By J’Quon DuVall-Richards (Avon 10U Boys)
My name is J`Quon DuVall-Richards I am 10 years old and I’m writing to you about my fantastic nerve wracking but excellent 3 days at Bolton arena representing Avon County.
The first day of the competition I woke up bright and early ready to go, excited on who I was going to play. All of us met at the at the breakfast table bursting with confidence and rearing to go. The breakfast was an all you can eat and it was delicious. After that we went to the Bolton arena to practice. We saw how everybody else was good but we know if we gave it all that we got we would have a chance. We were talking tactics but with no announcement it was 9: 00 already, time had flown by and I was first up...... to play.
Before I knew it my opponent had already won the first set. I know I had to fight and with the encouragement from Ollie. I did that. It had to go to a 10 point tiebreak. I know I had to go for my shots and stay solid and I was. I was solid all the way through. I was sure I made Ollie proud and my team but most definitely I made myself proud.
The team meal was at harvester that evening followed by a delicious desert. We were all buzzing in excitement that we all got through the first round.
My next matches in the tournament were tough but I remained positive and calm and this helped me to win my matches. Later that evening we ate a massive pizza at the Bolton hotel. We were gutted as we only needed 1 more match to get into the finals. But we still kept our heads up high and were focused on becoming 3rd or 4th.
The last day of the competition we played against North Scotland. I was a set down and i fought like i never fought before in the second set. It went to a 10 point tiebreak. I was 5-1 down. Ollie had a chat with me, on change of ends. He gave me the confidence and encouragement to get back to 7-7. I just kept thinking about what Ollie said, stay focus and positive and boy did I do that. I won the match 11-9.
At the end of the day we all got bronze medals. We wrapped them around our necks felling proud that we came third out of 44 counties.
We said bye to our friends and wished them luck in their next tournaments, and went home with a smile on our faces.
From Jay