On Sunday 12th July, five tennis teams competed for the 2009 Tennis Works Junior Team Cup, an annual competition that has been running for the past 5 years. The event was held at Shenley Brook End School in Milton Keynes, where 20 players gathered to represent their club. The teams were from Milton Keynes, Oving, Aylesbury, Buckingham and Bicester, with four players in each team.
The event is a timed competition with players competing for 15 minute matches using tiebreaker scoring. Each player is ranked from number 1 to 4 in their team and they come up against the same ranked player in the other teams. After all the singles were finished, the players teamed up to compete in doubles. At the end, the team who has gained the most points altogether takes the title.
After five hours of competitive fun, the winners won by just one point, which created a fantastic climax with Aylesbury taking the title after winning 397 points and Oving winning 396 points. In 3rd place was Buckingham with 317 points, 4th place was Bicester with 310 points and in 5th was Milton Keynes with 251 points. The Aylesbury team, that is coached by Nigel Little, consisted of Ben Elliott, Rudy Phillips, Edward Morton and Ben Rogan and they triumphed to take the Junior Team Cup, a perpetual trophy which will be presented to them again at the 2009 Tennis Works Annual Presentation Evening.
Tennis Works Director and the competition referee, John Cavill, said, “There was some great tennis and everyone represented their team with good sportsmanship and respect. There was not one incident and this is credit to the players, coaches and parents for developing well-rounded individuals. The event ran very smoothly and congratulations to Aylesbury, as they just missed out last year, so the victory will taste even sweeter!”