10U Boys County Cup Report
On the face of it 3 wins from 24 rubbers resulting in losses 4-2 to Leics, 5-1 to Lincs and 6-0 to Notts and Cambs placing us 5th in the group, is not at all awe-inspiring but the young boy’s resilience throughout the weekend absolutely was.
In a four player team, where we missed our number 1 and 3 others who could have played being unavailable for some part, or all, of the weekend, we were going to be right up against it from the outset.
But this is a squad of boys who fought incredibly hard in the winter at full strength, to come 2nd in their 12 counties group, and who played without 2 of their best players at the Lionel Cox event and still managed a win against Beds in the recent doubles event, so I had a good idea just how much playing for Northants means to them and I couldn’t have been prouder of the efforts they put in.
Rupert and Esa competed valiantly at 1 and 2, and though a little dispirited by match 4, still fought for every game they could in the fast four format. Nicholas came in (a year young at number 3) and had a superb debut in the u10 county team. He was competitive in all his matches, won 4 out of the 5 tiebreaks he played over the weekend and brought home two great singles wins. Otto played day 1 and gave a solid never say die effort against Leics, reminiscent of his 3 set epic against the same county in the 12 counties event. Arjun came in (another on debut) for day 2, disadvantaged by missing out on a day’s tennis previously, that his opponents had benefited from, he found the singles tough going but contributed fully to the doubles matches.
In doubles we competed really well – day 1 Nicholas and Otto came from behind to win in 3 v Leics. Esa and Rupert very nearly did the same against the Leics first pair, narrowly missing out in a match tiebreak. Cambs and Notts were just too strong all round, but on day 2 against Lincs we went in with Esa and Arjun at second pair, with Nicholas and Rupert at first pair. The boys were great, changing formations, motivating each other between points, and engaged in some incredible rallies. Nicholas and Rupert even stretched their opponents to a tiebreak, but ultimately to no avail.
The team spirit and fight were there until the very end, across two hot sunny days, with results not matching efforts given. This would have definitely broken other teams, but all the boys came out with huge credit, and some valuable experience playing against high level county opposition.
Justin Chacksfield
