BOYS U10 AGEON COUNTY CUP REPORT
Captain: Simon Thornewill Assisting Captain: James Grindell
VENUE: Graves Tennis Centre, Sheffield
Teams in Group H: Yorkshire, Cumbria, Northumberland, Cheshire, Derbyshire
Team: Josh Lee, Morgan Hodgson, William Toft, William Hawkins
Event Format: 3 singles and 1 doubles (match shootout if needed)
The team consisted off four 10 year olds and for three of the team it was their first experience of spending time away from home, Morgan travelled with the U10 team last year. We had a practice the day before the competition at Graves, where we got a chance to experiment with the doubles pairings. The team didn’t have the best nights sleep, with three of the boys struggling with being homesick.
Derbyshire began the day with a typical Derbyshire win against Cheshire, the boys were 2-1 down after the singles. William Hawkins and Josh Lee lost to experienced tennis players, Morgan Hodgson kept us in the tie with a 3rd set victory. With everything to play for in the doubles, I paired Morgan and Josh together, they managed to win a 3rd set tie break which brought the match score to 2-2. As a wise captain always said (Denzel), never change a winning team. I stuck with Josh and Morgan, they managed to come back from 5-1 down to win the shoot out 10-8. WHAT A RESULT!!!
Later that day we came across a surprisingly strong Cumbria team, Derbyshire were feeling the affects of the mighty battle with Cheshire and never really got going. The night before really took its toll on the team and we lost 4-0 to Cumbria, Morgan, Will Toft and Will Hawkins all lost comfortably. A good learning curve for the boys.
On the second day with everything to play for our opponents were Yorkshire and Northumberland. First up were Yorkshire, as always Yorkshire were very strong and the boys found it tough going. Morgan lost 4-1 4-2, Josh played really well and won 5-3 4-1. Will Toft started off really slowly and lost the first set 4-1, I decided to let Will get on with it and credit to himself he won the second set 4-1 to take it into a third set tie-break. It was a careful and edgy affair going all the way to the end, the Yorkshire boy managed to win the tie-break 10-8. Which meant Derbyshire were 2-1 down going into the doubles.
Just to add to the excitement of the weekend the doubles match against Yorkshire would be played after the singles against Northumberland. We swept aside Northumberland with ease, all the boys won their singles comfortably which meant if we could win the doubles and shoot out against Yorkshire we would win the group. Unfortunately for Morgan and Josh they came across a very good doubles pair and lost 4-1 4-2. The Yorkshire boys looked more comfortable in the situation compared to Derbyshire, which was obvious in the first couple of games. But in typical Derbyshire fashion, Morgan and Josh fought to the very end.
After a long weekend playing tennis matches, Derbyshire finished 3rd in Group H. With a little bit more experience in the tight situations we may have come away with winning the group. Apart from the match against Cumbria, all four of the boys performed really well over the weekend and they can take pride in their efforts. I would just like to thank James Grindell for his contribution over the weekend, it makes a massive difference having another coach to help out.
Simon Thornewill