12U Teams at 12 Counties Championships

12U Girls Captain’s Report

The Herefordshire & Worcestershire 12U Boys and Girls County Team played teams representing Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Nottinghamshire at Corby Tennis Centre on Sunday 3rd March 2024 as part of the 12 Counties Championships 2023/24 Division 2B.

Captain: Chris Marlow
Girls Team: Beth, Ruby, Summer and Allegra

Arrival:

The team arrived at 9:30am in good time to have a good warm up, hit some balls and prepare for their matches. Thank you to their parents for arriving promptly!

The matches got underway at 10:30am.

Round 1 v Buckinghamshire:

Beth and Ruby are first on. Beth plays Ella who has a great game with lots of weapons. Beth finds it difficult to gain momentum in the first set as Ella is keeping the ball deep and winning the close games. In the second set Beth tries hard to stay positive and does well to hang tough just losing out 4-2 but showing great fight at the end. Ruby is off to a fabulous start against Gracie and wins the first set 4-2. Gracie makes a few double faults in the second set and although there are some close games going to deuce Ruby sees out the second set 4-1. Summer has a difficult opponent in Scarlet. There seemed some questionable calls from the Buckinghamshire player and the referee was called through the match. Scarlet hit with great power and spin and it was a shame to see the unnecessary gamesmanship. Scarlet beats Summer 4-0 4-1. Allegra and Isabella play a very hard-hitting match with both players really going for their shots and some great high tempo rallies. A couple of good retrievals from Isabella and the occasional unforced error from Allegra and the Buckinghamshire player takes the match 4-2 4-1.

Score: H&W Lose 3-1

Round 2 v Nottinghamshire

Beth tries hard against Lucy who is ranked 112 places higher than her. Lucys consistency and quality of shot makes it tough for Beth to get into the match. Beth tries to get an early strike in the rallies in the second set, but Lucy has good offence and defence. Lucy wins 4-0 4-0. Ruby is embroiled in a battle with Clementine. Some games in this match had multiple deuces. Although Ruby pushed hard and stayed determined through the match, she loses out 4-2 4-2. Summer has a good match with Sofia. Although the frustration does show in the middle of the match, Summer manages to calm down and apply herself. She focuses her attack more on Sofias backhand with some success. Unfortunately, Summer loses out 4-1 4-1. Allegra puts in another great display of power against Sithandanzile. Allegra wins the first set 4-1 and looks comfortable. The second set is closer as Allegra plays more passive and Nottinghamshire player grows in confidence. Allegra does well to close out the match 4-2 but a good lesson in not to change what is working.

Score: H&W Lose 3-1

Round 3 v Bedfordshire

Beth heads on against Nadia and plays some fantastic aggressive tennis to dominate the first set and win 4-1. Nadia takes a 3-1 lead in the second as she cuts down her errors. Beth fights hard to get the score to 3-3. A couple of unforced errors from Beth and the second set goes to Nadia 5-3. Beth keeps calm and re-groups for the match tie-break. She plays a fantastic opening point with an aggressive forehand that builds her confidence. She leads the tie-break comfortably and despite a loose forehand error on match point Beth has done a brilliant job in seeing the match out 10-4. Ruby is looking strong against Quinn. She is controlling the points well and controlling her body language well. Ruby wins the match 4-2 4-1 with a professional performance. Summer plays brilliantly against Lara. Controlling her attacking shots, making lots of balls into play, and most importantly staying focused she sees out the match 4-2 4-1. Allegra is the last match on court against Joelle. Allegra is looking the more consistent of the two players and wins the first set 4-2. With no other tennis being played and all the focus on their match both players make some unforced errors. Allegra does well to win the second set 4-1 and complete a 4-0 win for H&W.

Score: H&W Wins 4-0

In short:

• 3rd Place
• High level of commitment from the players. The effort and performance from the girls was great all day.
• Brilliant team spirt from both parents and players – thanks everyone for staying to the end!
• Fabulous mental strength from the girls throughout a challenging day. Great to finish on a win!

Well done everyone!

Chris Marlow

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12U Boys Captain’s Report 

Captain: Joshua Price
Boys Team: Eshaan, Ruben, Daniel & Lewis.

Arrival:

The team arrived promptly at 9:30am to ensure there was enough time to go into a good warm up which included a few words regarding the team’s tactics & plans for the day ahead. Thank you to the parents for getting the boys there safe, sound and in good spirits!

After a briefing from the referee the matches got underway at 10:30am.

Round 1 vs Buckinghamshire

Eshaan & Ruben started off for H&W. Eshaan was playing against Alex who had a great variety of skills & utilised them to good effect, with a particularly strong serve which led to a lot of free points being won. With this being said, Eshaan started off very strong taking the first 3 games of the match to lead 3-0.

It was at this point though the momentum started to turn as Alex then was able to improve his consistency and the amount of unforced errors from his side dropped drastically. The match was a very close one within the games, with lots of big points being played but Alex seemed to just have enough each time, to take the match 5-3, 4-0. Ruben came up against Vega. Vega was a powerful hitter and was looking to really set himself to try and blast Ruben, who’s 1 year younger and playing up an age group, off the court. Ruben battled well throughout the match & Ruben showed great bravery to start trying to dictate the point by making Vega run by using the width of the court in the 2nd set. Vega won the match 4-0, 4-2. Daniel & Lewis were next up on court against strong opposition. Daniel was taking on Robin, who is ranked 140 places above Dan in the 12U ranking system. Regardless of this, Dan showed a real competitive spirit & good use of his groundstrokes to control the rallies from the off & put Robin under real pressure. The match was probably one of the best of the day with both players getting & saving a match point against their opponent. The result was as close as it could get, with Robin taking the win 3-5, 4-1, 12-10. Lewis played against another player who is ranked in the top 150, and though there were some great rallies throughout & a few examples of Lewis taking the game to his opponent by stepping in to the court to try and take control of the game - the consistency of the opponent was what ultimately overpowered Lewis where the Bucks player took the match 4-0, 4-0.

Final score: H&W lose 4-0.

Round 2 vs Nottinghamshire

Eshaan started his match unfortunately carrying the previous match’s momentum into this one - where, Kai, a very strong hitter who had one of the strongest & most effective forehand weapons on show throughout the day - took an early lead in the match 4-0. However, Eshaan then used one of his greatest strengths to come back into the match in the 2nd set. This strength is his mental resilience. Having now lost 13 games in a row including this first set, many others would have crumbled under this pressure. However, this wasn’t going to be Eshaan’s story. He really got stuck into the 2nd set, and was happy to mix up his play by using a greater variety of skills to really try and play with the rhythm of his opponent. This worked a treat & along with making some great decisions at key points in the match, Eshaan battled his way back to win the match 0-4, 5-4, 10-2.

Ruben came up against another very strong player in Henry. Ruben’s opponent was very consistent and constantly was moving Ruben side to side forcing errors from every position on the court. Ruben, to his credit, never let his head drop & continued to battle his way through the match. Notts took the victory 4-0, 4-0.

Dan, was next up and looking to continue his great tennis against another player who is ranked almost 70 positions above him. Dan took the first set in convincing style but then too many errors led to his opponent taking a very closely fought match 1-4, 4-2, 10-5.

Lewis’ match was the final one in this fixture & he showed great spirit to deal with a big server who was full of confidence. Lewis showed glimpses of the tennis that he is truly capable of playing, by trading & winning points efficiently from the baseline as he took control of a few points by looking for his forehand and as such started to dictate the rally in areas of the match. Notts took this match 4-1, 4-1.

Final Score: H&W lost 3-1.

Round 3 vs Bedfordshire

Eshaan showed once again his great variety of skills which put the Bedfordshire number 1 player (who had won all his other matches on the day) under real pressure by constantly taking rhythm away from his opponent. There were several great rallies in this back & forth match, but the ultimate turning point occurred at the end of the 1st set, where Eshaan had built the point brilliantly & ended up at the net to put away a volley on top of the net - which was unfortunately missed & led to the Bedfordshire player carrying the momentum from this moment onwards. The match ended in a 5-3, 4-2 win for Bedfordshire.

Ruben then gave a great example of his own mental strength. After two tough matches earlier in the day, Ruben could have been forgiven for feeling sorry for himself and not playing his best tennis. However, this wasn’t to be the case as he came out the blocks firing, playing inspired tennis & really dominating his opponent with a looseness that is synonymous with when Ruben is playing his best tennis. The name, “Octopus”, was termed as when Ruben embraced this looseness to his game, he clearly is a force to be reckoned with. Ruben won his match 4-0, 4-0 in dominant fashion.

Dan, who had a fantastic day all round, then played against Riddha. The emphasis going into this match was for Dan to control the rally as much as he could by searching for his forehand to dictate the point. Dan was able to out hit & out rally his opponent and won the match 4-1, 4-1 in a very strong performance. The final match of the day across the whole venue had Lewis playing against Caspar. The match was too close to call all the way through, with errors coming from both parties. Although the match had many key moments, Lewis & Caspar played the match with great sportsmanship throughout - Caspar won the match 2-4, 4-1, 10-6.

Final Score: H&W Draw 2-2

In Short:

• 4th place
• Great mental resilience from all players to go through some tough matches but giving their best efforts throughout the event. Brilliant battling all day!
• Lessons to be learned to play to our strengths: use of variety, disrupting opponents rhythm/controlling the space on the court
• Team spirit was exceptional from all parents & players!

Well done all, lots to take away from the day & come back stronger in the future!

Joshua Price
12U Boys Captain