On Wednesday 14th March, slightly against the normal form, we took three girls to the U13 Eton Fives Championships; a pair and a half! It was agreed that they would rotate whenever possible. Winnie, Charlotte and Effie (all of whom are currently U12s) qualified in style by winning all of their pool matches. This gave them a coveted bye into the second round of the knockout stages.
Charlotte and Winnie then set about their second round opponents, playing with increasing confidence and skill which saw them off in style. Winnie won the last three points of the decisive game with three brilliant volleyed returns of the cut. Effie took over. She and Charlotte performed very well against a strong Highgate pair went through to the semi-finals; a fabulous achievement.
All three girls were cutting superbly and their movement around the court continued to improve. As a result they were able to keep the ball in play, maintainng pressure on their opponents. Sadly the girls met their match in the semi and lost to the eventual winners of the tournament; Highgate 1.
Once again our team were praised by the other coaches; it was felt that given a kinder draw, they may well have reached the final. Given this was an U13 tournament, they have already gained valuable experience of match play.
Mike Till, their coach, says “They will be genuine contenders for the future. It’s time now to inspire a few more girls to take part next year on the strength of our success this time; then who knows how things will turn out! The girls were a credit to themselves. Their willingness to play the game in the correct way and keeness to really improve were exemplary; congratulations on an excellent effort throughout the day”.
