A great weekend of Tennis at Graves Tennis Centre in Sheffield saw the Cumbria 12&Under boys team come away with a very creditable 3rd place.
In an event that saw opponents wielding ratings that were sometimes 4 or 5 levels above our lads and at least a year’s physical development ahead as well, the team of Ali Hassan, Harrison Savage, James Hale and Robert Cruickshank displayed all the on and off court attributes that were required of them. Desire, passion, commitment, courtesy and respect were all in evidence as the team, saddled with the tag of group favourites set about their respective tasks with vigour.
DAY 1
Drawn with the Isle of Man and Northumbeland, who despite having similar or lesser ratings than Cumbria were pretty handy players, we set off on a rather nervy footing, which was expected. However, after a couple of games we got into gear, the butterflies fluttered away and we started playing some beautiful tennis resulting in clean sweep 4-0 victories to top our group after day 1.
vs Isle of Man:
Ali won 4-1, 4-1
Harrison won 4-2, 4-0
James won 4-0, 4-0
Ali/Harrison won 4-0, 4-0
vs Northumberland:
Ali won 4-0, 4-0
Harrison won 4-1, 4-0
James won 4-0, 4-1
James/Robert won 5-3, 5-3
DAY 2
Now for the might of Yorkshire! Actually the boys went into the semi-final very relaxed, mainly due to the fantastic Mini Golf the night before which had really brought the whole group together (Darren Hale won by a mile by the way and has officially been relegated to caddy for any future events). With players of 6.1 and 6.2 calibre amongst their ranks the Yorkshire side were a stronger and more powerful bunch but each player boasted great control of the ball as well. Although we lost each match, the great thing was we weren’t outclassed or blown off the court and quite to the contrary we actually matched them for long periods of play. With three of our players eligible again next year this really bodes well for future campaigns and with another years’ experience, plenty of competing at high level events and growing then we should be challenging further next year.
vs Yorkshire:
Ali lost 0-4, 1-4
Harrison lost 2-4, 1-4
James lost 0-4, 3-5
No doubles played
3rd/4th play off vs Northumberland:
Ali won 4-0, 4-0
Harrison won 4-1, 5-4
Robert lost 4-5, 4-5
Ali/James won 4-1, 4-2
After changing the team slightly against Northumberland we came away with third place which was our basic target for the weekend and after the usual post event analysis the lads seemed satisfied that they had done themselves justice. Personally I was very pleased at how they coped, how they played and, above all, how they conducted themselves and feel that they are starting to grow in stature. Their individual results around the country means their opponents are respectful of them. We now need to make them fearful as well!
David Wise
12&U Boys County Captain