On May 15th Bucks Boys 9&u took to the courts at White Horse Leisure and Tennis Centre near Oxford. We were placed in a group against Hertfordshire, Gloucestershire, and Oxfordshire.
We had completed 2 training sessions for the boys since the end of lockdown and before the county cup. These were heavily focussed on getting the boys back on court and regaining a feel for the game. It was great to see such high energy levels at these sessions, with 6 players being selected to attend one final session before county cup. This was a mixed session with 6 9&u girls and gave us the opportunity to practice some mixed doubles for the event. However, due to C
ovid guidelines, the proposed format of 4 boys/4 girls singles, 1 boys/1girls doubles and 2 mixed doubles was changed two days before the event to ensure the number of spectators was reduced.
The boys started strongly against Gloucestershire, taking a 2-0 lead with wins at numbers 3 and 4. Then the numbers 1 & 2 came up against some strong players who brought it back to 2-2. The doubles matches were then put back to later in the day, so Bucks took to the court again with numbers 3 & 4 singles against Hertfordshire. We witnessed some amazing ‘eye of the tiger’ fighting from Rory H, who overcame a tumble to emerge victorious 7-5 in the tiebreak after a 3-3 game score! Bucks also came out on top with Robin at number 4 to take another 2-0 lead. At this point we saw one of the toughest matches of the day with Alex at number 1 pushing the Hertfordshire number 1 all the way to 3-3, but unfortunately finished 4-7 in the tiebreak. Number 2, Archie, also came out second in his match. The final round of singles saw the Bucks boys finish 1-3 against Oxfordshire with a win at number 4 for Rory E and another monumental battle at number 3 for Rory H. There was a great display of respect towards their opponents throughout this fixture as all boys were being put under pressure from the start.
Moving into the doubles matches, it was fantastic to see evidence of the Bucks Doubles Rules, with great teamwork across all 6 matches and a tiebreak shootout. It was a chance for the boys to put into practice what we had been training and it was great to see such strong doubles positions at the start of each point. Bucks were 3-3 against Gloucestershire after the singles and doubles, but narrowly lost out in a 10-point tiebreak shootout. The final match of the day was a first pair doubles between Bucks and Oxfordshire, which went all the way to a tiebreak decider with Bucks coming from behind to win 8-6. There was a great bond between players in each match with the '3 second rule' being highlighted. The boys showed great sportsmanship and worked together well as a team with plenty of supporting and great behaviour throughout the day.
Results
3-4 vs Gloucester – Singles - Alex, Archie, Rory H, Robin / Doubles Archie & Rory H, Robin & Rory E (shootout Archie & Rory E)
2-4 vs Hertfordshire – Singles - Alex, Archie, Rory H, Robin / Doubles Alex & Rory H, Archie & Robin
2-4 vs Oxfordshire – Singles - Alex, Archie, Rory H, Rory E / Doubles Alex & Rory H, Archie & Rory E
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