BOYS
Team – U12 – Johnathan Price (1), Jayden Tran (2), Adam Groves (3)
Team – U10 – Anthony Wright (1), Tibet Hanedan (2), Kai Cowcher (3)
Team – U9 – Oliver Brooker (1), Zak Bridges (2) and Jude Butler (2), James Stanley (3)
The U12 and U10 Essex Boys set out on a chilly Saturday morning against Northamptonshire, all of the boys got off to a cracking start and won all of their matches (3 – 0, 3 – 0) in straight sets.
The U10 Essex Boys then set out again against Cambridgeshire, following on from their earlier 3-0 win; they did not let Essex down and carried on in their winning ways achieving another 3-0 win.
The U9 Essex Boys arrived mid-afternoon to play Hertfordshire in their first match, this could not be tougher narrowing losing 2-1, the hangover remained into the next round and they lost 2-1 to Suffolk after being up in all of their rubbers. The sun shone and so did the U9 Boys winning 3-0 against Berkshire, following up with a narrow 2-1 win over Cambridgeshire. Finally, the U9 Boys played Buckinghamshire to determine 5th and 6th place, they narrowly lost (2-1) ending the tournament in 6th place.
The U12 Essex Boys ventured out against Buckinghamshire, and finished the day with a 3-0 victory.
Sunday morning rain delayed play but great entertainment with a quiz all playing we decided to pit parents against their children luckily in Essex our parents do have a solid knowledge of tennis and saved any embarrassment by scoring more than their siblings
Matches at last under way 12 boys starting the day against Norfolk heavy drizzle damp courts and no sign of a break all boys came through with a 3 -0 win, next up 10 boys with a testing game first thing against a Norfolk boys team who in the past had proved difficult this not to change this year when we came of 1 rubber each and one to play at 3 all the Essex team vocal support secured a 5 to 3 rubber win and an overall 2 to 1 match win
The sun comes out and a revitalised boy 12s beat Berkshire 3 – 0 that puts the boys in the final of the 12s against old rivals Hertfordshire, the 10 boys where not to be overshadowed and came up with the goods and a 3 to 0 win over Suffolk putting them in the final against Bucks
What a start 10 boys winning 3-0 against bucks finishing First a great effort over the 2 days, now our nemesis Herts Under 12 Boys numbers 2 & 3 play first and we are 1 rubber each the final match to decide the winners and second place the game goes to Championship tie break swinging both ways with Herts eventual conquerors 13 to 11 in the tie break could have gone either way the best match of the tournament
Colin Clay, Boys Lionel Cox Captain
GIRLS
Team – U12 – Sarah Skaria (1), Annaya Vartak (2), Evie Smart (3)
Team – U10 – Imogen Brooker (1), Aimee Bromfield (2), Lizzie Thompson (Saturday) Maddison Griffin (Sunday)(3)
Team – U9 – Ellie Blackford (1), Selena Brathwaite (2), Sophie Thompson (3)
As usual there was much drama at the Lionel Cox Trophy…
The weather, court conditions, balls and reduced scoring formats took their toll but in reality it was a credit to the organisers that the event got finished at all (8pm on the Sunday evening!)
The 12u Girls got off to a flyer with a 3-0 win against Cambs followed by a 2-1 win against Northants. Meanwhile the 10u girls narrowly lost their first match of the day 2-1 to Beds, followed by a strong 3-0 win against Northants. Day 1 finished with all still to play for on day 2….
However the English weather had other ideas…play was due to start at 9am on Sunday, but at this point the clay courts were flooded and the rain too heavy to start on the astro courts.
A quiz was put together to entertain the 120 children, their parents and the team captains while we waited for the rain to stop. The confirmed results of this are a 1 point win for the Essex girls over the Essex boys, and both teams scored higher than a team of University of Cambridge parents!.....brains and skill an awesome combination….
Finally at 11.30 the 9am matches started, and due to the court deficit and time delay it was decided to reduce the scoring format (12u playing short deuce, and 10s just playing one set to 4 games). The 10 girls went out in rainy, windy conditions on courts more suited to serve and volley than a baseline game and suffered a heavy 3-0 loss to a strong Suffolk side who eventually reached the final…this was followed by a 2-1 loss to Berkshire resulting in the girls vying for 7/8th place in the knockout.
The 12u girls also lost 2-1 to a strong Suffolk team due to the dreaded short deuce and match tie-break, this placed them second in the round robin box with a 3rd 4th playoff place at stake.
As the 9u girls event took to the courts the crazy weather continued..the sun came out, the wind blew we even had thunder and lightning for a while. Matches had been reduced to a one match tie-break lottery format (first to 10, deciding point at 9-9). The girls started well with a 3-0 win against Oxfordshire followed by a narrow 2-1 loss to Cambs, the eventual winners. 2-1 Wins against Beds and Norfolk left us in 2nd place in the round robin with Herts to play against for 3/4th place.Unfortunately after some long rallies and tough battles we lost a close 2-1 to Herts to claim 4th place in the 9u girls.
With pride at stake the 10u girls went back on court against Cambs for the last round of the day at 7pm..with the match tied at 1-1, Maddison took to the court to fight her way for a 5-3 victory in the fading daylight.
The beauty of the Lionel Cox trophy is that every match counts and both the boys and girls results count towards the overall placings, this is great for a team atmosphere and when not on court players are seen cheering on other ESSEX team members.
Despite probably the worst conditions in memory, and due to the efforts of everyone that took part we claimed the runner up trophy for the 2nd year in a row behind Herts..…
The trophy is now back in the trophy cabinet at the Essex office…but we are leaving a space for the winners trophy in 2016!
We would like to thank all of the players that gave 100% and to all of the parents, families and supporters that attended…we thank you for your patience and support…
PROUD TO BE ESSEX….
Lynn O’Brien/Girls Lionel Cox Captain