We all had a thrilling day in Solihull at the Leisure Centre using the excellent three indoor courts for our under 8 Summer County Cup 2024. Our four teams competed to the best of their ability against Warwickshire, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire accompanied by team captains Andy Scholfield and Neale Proud.
The Bucks boys arrived early, warming up on half a court and playing some doubles points. Our B team were on court first and were represent by Viaan Jain (GXBL), Jaxon Karwacinski (Halton), Oscar Skepper (ChBois), and Joseph Reid (ChBois). They all had very close matches with Northants A - Viaan lost 8-10 but Jaxon, Oscar, and Joseph won 10-8, 11-9, 10-5. We played the reverse singles ie our number 1 Viaan played their number 2; the scores were very similar to give a 6-2 unassailable lead going into our doubles. Our players competed as a team having good positioning on court and communicating well with each other. Both doubles were won but the boys immediately went on to play top seeds Warwickshire A team. Viaan and Jaxon played consistently with good depth and concentration to surprisingly win their first matches 10-8 and 10-7. Joseph and Oscar followed this up with very good consistency and determination to win 10-5 and 10-5. Warwick fought hard to comeback winning two matches at the top of the order 10-8; however despite the matches being closer, Oscar and Joseph won to give a 6-2 scoreline. Viaan and Jaxon combined very well to win their doubles but Oscar and Joseph lost to the more attacking Mason and Atticus.
The B team had won through to the final! (The event had four Counties competing with two having ‘B’ teams giving two groups of three followed by play-offs between the two groups).
Meanwhile our A team were dismantling the opposition with a 10-0 victory over Warwickshire B and 9-1 versus Bedfordshire. Ronnie Gogol (Wooburn Green/Bisham), Oscar Acland (GXBL), Aahil Patel (GXBL), and Amar Patel (Berkhamsted) were truly dominant in all matches but lost a doubles to Beds.
The final was hotly contested with wins for the A team players: 10-1, 10-6, 10-3, 10-3. We were entertained with extraordinary long rallies between Amar and Joseph at number 4.
Every player performed as well as they could using their warrior tactics and staying focused throughout their nine matches. They loved playing as a team and showed good humility and respect to their opponents.
Bucks Tennis girls were represented by: A Team Amelia Khan (Halton), Sophie Martin (GXBL), Evy Dorman (Princes Risborough), Matilda Osborne (Ch Bois) B Team Saachi Bhatnagar (BITC), Eloise Sefton (Halton), Niloufar Gattlin (Halton), Calli Seedel (Beaconsfield). As the boys event was concluding the Bucks girls marched on and demanded a court to practice on which showed their enthusiasm and the fact they love playing mini tennis. Our A team started nervously and slid to 0-3 before Matilda won with a good 10-4 performance. The format had been changed due to time constraints meaning the girls only played singles against their opposite number plus a doubles match each. We scrambled to two doubles wins 10-1 and 10-7. On countback we won the match by 51-41 points. We performed even better against Northamptonshire with three wins in the singles and our second pair of Mathilda and Evy won a close doubles 10-7 to give 4-2 win.
Our B team fought hard but Warwickshire A team were too strong (Isabelle their number one player trains 10 hours per week which far exceeds our players); however Niloufar put up a good fight against Laurel losing 7-10. We enjoyed the doubles and looked forward to the next match against Bedfordshire. We had close matches and Calli won her singles and doubles against Bedfordshire A. We had great fun but lost 2-4 meaning a play off against Northamptonshire. Calli and Niloufar lost their doubles but won their singles against the same players and were delighted. Saachi and Eloise fought hard running down every ball but lost their singles and doubles 4-10, 5-10. The girls had a great day and loved being together.
The final between our Bucks A and Warwick A proved closer than expected. Amelia showed how well she can play while losing 1-10 to Isabelle and Sophie showed good determination to win at number 2; as did Matilda at 4 who hit her happy shots to good effect. Warwickshire’s better technique proved too effective in the doubles matches giving them a 4-2 victory but earning a well-deserved silver medal for our Bucks A team.
We had excellent support from our players parents who thoroughly enjoyed the day.
All our players loved the experience and are already looking forward to their next ‘County Cup’ opportunity.
They have all enjoyed using Bucks Indoor Tennis Centre and Halton Tennis Centre for their County Training and Matchplays and have benefited from additional training sessions.
We have excellent strength in depth particularly with the under 8 boys and hope ALL players involved in Bucks County Training will continue having fun improving their game play and skills by competing regularly; to dovetail their Club training. Neale and I are proud of all the players and we look forward to seeing them enjoying competing for years to come. A huge thank you to all the individual club coaches for developing these players up to County level!
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