Captains Report:
Captained by Paul Maggs and Lizzie Flint – Izzie, Alex, Sophia and Ellie competed in the Under 12 County Cup National Finals in Bolton.
After a long journey up north, we arrived on Thursday evening with our ears ringing after some interesting singing from the back seats. Thankfully the team’s first training session showed slightly more quality then the Adele wannabe attempts!
Beginning the tournament on Friday, the eight counties were drawn in to two boxes of four. Ours included: Hertfordshire (eventual National Champs), Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire. As to be expected, the standard of the teams were a step up from the qualifying event, which meant every match was incredibly challenging, but our girls rose to the occasion, showing grit, resilience and passion to be proud of. A few wins clinched, but overall the competition was more experienced meaning we finished up in 4th place in the box.
But new dawn, new day with Alex first up on Sunday morning as we looked to close the weekend battling for seventh place against Gloucestershire. And ‘battle’ was certainly Alex’s middle name for her match, taking a note out of Brad Gilbert’s famous book ‘Winning Ugly’ to successfully put us 1-0.
Next up was our lion-hearted Sophia with yet another gutsy performance taking the team to 2-0 – BOOM we’re on the brink. Last up for the singles, was Izzie who continued her impressive form to give us the final rubber we needed to secure seventh place.
It was a brilliant weekend, full of ups and downs. As we tweeted throughout the tournament, there were lots of lessons learned, by both players and coaches, that we all look to take forward.
Lizzie and I would like to thank the girls for such a memorable few days; representing the county so well – for showing heart, hard work and belief that we hope they carry with them throughout the summer.