Mini Red Event
There were 20 players playing in four boxes, with the top two from each group progressing to the Quarter Final stage. In three of the groups (A, C and D) there was a clear winner and runner up with Thomas Barlow, Charlie Liptrot and Callum Williams winning all four of their matches and Ben Purcell, Teddy Roberts and William Owens taking the runner up spot with three wins each. Group B was much closer, with three players (Molly Jones, Omid Bakhtiari and Matthew Campbell) each winning three of their matches, so the two players who progressed from that box went through only by a matter of points. Molly won the group with a points difference of 11, Omid followed with 8 and Matthew just missed out having a points difference of 7!
Thomas, Callum, Charlie and William made it through to the Semi Finals, where Thomas (Wrexham) took on Callum (Llandudno) and Charlie (Ellesmere Port) took on William (Chester). Both matches were close, with scores of 10-7 and 10-6, but it was Charlie who eventually took the Red Championship for this season with a 10-6 win against Thomas in the final.
All players received a certificate for getting into the Mini Red Masters event, whilst Thomas and Charlie also received a Runner Up and Winners medal and Charlie also taking home the Red Championship Shield until the Summer Masters in August.
Mini Orange Event
Sixteen players were invited to the Orange event, with four players per box and the top two progressing to the Quarter Finals. The winners of each group, having won all of their matches were: Danny Urey, Laura Holmes, Cai Llwyd-Jones and Matthew Prescott. Joining them in the Quarters were Runners Up Megan Davies, Alexandra Howell and Hayat Leung. The final spot was a close call between Sebastian Birchall, Thomas Barlow and Katie Land as they all won one match each, so it went back to the number of sets won. Having won one more than the other two, it was Sebastian who took the final Quarter Final place.
Danny (Warrington), Matthew (Widnes), Cai (Bangor) and Hayat (Ellesmere Port) all made it through to the Semi Finals after some extremely close matches. In the Semi’s, Danny took on Matthew and Cai took on Hayat, with Danny and Cai going through to the final with scores of 7-4 7-2 and 7-3 7-4 respectively.
The Final was another close match, with Danny coming out on top after an 8-6 7-1 win to take home the winners medal and Orange Championship Shield until the Summer Masters event in August.
Mini Green Event
The Green event saw twelve players play off in three boxes with the winner of each group and the best placed runner up going through to the Semi Finals. Nathan Caines (Mold), Alessandro Emmett (Warrington) and Harvey Mottram (Northwich) won all of their matches to go through as group winners, but the best placed runner up spot was a tie between three players: Archie Blacklock, Morgan Harding and William Hughes, with all three players having only lost to the winner of their group. On games difference, William had won 3 more games than he’d lost, but Archie and Morgan could not be separated with both being on 5, having won 9 and lost 4 games each.
Whilst the first Semi Final got underway between Harvey and Alessandro, Archie and Morgan had to endure a playoff match to see who would take the last Semi Final spot to face Nathan, which Morgan won 4-1. Harvey came out on top against Alessandro to book his place in the Final with a 4-1 win, then having had a quick break Morgan entered into his Semi Final match against Nathan. Nathan won that match 4-0 to take him through to the final against Harvey. Nathan eventually won 4-2 to take home the Winner’s medal and Green Championship Shield, which will be returned for the Summer Masters event in August.
Wrexham Player Plus tournament – Sat 3rd & Sun 4th April 2011
The NWRTC is now looking forward to its next major junior event, the Wrexham Player Plus competition, which is a player and coach event. This top regional-level event will take place over the weekend of Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th April 2011, with boys and girls travelling nationally to enter events at each age group (9&U Orange ball, 10&U Green ball and 12&U Yellow ball).
The format is based on the Davis Cup where communication between players and their coach IS allowed at each change of ends, which is the purpose for the event. For junior players and their coaches, this is a particularly important event held at the start of each season because it allows coaches to see which parts of a players’ game need to be worked on for the coming season and gives players a good chance to alter tactics and receive instruction during the match – something they will have to learn to do for themselves later in the season.
For more information on the Wrexham Player Plus event please go to: www.nwrtc.co.uk/playerplus.html