9U County Cup Report

Captains: Josh Crossley and Billy Groves  

Boys team:

• James E
• Maksim
• Richard 
• Maxwell

Girls team:

• Charlotte
• Ayana
• Johanna
• Ella 

It was a lovely day driving over to Cardiff for the Under 9s County Cup on Sunday. 

We were in high spirits during the warm up and the girls thoroughly enjoyed their stay in the hotel the night before. 

We had Surrey, Buckinghamshire and South Wales in our group. 

South Wales were up first and each of the players had a fantastic start. They all worked extremely hard with Johanna picking up a brilliant win at number 4 winning in a tie break. Ella battling hard but just losing out in a tie break. We ended up finishing 3-1 down after singles. 

Surrey were the strongest team at the event and each player worked extremely hard. We worked well as a team and supported each other through the matches but we couldn’t get a win and lost 0-4. Last up were Buckinghamshire with Johanna playing some really good tennis and pulling out our only win to lose the singles 3-1. The doubles was brilliant for the girls. It was a great experience where they could work together as a team and try to showcase their volleying which has been a huge part of our County Training sessions. Lottie and Ella played some lovely tennis and were much more active at the net but couldn’t quite get a win and Johanna and Ayana managed to get 1 win in a tie break. 

The girls did a fantastic job and it was a great experience for everyone to see the level of other counties. We came 4th in the end but I hope the girls can use it as motivation for next year. 

9U Boys

Boys came on and had a very good warmup. They felt they were prepared. They are the same teams. It was a good start and the boys settled well into the matches, but it wasn’t quite enough and we lost all of our singles to South Wales.

Surrey were next, they had an extremely high-level of players but each player gave it their all. Richard played some lovely tennis and James had an amazing performance at number one, who managed to take their number 1 to a tiebreak. It was a fantastic show of fight and resilience, but James just lost out.

Buckinghamshire were a tough county as well. Maxwell showed a more consistent game and it was neck and neck until the end. Maksim got a walk over due to the opponent being too ill to play and James fought hard against a very powerful hitter. 

All of the doubles were played well. The boys communicated together and were getting involved during the points. Overall we lost all of our doubles matches and finished 4th. It was a tough one to take but the boys stayed in high spirits the whole afternoon and should be very pleased with their performance. 

Josh Crossley