11U Boys County Cup Report
Where on earth to start with this one, in order to convey a sense of what the weekend was like for our boys?
Some stats;
- won 44% of all sets played
- won 43% of all games played
- won an incredible 11/14 tiebreaks
- lost an incredible 6/7 third set deciders
- finished 5th out 5
It was one of the closest fought groups in history. The longest days (with no weather delays) I’ve ever experienced as a county cup captain –we finished at 8.15pm both days (having started at 9.30 am on the Sunday!). Outcomes were on a knife-edge throughout. 8 of the 10 matches came down to either a deciding doubles or a tiebreak shootout to determine the winners. It was total madness!
So we kicked off against Leics and Momo got his first ever county win, which he was so chuffed about. He then backed that up later in the day with a doubles win paired with Rupert against the same opposition and a doubles win for Harry and Wiktor squared the match 3-3.
Against Lincs Wiktor came up trumps with a great win at number 1 (they’re all great wins at number 1!!) and Rupert got our only third set success of the weekend to head into the doubles 2-2. Two painful third set doubles losses were tough to take and left us with a 4-2 loss.
Freddie came in for Rupert on day 2 and couldn’t quite get us off to a flyer against Derbys – losing in 3. Wiktor scored again though at 1 to give us a chance 3-1 down going into the doubles…….guess what - 2 third set doubles losses. We just couldn’t quite get over the line. Could have (with a bit of luck) won all of the matches, but just kept coming up just short.
So on to our final match against ultimate group winners Staffs….Harry’s turn to shine on debut with an outstanding win at number 2. The efforts he put into all his marathon matches over the weekend left him unable to complete match 7 due to cramping and he was withdrawn for our final doubles rubber of the day.
At 3-1 after the singles we had to ask for another big effort from the boys in doubles. Freddie and Momo didn’t disappoint. The two youngsters in the team teaming up for their first ever doubles win for the county as a pair having played lionel cox and county cup in the u10 age group. It was a brilliant moment for them. So with Harry injured Otto, just back from a serious operation, stepped up. He’d gradually got to grips with the level match by match throughout the weekend and he and Wiktor put up a quite astonishing fight in the final doubles at number 1 pair against a team battling to secure the title and with the Lincs team cheering our boys on aswell!
It wasn’t to be and despite a great performance (and another tiebreak loss) the story of the weekend was complete.
Lots of extended, tight matches, an incredible level of energy, spirit and heart shown by all the boys. Amazing resilience at this age to keep returning to the well, after some real heart-breaking defeats, but they’ll all deservedly return home with great pride in their performances and I’m sure stronger for the experience?!
Did I mention day 1 they had to cope with gales too?!!
Justin Chacksfield, 11U Boys Captain
