The purpose of the event is that it is a FUN event and a learning experience for players, parents and coaches and is aimed at giving all concerned an introduction to County Cup. The preference is that it is for players that have not previously competed in a County Cup event.
We held the boys and girls events at the same time with eight mini red courts being used so the day started with setting up the courts with players arriving at 11.30 am for a warm-up with play starting at 12.30 pm. We had a court scorer on each court to help with the smooth running of the event.
The other counties in the Group G were Dorset, South Wales and Wiltshire.
During the County Training sessions and practices, the teams had worked hard playing singles and lots of doubles and also on communication and staying positive with each other.
The Teams were:-
Girls: Imogen Fry, Desiree Ekaterine Goller, Nicole Mak, Serena Mawo
Boys: Isaac Blake, Rafael Butler, Austin Durman, Hugo Kirkness, Edward Wood
The Captains were: Ollie Barnes, Jack Ison and Sarah Rutherford
Format: Each match consisted of 10 rubbers – 8 singles and 2 doubles, after the first round of singles rubbers, reverse singles rubbers followed and then the doubles. Players played three rubbers per match. Rubbers were the best of 1 match tie-break to 10 points
The single matches were all played first followed by the doubles
Alison Battista had kindly agreed to Referee the event.
1st match v Wiltshire
It was a good start to the day with the boys going into the doubles with a 7-1 lead. The doubles were very close and both pairs put up a good fight with Hugo and Edward at 1 losing 7-10 and Rafael and Austin at 2 losing 8-10. Overall result 7-3.
The girls had a great start by winning all the singles and doubles v Wiltshire, so a 10-0 result.
2nd match v Dorset
The boys won the first round of singles 4-0 but only Edward could manage a win in the reverse singles, so it was 5-3 going into the doubles. Isaac and Rafael lost at 2 5-10 and Hugo and Edward won at 1 10-5 giving us a 6-4 wub overall.
The girls continued with their winning streak and again won all the singles and doubles so another 10-0 results.
3rd match v South Wales
We thought South Wales teams would be stronger and they were.
After the first round of singles, the boys were 2-2 with all the matches being very close. In the reverse singles, Rafael, Hugo and Edward all won with Isaac losing out 7-10 so we were 5-3 going into the doubles. The boys played really well and Hugo and Edward at 1 won 10-7 and Isaac and Rafael at 2 won 10-4 so it was 7-3 v South Wales and this meant we had won the group.
During the first round of singles, only Desiree was able to get a win and Desiree and Nicole both won their reverse singles so it was 3-5 going into the doubles. At doubles one, Desiree and Nicole stormed to a 10-2 win and Imogen and Serena played really well and it was very close but unfortunately lost 9-11. Second place for the girls.
Jack said: ‘All the boys that took part were a credit to themselves and the county for the way they fought hard and showed great attitude towards each match they were a part of. They all showed great tennis in both the singles and the doubles rubbers that led to them coming out on top and claiming the gold medal! Well done to Edward, Hugo, Rafael, Isaac and Austin. It was a pleasure to look after all the boys.
Special mention to Desiree who won all her singles and doubles matches and to Edward who won all his singles matches.
We would like to say a huge thank you to all the Court Supervisors – Harriet Burley, Oliver Casselton, Edward Durman, Eva Lakey, Esmee McConnell, George Sanders and Lewis Wright and Lara Mohamed (Dorset) – who helped to make the event run so smoothly.
There were some fantastic matches and I was really pleased with all the attitudes of the players and how they applied themselves in some very tricky situations on the court. There were some really tough matches and the players had to dig deep at times and battle their way to victory. I couldn’t have asked more from the teams and their behaviour on and off-court and their effort throughout the day was great. The positive team spirit from the girls and boys was great to see and encouraging each other throughout the day.
Ollie Barnes – 8U County Captain
