40 eager players from 5 of the best County Durham Schools competed in the Tony Blair Sports Foundation Year 3 Tennis Challenge Cup June 12th 2012.
Thornhill (Sedgefield), Woodlea (Chester-Le-Street), St Patrick's (Derwentside), St Margaret's (Durham) and Easington primary schools had qualified through earlier cluster stages to compete in this years Challenge Cup. All competitors stepped onto court with tonnes of energy and excitement, which had the organisers and volunteers buzzing with the prospect of what was going to happen over the 3 hour event!
The girls completed their matches first, which was overseen by Lucy Scott and Abi Rodwell along with our outstanding volunteers. Steph Eadon and Michaela 'can do warrior' Bowmaker led the Tennis Factory challenges on court 3 with the boys. Jo, who was helping to run the day got into the swing of things and took over from the 'can do warrior' of recent times. It was a really hard act to follow after Michaela had been such a star running that aspect of the competitions last year, but the players ensured that she was kept on her toes with power shots whizzing up the tramlines to see if they could knock the can down.
Following round one the scores were really close and Jo informed the players. They all looked raring to go and we didn't need any reassurance that they would be putting in anything less than 100% for the next round!
The girls impressed us all incredibly with their hard work and never give up attitude. The play of the day without a shadow of a doubt was when the girls from St Patrick's were battling to knock a can down and Steph was counting the time down. With seconds to go...5, 4, 3, 2....one of the girls ran up, stopped the ball on the line, then just as Steph shouted 'stop' she hit the ball which sailed along the ground striking the can, and in almost slow motion it toppled over crashing to the ground. With this a roar of cheers echoed around the tennis centre from the players, Jo and Steph! Amazing and as Jo said,
"Tennis brings so many great things to the development of players, particularly things like determination, attitude and importantly having fun. We had tremendous fun today and that was because of the players creating these magical memories!"
A big thank you to all our volunteers who without their support the event simply would not have happened, along with teachers, School Games Organisers, local coaches and their clubs.
We must also say a huge thank you to the Tony Blair Sports Foundation who continue to provide tennis with a tremendous amount of support linked to the Year 3 competition. This includes providing volunteers, training for coaches / volunteers and helping support our two-way school to club pathway! The Tennis Foundation and LTA have also contributed hugely to help grow our sport and ensure as many young people get a tennis racket in their hands as possible!
We will look forward to seeing the 2 winners at the Regional Final, July 6th 2012 at Sunderland Tennis Centre.
Final results
1st - St Margaret's (72) *
2nd - St Patrick's (66) *
3rd - Woodlea (53)
4th - Easington (45)
5th - Thornhill (42)
* Both teams qualify to go through to the Regional Final.