The Team was: Adam Kaminski, Jacob Lee, Charlie Reeves, Edward Wood
Team Captains: Joe Revelle and Tom Lee
Day 1 v Wiltshire
Our competition began with the singles against Wiltshire, the boys showed great fighting spirit and came out of the blocks firing only losing 4 games across 8 sets of tennis. We then won both doubles playing the H&IOW way to finish the tie 6-0.
Day 1 v Dorset
Dorset lay waiting for our second fixture, Edward competing hard in the first fixture to take us 1-0 up. Charlie had a rollercoaster of a match against the Dorset 3 demonstrating power of the forehand side to force a match tiebreak which went the way of Dorset, 1-1. Jacob was in fine form, focused and determined, not losing a single game against the Dorset 2 to keep us ahead 2-1. The final singles rubber had all the hallmarks of a classic, fantastic shots from everywhere in the court, emotions flaring and cheering from the crowd. The match needed 3 tie breaks to decide the victor, the Dorset 1 taking the win. We went into doubles 2-2.
Dorset decided to play 1&2 and 3&4 where as H&IOW split 1&4 and 2&3. Jacob & Charlie won their doubles in emphatic fashion not losing a game and controlling the court from the start. Adam & Edward were up against the 1&2, competing hard they were narrowly beaten 2-4, 2-4. Shootout here we go!
Adam & Jacob formed our shootout pair, having our 1&2 together proved invaluable as the pair dominated the Dorset pair to take the tie and go into the final day against Surrey for the top spot.
Day 2 v Surrey
We were up against it from the start v Surrey, we were significant underdogs but resolved to compete as hard as we could. Edward and Charlie up first competed and matched the Surrey boys shot for shot and not shying away from the challenge. Despite a valiant effort we were 0-2 down.
Jacob and Adam had tough opponents ranked 14th and 2nd in the country. They played with focus, belief and passion to force the boys into a tiebreak in the 2nd set. The Surrey boys, buoyed by their team off court managed to take both tiebreaks to put Hampshire & IOW 0-4 down and take the gold medal.
Undeterred from the singles losses the boys entered the doubles looking to finish strong. The tennis on display was an incredibly high level, the boys definitely winning the teamwork element of the battle! Adam & Jacob forced the Surrey #1 pair into 2 tiebreak sets unfortunately losing both. Edward & Charlie, the battlers, forced a 3rd set match tiebreak which Surrey showed more composure to take the tie 0-6.
The boys showed incredible heart and teamwork throughout the weekend and I couldn’t have asked for more.
Joe Revelle – Team Captain
