep everyone entertained, all weekend long.

Electro-shuffle at Mulligans Guildford

The streaming schedule includes:

Friday 3rd October

• Full coverage of the Singapore Grand Prix
• Betfred Super League semi-finals

Saturday 4th October

• Full coverage of the Singapore Grand Prix (qualifiers)
• Betfred Super League semi-finals 
• Premier League: Chelsea vs Liverpool 
• English Football League: Hull vs Sheffield Utd; Sheff Wed vs Coventry; Blackburn vs Stoke; Wycombe vs Barnsley; Doncaster vs Burton; Newport vs Swindon; MK Dons vs Gillingham

Sunday 5th October

• Full coverage of the Singapore Grand Prix (race)
• Premier League: triple header picks including Aston Villa vs Burnley, Newcastle vs Nottingham Forest, Wolves vs Brighton; Brentford vs Man City
• English Football League: Ipswich vs Norwich
• Barclays Women's Super League Grand Final
• National Rugby League Grand Final (Sydney)

Alongside the busy match schedule, Mulligans Guildford will be serving up exclusive food and drink offers throughout the weekend. Fans can enjoy £2.50 pints of Foster's and Inch’s, 50p wings, and bottomless fries for £5. 

They will also be pouring one of the cheapest pints of Guinness in Guildford, for just £5. To complete the experience, stout lovers can snap a selfie and print it on the head of their smooth pint of Guinness.

For every pint of Guinness purchased during the BIG Sports Weekender, the purchaser will be entered into a draw to get the chance to win epic prizes, including tickets to Premier League matches, football kit vouchers, and more.

Stephen Brown, Chief Operating Officer at Adventure Leisure, said: "We’re thrilled to be hosting the first BIG Sports Weekender this October. We can’t wait to welcome sports fans of all ages to join us for an action-packed weekend full of live sports, exclusive food and drink offers, and epic prizes. See you there!"

Find out more.

For more information, check out the Mulligans website. And to keep up with Mulligans Guildford’s day-to-day updates, follow Mulligans Guildford on Instagram and Mulligans Guildford on Facebook.

Our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Thanks again to the team at Mulligans Guildford for sending over the information.

Mulligans Guildford opened its doors to two 9-hole crazy golf courses and more in July this year.

We've been to several Mulligans courses on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and look forward to checking out the two courses at the Mulligans Guildford venue in the future.

Mulligans in Guildford and beyond.

The Adventure Leisure group now has 13 Mulligans sites across the UK which include venues in Basildon, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bristol, Cheltenham, Hemel Hempstead, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Norwich, Stevenage, Tonbridge, Worcester, and now Guildford.

Adventure Leisure Limited is a subsidiary of Burhill Group Limited (BGL), which also operates 10 golf clubs and the BUNKERS! and Ninja Warrior UK brands.

NFL Experience Watch Party at Courts Club in Manchester

Visiting the NFL Experience New York Jets Vs Pittsburgh Steelers Watch Party at Courts Club in Manchester.

I had a fun afternoon at the NFL UK Experience New York Jets Vs Pittsburgh Steelers Watch Party at Courts Club in Manchester on Sunday.

Met some mascots, saw the Vince Lombardi trophy, and played some mini-games.

With Edgar - one of the three Baltimore Ravens mascots

With Jaxson de Ville - aka Union Jaxson - the mascot of the Jacksonville Jaguars

I watched a LOT of American Football over the weekend!

Hopefully there'll be more NFL events in Manchester in the future.

Find out more.

Visit the NFL UK & Ireland and Courts Club websites for more information.

Anyone for Tennis?

A look at the sports-themed Adventure Golf course at Romsey Rapids Sports Complex in Southampton, Hampshire.

The tennis-themed hole and obstacles on the Romsey Rapids Adventure Golf course in Southampton

There were lots of sports on offer as obstacles on the sports-themed minigolf course at Romsey Rapids Sports Complex in Southampton, Hampshire when we swung by for a visit on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour back in May 2019.

The podium was a nice obstacle to have on the final hole of the course

The 18-hole course was the 877th course visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Check out the Romsey Rapids Sports Complex website for more information on the course and venue.

American Football Mini Golf in Leeds

A look at the mini golf course at the Hollywood Bowl in Leeds.

Puttstars Mini Golf in Leeds

The Puttstars indoor mini golf course at the Hollywood Bowl in Kirkstall, Leeds was the 1,076th visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Puttstars Mini Golf in Leeds

The 9th hole on the course was American Football-themed.

Puttstars Mini Golf in Leeds

Check out the Hollywood Bowl website for more information.

New pétanque piste in Felixstowe

A pétanque piste is one of the features of the new activity park on Sea Road in Felixstowe, Suffolk.

It was nice to see the new pétanque piste on Felixstowe sea front. We'll have to remember to take our boules with us next time we visit.

Dodgeballing again!

Back in action with the Cheadle & Gatley Griffins Dodgeball Club.

It was brilliant to be back in action with the Cheadle & Gatley Griffins Dodgeball Club last night.

Richard Gottfried - Dodgeballer

The session in Parrs Wood, Manchester was the first one for the club's adult members since March 2020.

The games were my first since the 10th March 2020 - that's 777 days!

I played 4, won 2, lost 2 in games. A fun mix of Prison Rules, Super Catch and Secret Spy.

I was also the third last player in the Last Person Standing game at the end of the night.

Check out the Cheadle & Gatley Griffins Dodgeball Club website for more info on the Tuesday night sessions.

See the British Dodgeball website for more info on the serious side of the game.

My 'all-time' Dodgeball Win-Loss Record (2005-2022) now stands at 991 games played, 453 wins, 494 losses and 44 tied games.

I've been playing the game since the eighties so this is my fifth decade!

My last pre-pandemic games of dodgeball

I played my last pre-coronavirus pandemic lockdown games of dodgeball a year ago today.

In my last Tuesday night session with the Cheadle & Gatley Griffins Dodgeball Club I played 5, won 4 and lost 1.

I'm really looking forward to returning to dodgeball action when it's once again safe to do so.

My 2020 record stood at 18 games played with 9 wins and 9 losses.

My all-time Dodgeball Win-Loss Record (2005-2020) stands at 987 games played, 451 wins, 492 losses and 44 tied games.

World Alternative Games 2021

The countdown is on until the 2021 World Alternative Games in Llanwrtyd Wells.

The World Alternative Games were due to take place in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales this month. The fifth edition of the Games have been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic and are now scheduled for August 2021.

The festival of strange, obscure and interesting sports takes place over three weeks and sees thousands of athletes and spectators descend on the town to compete in, and marvel at, the sporting action.

The first edition of the World Alternative Games were held in 2012 to celebrate the huge year of sport and offer an alternative to elite sport with an open-to-all event. The second edition took place in 2014 and every two years thereafter. There were 35 events in 2012 and 60 titles up for grabs in 2014.

The competitors from the first-ever Finger Jousting Championships held on UK soil back at the 2012 World Alternative Games

The Games are a superb mass participation multi-sport event and really do encourage everyone to get involved. Many spectators end up as competitors and the serious obscure sports enthusiasts very often take up a new sport after visiting.

The medalists from the 2014 Finger Jousting World Championships

Some of the sports included at previous editions include wife carrying, chariot racing, cheese rolling, pooh sticks, underwater hockey, archery, office chair racing, hay bale tossing, finger jousting, stone skimming, underwater rugby, space hopper racing, horseshoe throwing, bog snorkelling, crazy golf, worm charming, conkers, world of grip, zombie fun runs, plank racing, rock paper scissors, hide n seek and toe wrestling. There have been many many more contests and the 2021 event will be packed with a wide range of different sports and games to play.

World of Grip was a tough challenge!

I have been a competitor, volunteer, organiser, advocate and promoter of the World Alternative Games since the first event in 2012.

With my Corinthian medal from competing in the World of Grip events

I organised the World Finger Jousting Federation Championships at the first Games in 2012. Prior to that tournament I took part in the Egg Throwing Championships with my team-mate Jas Kukielka and we ended up winning the World Title!

On the World Alternative Games podium

It just goes to show that anything can happen when you're at the World Alternative Games!

The champions cooling down after the event

Spot the egg...

Visit the World Alternative Games website to find out more.

As well as being the UK's smallest town Llanwrtyd Wells is famous for being the host venue for a number of quirky and unusual sports and games, including the World Bog Snorkelling Championships and the annual Man versus Horse Marathon.

See more of my blog posts about the World Alternative Games.

The British Transplant Games

A look ahead to the 2021 British Transplant Games in Leeds.

We were due to be heading down to Coventry this week to support our friend (and minigolf rival) John Moore in the British Transplant Games. Unfortunately the 2020 Games in Coventry have been postponed to 2023 due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

However, plans are well underway for the 2021 British Transplant Games that will be taking place in Leeds next August. We love visiting Leeds and are really looking forward to the event.

Transplant Sport’s flagship event aims to raise awareness of the life-saving benefits of transplantation.

The Westfield Health British Transplant Games have been running for over 40 years. Each year the games sees teams from hospitals across the UK come together to compete in a number of sports. The four-day event attracts around 1,000 transplant athletes and more than 1,500 supporters.

Find out more on the British Transplant Games and Transplant Sport websites.

We've attended the British Transplant Games in Newcastle Gateshead (2015), Liverpool (2016) and Birmingham (2018).

Last summer we were at the 2019 World Transplant Games in Newcastle Gateshead. They were the 22nd edition and the first held in the UK since the Manchester Games in 1995.

I've run in two races at the transplant games - The Gift of Life Run last year was my second 5k, after the Donor Run at the 2018 British Transplant Games in Birmingham.

The Westfield Health British Transplant Games, organised on behalf of the charity Transplant Sport, will take place in venues across Leeds from the 5th to 8th August 2021.

Visit the NHS website to join the NHS Organ Donor Register.

Happy Olympic Day

Today is Olympic Day.

About Olympic Day

The first Olympic Day took place on the 23rd June 1948.

Olympic Day aims to unite the whole world behind the Olympic dream and the Olympic movement.

Putt at Home

Back in April the Olympic Channel suggested building a Crazy Golf course during isolation. It was nice to see the Olympic movement getting involved in the craze for Putting at Home during lockdown.

World Minigolf Sport Federation and the Olympic movement

The World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF) is the governing body for minigolf and has 63 member nations. There are currently a further three countries awaiting recognition as full members.

The WMF is a member of GAISF (Global Association of International Sports Federations), AIMS (Alliance of Independent Recognised Members of Sport) and TAFISA (The Association For International Sport for All).

On the 12th January 2020 it was announced that AIMS had become a fully recognised International Olympics Committee (IOC) umbrella group.

Olympic collecting

As well as playing, organising and promoting sports I am also an avid collector of sporting memorabilia and ephemera. As such I'm a member of both the Olympin Club and Sports Philatelists International.

I got to see a lot of Olympic Torches in 2012. I was also a Paralympic Flame Assistant in Luton that year

Miniature Golf and the Olympic Games

Did you know - Miniature Golf was once played during the Olympic Games!

While it was not officially part of the Games programme, the participants in the Golf tournament at the 1904 Olympic Games held in St Louis, USA also competed in a Putting Championship on a specially built miniature golf course.

The 9-hole Putting Course was specifically built at the Glen Echo Country Club for a Putting Championship and was constructed with electric lights surrounding the layout.

The Putting competition was won by Burt McKinnie of Normandie GC. McKinnie defeated Clement Smoot of the Exmoor Club in Chicago for the trophy after McKinnie scored a total of 21. Both players had been tied going into the last hole!

The 1904 Games were quite a wild affair - with a number of other sporting events taking place out of the scope of the 'official' sports. They also took place over several months and organised alongside the World's Fair, rather than as a standalone event.

Olympiapark München

On a related note, the Olympiapark München is home to a Miniature Golf course that was set-up in the athletes village for the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. Now open to the public you can find more information on the Olympiapark München and the Minigolf & Pit-Pat Olympiapark München websites.

We're hoping to visit and play the courses on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour in the future.

The Oslympic Games

Back in the summer of 2012 we were proud to be a part of the Oswestry Games. The festival of sport in Shropshire saw the sport of minigolf included in a multi-sport games event in the UK for the first time. The Oslympics consisted of more than 50 sports and cultural events held over ten-days in July 2012.

Medals from the Oswestry Games

Related blog posts:
- Olympic
- Olympics

Links:
- The Olympics
- Olympic Day

World Cycling Day

Happy World Cycling Day.

It's amazing how may different things we've seen depicted on minigolf courses - this cycling-themed hole is at Trailer Trash Jim's Crazy Golf course at Level Preston

I've been Putting At Home during lockdown as well as getting out and about on my BMX

Bridgehall BMX Track in Stockport

I found a BMX track on my daily walk yesterday.

It's only 5 minutes away from my house too!

Amazing.

It's hidden in plain sight if you know where to look.

And there's me thinking I'd explored all of my local area!

Dodgeball with the Cheadle & Gatley Griffins Dodgeball Club in Stockport

In my last Tuesday night session with the Cheadle & Gatley Griffins Dodgeball Club I played 5, won 4 and lost 1 in games.

We also played a lot of fast-paced METEOR BALL games. That was superb FUN as you're constantly moving, dodging, ducking, dipping, diving and dodging. If you're hit or get caught out you run to the back wall and then re-enter the game.

I'm looking forward to returning to dodgeball action once the coronavirus pandemic is over.

What retro wrestling t-shirt shall I wear for my next dodgeball outing?

My 2020 record stands at 18 games played, 9 wins, 9 losses.

------------------

My all-time Dodgeball Win-Loss Record stands at:

• 2005-2020: Played 987, Won 451, Lost 492, Tied 44.

By year:

• 2005-2013: Played 959, Won 437, Lost 478, Tied 44.
• 2014-2018: Inactive.
• 2019: Played 10, Won 5, Lost 5, Tied 0.
• 2020: Played 18, Won 9, Lost 9, Tied 0.

Related blog posts:

• Dodgeball
• Dodgeball - getting back in the game

Links:

• Cheadle & Gatley Griffins Dodgeball Club
• British Dodgeball

Darts at The Players' Entrance in Stockport

Playing darts at The Players' Entrance indoor sports park in Stockport.

Darts at The Player's Entrance in Stockport

Earlier today I called in to The Players' Entrance in Stockport's Merseyway shopping centre as the venue was hosting a special darts event.

Stockport darts superstar Nathan 'The Asp' Aspinall is competing in the PDC World Championships this month and the event saw the launch of a new partnership with the Stockport Disability Darts League and a link up with The Players' Entrance and Stockport schools.

The Stockport Disability Darts League set-up at The Players' Entrance

Nathan Aspinall is ranked number 12 in the world and is the 2019 UK Open champion, the 2019 US Darts Masters champion and was a semi-finalist in the 2019 PDC World Championships.

It was brilliant to meet Nathan and I had the chance to play against him in two games on one of the electronic soft-tip dartboards.

Nathan 'The Asp' Aspinall and me after our two games of darts. Guess who won?

The Playerss Entrance now has a disability darts area with dartboards and oche set-up so that players of any ability can compete against each other. The backing board has two dartboards - one for standing players and one for those seated - that can be quickly flipped after each player's throw.

I'm a big fan of both playing and watching darts. It's an inclusive game and can be picked up and played easily.

Visit The Players' Entrance website for more info, opening times and prices for the sports and games on offer.

Check out Stockport Disability Darts League for more information.

Visit Nathan 'The Asp' Aspinall's official Facebook Page too.

Dodgeball - getting back in the game

Playing dodgeball in Cheadle.

Last night I played dodgeball for the first time in over six years as I attended a session with the Cheadle & Gatley Griffins Dodgeball Club.

One of the Cheadle & Gatley Griffins Dodgeball Club balls

My last matches were with the Harpenden Dodgeball Club back in April 2013 so it was superb to be back in action.

The Cheadle & Gatley Griffins Dodgeball Club run sessions on Tuesday evenings and it was brilliant to see a mix of people, ages and abilities playing the fun game.

Dodgeball is a fantastic game to play. It's easy to get into and you can play for fun or take it more seriously if you like

I'm looking forward to playing more dodgeball over the coming months.

Back in dodgeball action. I also picked up a win in the Last Man Standing match!

Check out Cheadle & Gatley Griffins Dodgeball Club website for more information.


My all-time Dodgeball Win-Loss Record:

• 2005-2013 - Played 959, Won 437, Lost 478, Tied 44.
• 2014-2018 - Inactive.
• 2019-present - Won the Last Person Standing match (10/12/19).

Associations / Rules played under:

• Dodgeball UK (2005-2007)
• Get Back Into/UKDBA (2010-2011)
• England Dodgeball (2011-2013)
• British Dodgeball (2019-)

Teams played for:

• New Lutonians (2005-2006)
• The Dodgeball Assassins (2005-2006)
• Abingdon Dodgeball Alliance (2005-2007)
• Luton Dodgeball Club (2010-2011)
• Harpenden Dodgeball Club (2011-2013)
• Cheadle & Gatley Griffins Dodgeball Club (2019-)

Related blog posts:

- Dodgeball

- Dodgeball - Then & Now (2010)