This years under 12 boys campaign was held at Graves Tennis Centre in Sheffield.
Our Derbyshire squad consisted of:
1. Bradley Buckland
2. Harry Finney
3. Ruben Shahidullah
4. Ellis Corbett
Team Manager: Mike James
Team Coach: Pete Ledbetter
First up was Cheshire with our boys winning all four matches without dropping a set. The boys were composed and very professional throughout the tie and confidence was high around the camp.
We knew that the second tie coming up was the vital match that would set the tone for the rest of the weekend.
The first match was Ruben vs Yorkshires number 3. The match started well with Ruben playing "lights out tennis" taking the set 4-1. In the second set Ruben backed off and let Yorkshires player back into the match taking it 4-1. The deciding set was tight with both boys playing not to lose!! Yorkshire took the tie break 10-8.
In the second match Bradley and Harry pulled out big performances to win in straight sets and put Derbyshire 2-1 ahead going into the crucial doubles.
The first set was a little lacklustre from the boys but they squeaked it in the tie break 7-4. In the second set they upped their level to make the final match score 3-1 and put the boys into Sundays semi finals!
Sunday morning we were drawn against Northumberland in the semi finals. In the five years of being the Derbyshire captain I have never seen a team demolish a county like it! The boys came through 4-0 4-0 4-0 4-0 4-0 4-0!!! Taking the tie 3-0 in surely a record 44 minutes to complete all three matches.
Into the final against guess who.....Yorkshire part 2!!! Definitely the match of the weekend was Bradley Buckland against Yorkshires number 1 player. To be fair to Bradley his opponent upped his game from the previous day to not only take the first set but also get to a winning position 4-2 3-0 30:30!!! This was the point when my favourite word of the weekend "warrior" came into play!. That was exactly what Bradley became, working hard, one point at a time and working the point hard!! Their play became tight and Bradley worked his way back to a match tie break which he took 10-7!!!?
There was no stopping us from then on in. Harry winning in straight sets and Ruben winning a tight 5-4 5-4 battle to the boy he lost to the previous day!!!!
Thanks to all the players for putting in an outstanding performance and representing Derbyshire with such distinction. Bring on Bolton!!!!!!!
Mike James
12&U Boys Team Manager