Yorkshire U9 County Cup  

Venue: Sunderland Tennis Centre

Date: 15^th August 2015

Team Captain: Sam Salt

Yorkshire Team: Noah Kelly, Owen Lodge, Luke Hoyland, Isabella Gibson, Cadence Simpson, Sophie Marshman

Players Invited to Team Training: Joe Mazingham, Tommy Vale, Jo Anderson, Cheyenne Fee, Erin Thomas, Noah Kelly, Luke Hoyland, Thomas Everest-Wilcock, Sarah Copley, Nick Pool, Isabella Gibson, Cadence Simpson, Sienna Cooper, Esa Butt, Sophie Marshman, Millie Greenwood, Owen Lodge

Match 1: vs Durham and Cleveland -  WON 9 – 0

Match 2: vs Northumberland –            WON 7 – 2

Match 3: vs Cumbria –                        WON 5 – 4

Report 

Initially, I would like to congratulate every single player for their unbelievable effort and attitude in both the trainings leading up to the day and the day itself. A massive thank you must go to the families of our squad who gave up their time throughout the county cup process. All 6 Yorkshire representatives were an absolute credit to their county, coaches and families and everyone is and should be so proud of them.

A really telling factor in the day was our ability to be a team. From supporting each other on the sidelines through to the fact that every player played in every round of matches- we were a team throughout.

Every player had their own battles throughout the day- we won 7 out of the 10 3^rd sets we played, showing our courage and mental strength to step up when required. There were some huge wins during the day- the 5-4 win in the “final” against Cumbria saw two matches being turned around from a set and 2-0 down to win- crucial wins under such pressure.

Some key improvements we made over the day were:

• Keeping our concentration at all times- 1^st shot to the last
• Playing positive tennis- positive body language / verbals. How it then affected our performance ↑ and our opponents performance ↓
• Adopting smart doubles positions and committing to them
• Loud consistent communication between partners
• Continuing to play a positive brand of tennis throughout tight patches
• Identifying areas of weakness and strengths in an opponent or a pair (we lost key doubles matches through allowing the obviously dominant partner to dictate the match) 

It was a pleasure to Captain these players and I wish them all the success possible moving forwards.

Sam Salt