12 Counties 12U Boys Report

The boys turned up to Corby ready and raring to go. The team had all been involved in a really competitive county cup group, in the summer, as u11’s and were really looking forward to ‘going again’ as u12’s.

The boys demonstrated great fighting qualities before, and these were needed again! We started out with a 4-0 loss against the Notts team that ultimately won the group. Wiktor, with all the toughest opposition at number 1, improved game by game as his match went on. He was able to use this as great preparation for the following matches, where he only lost out in 3 sets to Beds and gave the Essex number 1 a bit of a scare in his final match.

Harry, at 2, was competitive as always. The tennis scoring system can be so tough at times, especially with the advantage deuce, where being just a touch off can result in some unrepresentative scorelines. He played some good tennis and fought hard (as we’ve come to expect for Northants) throughout.

Freddie and Momo at 3 and 4 were coming in a year young to see the level they’re aspiring to reach over the next 12 months. They acquitted themselves well. Freddie demonstrating some good defensive skills at times and a range of all court options. Momo is developing his ability to stay solid at a high tempo and keeps building his confidence that he belongs at this level.

For all the boys – the first step seems to be the need for exposure at this level day in day out. We seem to often kick off where the first match is a wake up call, to remember what’s necessary to compete at inter-county level i.e speed of court coverage and high levels of consistency as a base to work from.

Despite three 4-0 losses this remains a great experience for these boys. They’ll all be one step better come the summer county cup events I’m sure. Once again they all represented the county with pride and demonstrated impeccable sportsmanship throughout the day.

Justin Chacksfield, Captain