Team Captains: Elly Shearman / Thaddea Lock
Team: Hannah Davies, Maria Budin, Claudia Hallsworth, Zulaikha Van Den Bos, Connie Simpson, India Britland, Emily Thomas, Hannah Thomas
This year was one of the best experiences we have had in taking a team away for County Cup. Under 18 is not an easy age group with teenagers having time pressures of school and other commitments. However, this year we had a group that committed to the tennis and committed to being part of a team. Girls, you were an absolute pleasure all weekend and we are really proud of you as individuals and as a TEAM!!!
We were lucky to be located in nearby Newport so travelled early Friday morning, with no complaints we got the girls to the courts with over an hour to practice and they did just that! The day was faultless with a 9-0 win over Nottinghamshire! Several of the girls had to battle for their win’s and the overall score reflected a brilliant team effort with everyone competing at every position!
Saturday started well with the girls telling us they had all been in bed by 10PM and all looked ready to go!! We couldn’t have asked for more!! Again, we had an hour warm up with team captain Claudia ensuring everyone was ready to compete! Straight forward wins at 6, 4 and 3 position, whilst India and Maria both battled successfully for wins at 1 and 2! All 3 doubles teams won in straight forward fashion and with only one loss at 5 the girls nailed an 8-1 win against Cornwall!!!
We made the offer of watching a movie on Saturday night before dinner, but the unanimous team decision was to “hang out and have longer to get ready!!” We did give them an easter egg hunt to add to the endless chocolate consumption (Thanks Clive!!) – video on Twitter! We also wanted to name India Britland MVP (most valuable player) – she has grown so much as a person since last year, she battled through close matches for her team, her emotional performances kept the team entertained, she wanted to practice more, and she clearly just wanted to play tennis!!! (Even though she definitely didn’t comply to her new Vegan lifestyle!?!?
We told the girls that there performance had been faultless as individuals and as a team but we needed to win and finish strong. Sunday began well with straight forward wins from Claudia and Emily. These results clinched the division win but we had not told the girls. Hannah Thomas won a close one at 4 whilst Hannah Davies and India battled against tough opponents. Maria walked through her match! At this point we let the girls know they had been promoted, and they went on to win at 3, and 2 doubles. The first doubles wasn’t played. So a 6-2 victory over Northumberland finished off the weekend!!
Girls we cannot say how proud we were of each of you and of you all as a TEAM! We hope to see you all next year to continue competing and enjoying playing!! Some of you were ill, some of you were aching, some of you weren’t feeling confident….but you all did it and proved what you can do!!!
It was an absolute pleasure,
Elly & Thaddea