On Sunday 28th February six girls and six boys from Bucks travelled to Odyssey Stevenage to play in the U8 eight counties event. The other counties involved were Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire. The structure of the event was that every player would play their opposite number in a timed 10 minute match with a deciding point if it is a draw at the end. That meant that every player had 7 matches to play and every match won would count towards the county’s overall score with a winning girls team and boys team being played for and an overall winning county when the boys and girls were added together.
The Bucks girls’ team of Darcey Roe, Orla Grady, Hannah Krasner, Alice Taylor, Pallavi Dadarkar and Lily Majewski arrived excitedly for the 9.30am start. Their first match was against Norfolk which was a close contest with some great rallies and some tight final scores keeping parents on the edge of their seats! A great example was Orla Grady playing at number 2 losing 13-12 with the last rally as the buzzer went deciding the winner and loser. In the end it was a 3 all draw with Bucks feeling positive after winning on points overall, helped a lot by Lily at number 6 winning her match 25-3. Next was a strong Herts team where their number 1 was a top regional player! Again all the girls played great tennis and battled for every point. Although Bucks lost 6-0 there were close match scores, namely Hannah at 3 losing 14-12 and Pallavi at 5 losing 13-10. The girls were disappointed but also very happy with their performance, so bring on Cambs. Cambs managed to narrowly beat Bucks 4-2 but Bucks won more points overall as the Bucks loses were always close matches with 2 or 3 points in it. Roll on the next match against Northants which finished as another 3-3 draw with Bucks losing this time on overall points. I have to mention Darcey Roe at number 1 as she was so focussed in her match that she didn’t realise that as the buzzer went the point she was in the middle of was the deciding point but the rest of us at the sidelines knew as the rally just kept going and going until Darcey hit the ball about an inch too long! What a shame, but great tennis! Next was Essex who were tipped as the strongest team but again the Bucks drive held strong as Bucks lost 4-2 with mention of Alice at number 4 who went behind early in her match but fought back fantastically well but as her opponent pulled ahead again she unfortunately ran out of time to complete another comeback. The same score line of 4-2 in the next match against Suffolk left the team wanting to finish on a high against Beds. The Beds team only had 3 players so our numbers 4, 5 and 6 could only sit and watch. Our first 2 players battled well but lost, so up stepped Hannah at number 3 who kept the whole team on the edge of their seats as she came through victorious giving Bucks a 4-2 win in the last match. The final team results saw Bucks tie with Cambs on wins but beating them on overall points won to put Bucks 5th and Cambs 6th. So all those close matches did pay off!
Before we knew it the boys were turning up for their matches with the Bucks team of Ferdi Maintzer, Aidan Benger, Matthew Blood, Thomas Hattam, Finn Hudson and Victor Busschop desperate to know how the girls had done. The boys followed the same order of play as the girls had in the morning so they too started with Norfolk. The matches between the first four players were close with 1 point between the winners and losers, so the boys got to know how close the matches could be. The strength throughout the Bucks team shone through as Finn at 5 and Victor at 6 came through with convincing wins to help Bucks to a 4-2 win. This first win helped to settle the team’s nerves as they moved on to play Herts. Again the Herts boys team was strong like the girls team, but Ferdi at number 1 got Bucks off to a good start winning 14-12. As players 3 and 4 went on court we were tied 1 match all and the tension was mounting as both matches were very close with only a couple of points in it as the clock ran down. As the buzzer went Thomas Hattam completed a comeback from 13-9 down to win the last rally to make the score 14-14. As the deciding point was played both sets of supporters were glued to the action as this was a crucial match. Unfortunately after a hard fought rally Thomas lost and Bucks finally went down 4-2 to Herts. Again it was a close match between Bucks and Cambs with the Cambs boys beating Bucks 4-2 like their female counterparts, but this time Bucks did lose on points by just 1! Next match saw Bucks play Nothants, which after close loses against Cambs saw Bucks win the close matches to win 5-1 with Aidan putting in a fantastic effort to have a convincing win of 21-12. The team were on high for their next match against a very tough Essex team. Although they battled hard Bucks went down 5-1. The team tried to put the disappointment behind them for the last two matches against Suffolk and Beds. Both of the last matches were drawn 3-3 with Bucks beating Suffolk on points but losing on points to Beds. After his disappointment against Essex where he lost 10-9, Matthew at number 3 put his all in to win both of his last 2 matches. As the final results came through it was announced that there was only one win dividing 5th, 4th and 3rd places and the last matches decided the final result. Bucks came 5th with 20 wins with Beds 4th with 21 wins and Suffolk was 3rd with 22 wins. A special mention has to go to Victor Busschop who won all of his matches for Bucks.
I would like to thank all of the parents who supported all of the Bucks players throughout the day. A big thank you also goes to Jamie McKinnon of Chesham Bois Tennis Club who was the Bucks helper for the day and did a fantastic job umpiring the matches from 9.30 in the morning until 6.30 in the evening!
Report by Jo Head 8U Team Captain