Ellen Van Buren

A little help from my Friends

I have a very charmed life. In fact my life is sooo cool that I very rarely talk about it because I don't like to inspire envy !! ( hee-hee )

Now the reason my life is like it is is because of the generous people who I'm connected to. I have really good, solid peeps. Since the Strok-in-Style web site went live on Monday I have received no less than a dozen e-mail or calls wishing me well. People who took time out of there busy life's to stroke me. Not because they wanted something, but because they care. How cool is that? Thanks peeps. I need to give an extra big shout out ( I just left the pool room where I've been listening to 4 hrs of rap, it shows in my verbiage, hopefully I'll recover by the morning!! ) to a Shari S. of Pool and Billiard Magazine. Not only did she wish me well she backed it up by writing a very cool article about the gloves that you can read by clicking on the link. Now that's what I'm talking about !! Thanks guys. I'm a very lucky woman.

                                                            Ellen

On a slow boat from China

I got an e-mail from my bud Bonnie S. She's the owner of the New England Women's Tour, that's one of the regional tours that gave me the chance to win a qualifier to play on the W.P.B.A. and that gave me the opportunity to turn pro. As usual she was full of.....   ______________ ...... wisdom is what I was going to say :)  What did you fill in the blank with ??? Anyway she asked about my lack of blogs and guilted me into starting again. What are friends for??

I know, I know you missed me too. A couple of things are going on right now. One is that the equipment that we use on the pro tour has been changed and I'm in the learning curve. I know that when one door shuts another one opens and I love the challenge of learning but let me tell you the hallway between the doors has been long and dark and scary. I'm finally coming out the other side. Whew!! Thank God.

The biggest time consumer for me these last few months has been getting my glove business, Strok-in Style off the ground. Thanks to my partner Gail Grecar we are almost ready to go live. We have 1o,ooo gloves coming " on a slow boat from China " ( i never thought i would get to say that in a sentence! ~ ) and will be going down to the Port of Miami this week to get them, I'm very excited, and as soon as they arrive they will be on sale via my web site. Very Cool !! You can check them out now at strokinstyle.com but it will be about a week before you can order them. Other than that I've been living my fabulous life a usual. (hee-hee)

                                                           Enjoying the Journey,

                                                                       ellen

He's Not Heavy, He's My Brother

I think that's how the song goes, but by now you know here in the Flash's world everything is a little askew ............ I'm back from El Salvador and here are some pics to show you what a great time I had .............

                   She is heavy and she's not my brother !!!!!

The owner's of Shooter's Poolroom in El Salvador held qualifing tournament to see who would get to play me for the "BIG BUCKS" ............

Pretty tough looking crowd Huh ??????  Don't worry the Flash knows how to take care of hustlers ...........

    NOT REALLY ... These guys represent the love and appreciation that was extended to me in the beautiful country of El Salvador ..............

            Thank you for inviting me and remember.......................

                           " ENJOY THE JOURNEY "

                                            Ellen

SHEEEW !!!

MAN O MAN HAVE I BEEN BUZY. IN FACT I SO TIGHT FOR TIME I'M GOING TO WRITE THIS IN ALL CAPS, IT'S SO MUCH FASTER THAT WAY.

THANKS TO SHARI S. I'VE GOTTEN TONS OF MEDIA COVERAGE OVER MY PRO CARD. HERE'S AND ARTICLE AND A POD CAST FOR YOU:

Download touring_pro.doc

!!#$$%^^&&^%%**^%!!!!   CRAP I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO THE POD CAST. IF YOU WANT TO SEE IT ALONG WITH ANOTHER INTERVIEW GO TO ORLANDOSENTINEL.COM AND TYPE MY NAME INTO THE SEARCH ENGINE. TRUST ME IT'S VERY COOL. NEXT IS MY TRIP TO EL SALVADOR TO OPEN SHOOTERS POOL ROOM AND DO A FUND RAISER FOR A TREATMENT CENTER. I'M LEAVING A 6 am WEDNESDAY (AARGH). HERE'S A POSTER, UNFORTUNATLY IT'S IN SPANISH ( hee-hee )

Download el_salvador_poster.jpg

AS YOU CAN SEE LIFE AS A PRO ROCKS !!! HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON.

                        ELLEN

My Favorite Words

A few years back I got married and a new word was added to my vocabulary... Husband. It immediately became my favorite word to say. When I said it it invoked all the warm fuzzy feelings of tenderness, respect and security that Bruce's entrance into my world had brought. I also began to pronounce it with a long "u" like this .............

                                     HUUSBAND 

I don't really know why but it just felt good in my mouth. The next time a favorite word appeared in my repertory was when I was invited to do the grand opening of Shooters Pool Room in El Salvador, South America. Once again I started to pronounce it with a long "a" like this........

                                          El Saaalvadore

Try it. Feels good huh? :) Well, this weekend my newest favorite word has been added. Touring Pro. Once again use a long "u" like this........

                                    TOUUURING PRO

It especially sound good when used in a sentence like this.......

       ELLEN VAN BUREN, THE W.P.B.A.'S NEWEST TOURING PRO !!!!!

That's right I finally made it !!! Woo-hoo. Now you can look forward to seeing The Florida Flash at all of the Classic tour events. See ya there !!!

Try and Try Again

Qualifying. UGH ! And I mean UGH double UGH. The most tiring part of following this W.P.B.A. dream of mine is the Qualifying system. I've eluded to the "system" a few times in my past blogs and I've keep telling you guys that I would "explain" later so for you to understand the UGH part of this blog i guess it's "later". Here goes........................I just can't,  it's all toooo complicated and I'm not that great of a typer. I'll make you a deal if you really care and want to know, just ask me the next time you see me at an event and I promise I'll take the time to explain it. For now all you really need to know is that I'm r-e-a-l close to earning my pro status which will mean that I will have an automatic invite to all the W.P.B.A. events except the one in Las Vegas, which is the one that goes on at the same time as the B.C.A. event, and is the reason for this blog. I sooo want to go to the Vegas tournament. It's my fav. There are 9000 amateur players there at the same time and the energy is fan-tastic. I've gotten to do a play the pro segment the last two years to help raise charity monies and I'm really looking forward to doing it again this year. That is IF I can win a qualified spot. So far in the last 6 weeks I've traveled to Maryland, Washington State, New England and here in Florida to attempt to win the spot. I've been 1 spot short 2 of the times and pretty close the other two but no cigar. It took me 3 days to get over the jet lag after Washington State. Luckily for me perseverance is one of my long suites. That coupled with the grace of having the financial freedom to afford all this travel and a loving and supportive mate to encourage me along the way has made it possible for me to have one more shot. This weekend in the beautiful state of New Jersey, by the way... why do they call it the "garden" state? I haven't seen may flowers there. If you know the answer tell me the next event you see me at. Until then send me all the good vibes you can, this is my last chance to get to Vegas.

                          Thanks for your help, 

                                                the florida flash

                                                      

A Joy Shared

Man o Man am i glad to be home !! I had two brutal flights to get out to Washington State and once I got there I had a disappointing 9th place finish, Uck, double uck.

O.K. enough whining now to the joy. First let me tell you about the venue. The Parlor Billiards and Spirits. Wow if this place hasn't been written up on that list of the top spots in the country that B.D. puts out then somebody isn't doing their job. Check out the link and see what I mean. Grand is putting it lightly. The Gold Crown Four's were in perfect condition and all the gals from the N.W.P.A. were even nicer than the tables. I really did have a great time but that isn't the joy I'm talking about. When I got home after two more brutal flights and a snow storm in Denver, ( OK a little more whining :)the love of my life caught me up on the pool scene. Bruce told me that Martha Hartsfeild had won the B.C.A. qualifier that I had hoped to win and I was thrilled to hear that she was the one to get it. Martha is a "journey girl"  and will represent us well in Vegas. Way to go Louise ( inside joke) !!!  Then the second joyous news was that Morgan Steinman, another great gal won the Valley Forge Championship. Way to go "old" chap. Another inside joke,  relatively speaking she's just a baby. By the time I got home I was feeling a little better about my trip, proving once again a joyed shared is doubled. I'm going to play on the local regional tour here in Florida this weekend and try again to win a spot in Vegas. Wish me luck.

                                                                      Ellen

BATTING AVERAGE

A 500 AVERAGE IN ANY SPORT IS IMPRESSIVE, RIGHT? WELL I THINK SO AND SO DOES MY # 1 FAN, MY HUSBAND BRUCE. I JUST GOT BACK FROM THE GREAT LAKES CLASSIC EVENT THAT WAS HELD IN MICHIGAN CITY INDIANA LAST WEEK. I HAD A PRETTY GOOD TRIP. I EARNED ANOTHER PRO POINT, ONE MORE AND I’LL EARN MY PRO STATUS WHICH IS A BIG DEAL FOR ME. BY EARNING THIS STAUS I WILL HAVE AN AUTOMATIC INVITE TO ALL THE EVENTS EVERY YEAR. WHAT A DREAM LIFE THAT WIL BE. NO MORE TRAVELING ALL AROUND THE COUNTRY TRYING TO QUALIFY, AS MUCH AS I LOVE THE PEOLPLE AND PLACES I GOTTEN TO VISIT THIS LAST YEAR, THE JET LAG IS KILLING ME!!  8 TRIPS A YEAR WILL BE MORE THAN ENOUGH TO KEEP ME HAPPY…….I AM RETIRED YOU KNOW :)  ANYWAY BACK TO THE TITLE….WHEN I GOT HOME MY HUSBAND HAD FIGURED OUT THAT ALONG WITH MY “STREAK” OF NEVER NOT CASHING AT A W.P.B.A. EVENT, I HAVE PLAYED IN 10 EVENTS NOW AND I HAVE FINISHED IN THE TOP HALF OF THE FIELD 5 TIMES AND HAVE EARNED 5 PRO POINTS…........WHA-LA A 500 AVERAGE. YOU GOTTA LOVE A GUY LIKE MINE WHO WILL ALWAYS FIND A WAY TO LIFT ME UP. THANKS BRUCE, I LOVE YOU.

PLEASE EXCUSE THE USE OF ALL CAPS. I'M JUST TO TIRED TO TYPE FOR REAL.

                                                      ENJOYING THE JOURNEY,

                                                                   ellen

Thanks Tony

I've finally been back from the last event long enough to get caught up on all my busssiness obligations and finally have time to reflect on the joy of the journey. Thanks to Prime Quest ie; Tony Davis, and all of volunteers this was the best event yet!! I had the pleasure of being of service to the students of Nash Community College where the event was held by holding a mini challenge the pro. And I mean mini. After the annoucement was made I went to the table and what did my wondering eyes see...... a line of challengers who's ages ranged from 6yrs to 15 yrs old!!! Man I'm a hardened pro but even I couldn't take money from babies so this was the deal. If you are 6-10 it cost 25 cents, 10-15 it cost 50 cents 15-18 it cost 75 cents, anybody over 18 or taller than me a $ 5.00 donation was requested. Seemed fair. All in All I raised $32.00 and a Bottle Cap !! Tony Davis is going to have the bottle cap framed. As you can see the Rocky mount event was all about family and fun. The way it should be. See ya soon.

                                                                                Ellen

Struggling Forward

I got up I dusted myself off and I went into the arena ready to do battle. My confidence had been severely shaken by the previous days experience bur after talking to my coach Dan Carlson I had a plan, stay down follow through and trust my stroke. That along with taking the long way to the chalk each shot, thus giving myself time to servey the table was all I needed to get trough a really tough opponent, Sarah Ellerby currently ranked 19^th the world. By the way what was she doing over in the “Ellen” bracket so soon??? Check out the tournament results on the W.P.B.A. website and you’ll see that quite a few of the Giant’s joined me early in the event. My next match didn’t go so well. I couldn’t seem to get started. I wasn’t pocketing the ball very, which is one of my strong suits .When the score was 6-5 in Susan Mellows favor she took a break and I used the opportunity to try to figure out what was up. I knew it was fundamental; it always is when you’re missing shots, and it came to me….I wasn’t bending over. This is something that happens often to me due to my lover back and neck issues. Once I bent over I felt that “pop” that happens when you fall into stroke. I couldn’t wait for my opponent to get back from break. Unfortunately by the time I realized what was up it was too late I lost 9-6.

While talking with Bruce, the love of my life he came up with a great idea that I am going to put into use and would like to share with you. Over and over again the same basic fundamentals fall by the way side when I get under pressure. Everybody has their own unique set. Mine are, am I using my shot making mantra, am I taking the long way to the chalk, am I bending over enough, am I breathing deep enough and is my back hand loose ? When ever I fall out of stroke I’m not doing one or more of these things. Bruce’s idea was to write them down and put them in front of me at my matches, a checklist of sorts. I think it’s a great idea and I have made it part of my winning strategy. You’re welcome to make it part of yours.

                                                                                                            Ellen