The teammates and the joy/relief of winning
What more can be said about this man. He is forever cementing his place as an APAT legend. His performances during the stt's were amazing, he played all 8 seaters, 1 1st place, 2 2nd and 2 3rd places. One of those 2nd places he had a 29 to 1 chip lead heads up and lost ( see everyone, it is possible!!) He won his heads up match for good measure!
TT actually ended up the lowest points scorer on the England team ( serves him right for being a Man U fan imo), but to be fair, apart from his 1 point in the 2nd day Omaha, was consistent in his performances. A great fella to have around the team, amazing supporter and won the important 3rd HU match to win us the gold. That bronze in the stud might have to be forgotten about...
I've got a ton of time for Stu. The beats he received on day 1 were terrible in any tournament, let alone sit n go's, and to turn up with the added pressure he was going under, the comeback on day 2 with 2 excellent 3rd places, as well as setting us up with the 1st HU win, speak absolute volumes about the guy. His support was utterly astonishing, his boundless enthusiasm ( yes I'm still talking about Stu), certainly helped me continue playing to the highest standard.
Steve "The Captain"! Steve acknowledged to the team in advance of the tournament of the enormous pressure he was under. He was chosen for the captaincy again, and he was well aware that if he didn't produce results this time, there would be quite a lot of "well he shouldn't have been chosen & he should have chosen x, y and z instead". He instilled confidence in all of us, told us all we completely deserved to be there and led from the front. A lot of people have commented that because of how well Carl and myself scored, we got to the final 2. Steve also finished in the top 10 individual scorers, 2 2nd places, 2 3rd places, and his blow up in day 2 Omaha... Steve was extremely nervous going into the HU, and hopefully, this is where I helped him. I was extremely relaxed going into it ( almost horizontally so), and I can't remember the exact words, but something along the lines of, "this is why we're here". When we won, I was obviously completely delighted, but more so for Steve. Which then led to another win in the cash tournament. An epic few days for Steve!
A quick word about these 2 wonderful ladies. Emma and Lucy railed the England team tirelessly for 2 days, backed us to the hilt for every moment of it, supported us immensely, and I know I can speak for all of the team in that we completely appreciated it, and as the picture shows, they revelled in the joy of the winning moment!
The actual moment we won, Carl at the time was out of sight and hadn't seen we'd won. We soon remedied that! Carl is there somewhere!!
The celebrations were a little bit muted. I think we initially were relieved it was all over and we'd done what we'd set out to achieve!