Congrats!!!! Good luck going forward.
BTW, what's the difference between red and blue? In my somewhat limited knowledge, I thought that was just the different players had different balls. Is it like playing white and black in chess? In chess, at a high level there are different strats for going first or 2nd.
Yeah, red starts off with the jack (the white ball that you get points by getting your colored balls closest to it) first, then one blue ball, and whomever is further away has to throw their six balls until they either get closer or run out, following with the person closer trying to get as many close to it as possible. Then blue gets a turn to do the exact same thing, only opposite. It repeats twice (four ends is a match, unless you're tied, in which case a tiebreaker occurs).
Red always starts off first. You're also in different areas (each area has six taped boxes for the wheelchair to fit. Red is the left-middle, while blue is right-middle.), so that adds a bit of strategy if you're throwing left or right-handed (I'm a righty.)
Each side has its own specific advantages and strategies, but I like to be red because I want to get ahead early in the count. We do a coin flip to decide which color we get, and I won and got to choose red. Apparently, the guy I beat also likes red more than blue.
Conversely, the exhibition match was where I had blue (didn't count for wins or losses, because I had a different style opponent. I'm open, which means that I have no limitations, while my opponent is BC-5, which means some limitation), and he won easily. I still have yet to beat the person I played in the exhibition matchup; he was a Paralympian. Came close, but given that he was using my balls, and misjudged the jack, I was lucky not to get beat worse.
So I need to practice with blue just as much as red, which is what I'm going to do in the practices leading up to the K.C. tournament (where the same guy I beat will be there). I'm 1-1 against this man, counting this win, so he'll be gunning for me.
But the main thing I take away from these tournaments is having fun, not wins or losses. To me, meeting new people, seeing the sights around the country, spending time with friends, making good memories...that's a win in my mind, no matter what I score.
