It's an important skill in crokinole to keep yourself calm and focus on the game at hand. But it's hard to contain your excitement as crokinole's biggest day of the year approaches.

As some might say, "it's just a crokinole tournament", or as my friends might say, "it takes place in Tavistock how big can it be?" My answer: "If you've been there you know."

As you walk into the arena on what is always a beautiful sunny Saturday (with the exception of 2006 when Tavistock's streets flooded) you can hear the buzz of the arena lights, mixed with light chatter and a consistent sound of wooden discs crashing into the ditch. Like I said, if you've been there, you know.

And then there's that feeling when you take your first shot, usually the most nervous shot of the day. But afterwards the tension leaves your fingertips as you remind yourself, "this is crokinole, I've done this before." And whether it's your first time at the World's or your fourteenth time, you still feel that pressure of when everything comes down to that last shot of the round, knowing that those 2 points could be what separates you from "still alive" to "maybe next year".

And then there's the feeling as the playoff qualifiers are posted, and you hope that the one missed 20 that cost you a point isn't what leaves you (and maybe even your partner) outside of the playoffs.

And then there's the tension that comes when the night has widdled the field down to two, and a year's worth of work comes down to one game that separates "I was so close" from "I'm the World Champ."

Sure it's only crokinole, it's only in Tavistock, and it's only $1000, but if you've been there, you know.

World Championship Quotes

"There's a thousand dollars on the line, let's get serious." - Joe Fulop, The Crokinole Movie (2004)

"You can be good, you can be good and lucky, but you have to be good, lucky, and have endurance to go all the way because it's a long grind. A long grind." - Bob Mader, The Crokinole Movie (2004)