The East Region Talent team held the annual 8&U inter-county event at Redbridge Sports and Leisure Centre on Sunday 29th February.
Six boys and girls selected from each of the 8 counties in the LTA East Region turned up to compete against each other. 48 girls arrived bright and early in the morning, to compete for their county and each player was issued with a team t-shirt which they wore with pride. The girls demonstrated a great level of tennis and team spirit. Hertfordshire won the girls event, Cambridgeshire came 2nd and Essex were 3rd. Each player received a worthy certificate for taking part and medals were given out for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.
The boys arrived for the afternoon session and again they played with great determination. There were some excellent matches with their teams cheering them on. Essex won the boys event, with Hertfordshire finishing a close 2nd and Norfolk were 3rd. Once all the scores had been calculated between both the boys and girls results, the cup for 2012 was handed over to the Hertfordshire Team Captain.
It was a great days tennis, with 96 children aged 8&U playing the game to a very high level. The spectators clapped and supported all the teams throughout the day, which made the day even more enjoyable. A big thank you to the referee Neil Songer, who ran the event very smoothly and to all the team captains and helpers/umpires for ensuring the day was such a success.
Hertfordshire girls team was captained by Monica Becerra from Gosling and boys team was captained Ben Wood from Batchwood
Overall result for both girls and boys:
1st Hertfordshire
2nd Essex
3rd Cambridgeshire
4th Suffolk
5th Norfolk
6th Bedfordshire
7th Northamptonshire
8th Buckinghamshire
Girls
1st Hertfordshire
2nd Cambridgeshire
3rd Essex
4th Suffolk
5th Northamptonshire
6th Bedfordshire
7th Buckinghamshire
8th Norfolk
Boys
1st Essex
2nd Hertfordshire
3rd Norfolk
4th Cambridgeshire
5th Suffolk
6th Bedfordshire
7th Buckinghamshire
8th Northamptonshire
Natalia Ilkow
Talent and Performance Coordinator
Hertfordshire & Buckinghamshire