The trip started with three and a half hour travel journey to Sheffield on Friday afternoon due traffic delays. We eventually got to the Premier Inn we had some quick dinner then it was off to bed to get a good nights sleep in preparation for a 7am wake up call and the start of the 12U county cup.
Day 1
7am wake seemed to arrive as soon as we fell off to sleep. We were off to the practice courts after a continental breakfast consisting of cereal fruit croissants toast muffins and lots of Tea (Joel Woodward) . The sun was shining and the boys were the first team to the practice courts and were very keen to get a feel of how the courts were playing. The team had not been selected for the first match and the boys were keen to impress the captain during practice to get selected for the match vrs Derbyshire . Practice finished and the first three singles had been selected No 1 Harry Cookson 2 Oliver Scott 3 Cameron Bentham and doubles to be decided after the singles matches .
Harry Cookson had a tough first match against William Nolan . He was a good lefty, with a very good forehand and dependable backhand . Harry set about his usual game in the first set not giving any cheap points and keeping the intensity high but was just edged out 5-3 in the first set . The second set didn’t go in favour of Harry after some really gutsy tennis and a lot of high standard points showing a mix of spins and dealing with gusts of wind ended up 4-1 to Derbyshire team. Match score 1-0 down.
Oliver Scott in his first county team performance gave a nervy first set performance against Morgan Hodgson. He was getting used to the environment and the people watching he went down 4-0 but he usually starts slow. True to form his game started to turn around and he started to show some great serve forehand and backhand combinations to win the second set 4-2 . Into the match tie break to 10points we go. Oliver continued hitting great intensity on the ball but couldn’t see it out. Losing the tie break 10-8. Match score 2-0 down.
Cameron Bentham was playing at the same time as the first two matches but didn’t know the scores and seemed very much in the zone. Cameron was playing some real solid tennis keeping. His shots were deep and he was dealing with the conditions well. His Opponent (William Hawkins)couldn’t really handle Cameron groundstrokes from the back and he went onto win the first set 4-2 . Cameron kept his cool and kept momentum in his favour after a few tricky games and finished his match keeping the tie alive 2-1 winning the second set 4-2 . This meant it was all to play for in the doubles if we win the doubles we go to a shout out tiebreak.
The discussion was made to go with Joel Woodward and Harry Cookson after seeing them play well at county practice in the winter and At the start of the day . D&C started with some nice tactics and there was a lot of intent from our team unfortunately the just weren’t consistent enough . The team ended up losing the doubles 4-1 4-2 and meant we lost the match 3-1 .
We had a break for lunch and then we were able to scout our next opponents Lancashire in preparation for our second match of the day .
After a short afternoon practice the team were ready for the second match. The captain kept the singles players the same as the first match as the team showed so much determination and were up for it .
Oliver Scott and Cameron Betham kicked us off first . Cameron was bouncing around and really pumped for his match he went to business at number three taking apart Alex More who had just recently won a grade three tournament. After the match Cameron said "that was probably the best tennis he has ever played" . Alex just didn’t know how to handle Cameron aggression and ball striking hitting a couple of great passing shot he wrapped up the win 4-2 4-1. Two county cup wins for Cameron and he was feeling pretty good about himself and rightly so after a great performance .
In the number two match Oliver was having a tough time playing against Josh Banks. He found himself against a player with a good forehand and very energetic. Oliver admitted after that he had played his best tennis and was happy with the performance. Each game was contested and the match could have gone either way . A highlight for Oliver was he found himself dictating the plays against a higher rated player just needed to be a bit more intensity on the big points . He lost 4-2 4-2 but left holding his head high . The match score was 1-1
Harry Cookson steeped onto court vrs Harry Aston and he came out the blocks like a steam train. He was making the right decisions and hitting loads of variety with good change of direction. This was the best I had seen Harry play winning the first 4-1 . After putting a lot into the first set his standard dipped and decision making not as good lost the next set 1-4 . The match tie break however was interesting . Harry had enough left in the tank and with his foot on the accelerator romped the tie break with a win of 10-1 and played like he did in the first set excellent . The match score 2-1 to D&C
The sun was shining and had been a long day but a win in the doubles could tie the group and it would be down to sets won and then games won . To see who qualifies for the semi finals. After a really good afternoon practice Joseph farmer was showing some great energy and was selected to play the doubles with Harry Cookson. Joseph Farmer seemed to be the only player on the doubles court . He was the start of everything good for D&C really helping his partner and playing some unbelievable tennis . D&C took the first 4-1. The second set was a different story Lancashire rallied and Josh Banks and Robert Cowley played some good doubles and made some great volleys to level the match winning the second set 4-1 . Joseph and Harry then drew on some energy from somewhere and stepped it up in the tie break . Joseph with some great reaction volleys at 8-4 which really helped them to see out the tie break 10-7 and win the match for Durham and Cleveland .
Match score 3-1 D&C tying the group . Its was now 7pm after a great days tennis and we had to check if we had made it through to the semi finals. Unfortunately D&C lost out on qualification by one set . The boys were gutted but we had a great days tennis we had to play Isle of man the next day for 5th or 6th place . The team still had dinner to look forward to .The player of the day was voted by the team to be Jo Farmer and he choose Nandos for dinner . The mood in the camp was still great as every single player had played well . The team had done there county proud .
Day 2
After a belly full of free refills at Nandos and a good night sleep . We had a 9.15 court start time but the rain was in the air. The boys were first to the court and had the great job of cleaning the courts to get them ready for the match.
The match vrs the Isle of man started at 10.15 on a very overcast day . The wether wasn’t good but the tennis was amazing . The team was Oliver Scott Joel Woodward and Joseph Farmer singles and Harry Cookson and Cameron Bentham Doubles .
The doubles was over in a flash with great combination of good groundstrokes and quality volleying from Cameron and Harry score 4-0 4-0 .
The singles followed in the same fashion Joel woodward playing some great tennis and showing us how well he can play winning 4-0 4-1 .
Joseph Farmer kept his form up and played with great energy and commitment winning his singles 4-1 4-0
Oliver Scott was out for redemption after playing well but missing out on day 1 he dominated the isle of man number 1 and won 4-0 4-0 getting his first county win .
The team score was 5-0 the boys showing some real class and great sportsmanship over the whole weekend . They definitely played very well for there county and I could not ask anymore from them .
It was pleasure to captain this side and I am sure they will go on to do good things within the world of tennis .
Written by Alan Smith happy 12U Boys Team Captain.
From left to right Harry Cookson Oliver Scott Joseph Farmer Alan Smith(Captain) Cameron Bentham and Joel Woodward