11U Boys County Cup Report

Written by Harry Malone, Captain

11U Boys County Cup

11U Boys Playoffs

Result – 2nd Place

Captain- Harry Malone

Assistant – Sam Carvil

Harry Rudolph,

Arjun Hari

Kingsley Johnson

David Vladau

Ishaan Genu

David trains at Sutton Coldfield Tennis Club

Harry, Arjun, Kingsley and Ishaan train at The Edgbaston Priory Club

Results

Vs East of Scotland 6-0

Vs Northumberland 5-1

Vs Nottinghamshire 2-4

To view the results, please click here

Captains Report

11u Boys County Cup Report

After a long, traffic filled drive up to Stockton-on-Tees, we finally all met up at the hotel, ready

for the weekend. We kicked off with a nice surprise in the form of custom warm-up t shirts

and hats for the players and coaches, courtesy of Flo; a lovely touch which showed the

atmosphere and spirit from the group. The boys sported them while they challenged the

locals at pool.

The following morning was a relaxed one; we didn’t start play until the afternoon so the boys

caught up on some rest and enjoyed the hotel breakfast.

Finally, at around 2.30pm on Saturday, we started our first match against East Scotland.

David (4) got us off to a flyer, winning convincingly for a 1-0 lead. This was backed up by

strong performances in straight set wins for Harry (3) and Kingsley (2), before Arjun (1) put

on an immense display to come back from a set down to beat the highest ranked player at

the competition (National Rank 7). 4-0 up after singles, they could’ve been forgiven for

easing up, but both doubles pairs (Kingsley and Harry (1) and Arjun and Ishaan (2)) posted

impressive wins, giving us a 6-0 victory in the opener. This called for a team building dinner

with all the players, parents and coaches, which was enjoyed by all!

Day 2 came around with a much earlier start time, and so a less sedate breakfast! Rain

threatened to delay play, but luckily the Warwickshire dad’s chipped in on Father’s Day to

sweep the rain off the courts and allow us to get under way!

We faced off against Northumberland, needing to win to top our group. David battled hard

but came up just short against a strong 4 seed. 0-1. Harry (3) came through for us again,

before Kingsley (2) and Arjun (1) dug deep to win close matches, Arjun even battling injury

to get us over the line. An amazing effort from all. 3-1 up after singles, we needed at least 1

doubles win to secure top spot in the group – we won both just to be sure, both Kingsley and

Harry (1) and Arjun and Ishaan (2) showing their superior aggression and doubles smarts to

win out. 5-1. 1 st in the group and now a tie vs Nottinghamshire to qualify for Nationals.

This would be a big test, as Notts ranked very highly this weekend. It proved so, as Ishaan

(4) and Harry (3) both lost out to a pair of inspired performances, despite their best efforts in

refusing to give up. Kingsley (2) also showed fight and lost a really close match tie break,

leaving us 3-0 down. Arjun (1) made in 3/3 in singles though, beating another strong

opponent, at times on 1 knee! Inspired! This left us needing both doubles to force a

shootout. Kingsley and Harry (1) won their 3 rd doubles match of the weekend, a closely

fought match, but unfortunately Arjun and Ishaan (2) lost narrowly in 2 close sets, meaning

we fell just short of the shootout.

Placing 2 nd overall, the boys did their county, their parents, their coaches and themselves

proud, showing everything asked of them, and missing out by a couple of points here and

there in very tight matches. They’ll no doubt go on to perform brilliantly in future county cups

for Warwickshire.

Thanks to all the boys and their parents, it wouldn’t be possible without them.

Harry and Sam