Both team captains are already eagerly looking forward to next year’s event after encouraging displays from Shropshire’s boys and girls teams in the LTA’s 11U County Cup.
The boys competed at Lymm in Cheshire last weekend while the girls team played at Leicester – with the efforts of both county teams impressing their captains.
Cheryl Evans, captain of Shropshire’s girls team, said: “The girls had a lot of tennis with being in a group of five, which meant playing four other counties rather than the usual three.
“Due to the weather it was decided to play all the singles matches on Saturday and the doubles matches on Sunday. It meant the girls were exhausted by Saturday night.
“There were a few nerves for the first match, which could be seen, but of course as time went by the girls relaxed.
“The standard was high and this has given the girls a goal. They are now looking and planning tournaments for the summer.”
Shropshire were unfortunate to lose a number of matches on third-set tie-breaks which could have gone either way.
As it was, they were 4-2 winners against Staffordshire, with the other results a 5-1 reverse against Hereford & Worcester, with 4-2 defeats against both Leicestershire and Derbyshire.
The team featured Amelie, Arabella, Ava, Emma-Jayne, Emily and Isabella.
Team captain Cheryl added: “Arabella won all her singles matches, a great achievement.
“As a whole, it was great to see these girls in their first county match on yellow ball and a fresh experience playing as a team.
“There was great support for each other and they are a good bunch of girls. I can’t wait to see how they are playing next year.”
Shropshire’s boys team also impressed captain Harrison Gwilt with their efforts throughout a busy weekend at Lymm.
The team, which featured Alfie, Harry, Jonty, Louis, Oscar and Reuben, played against Cheshire, West of Scotland and Durham & Cleveland.
Team captain Harrison said: “With nerves running high for most of the team, including myself, at our first County Cup, we started by playing against a very strong Cheshire team.
“We soon realised we were up against it when we found out their front runner was in the top five in Europe.
“It was a tough first match that resulted in a 6-0 loss, but we showed good spirt and determination to never give up.
“Next we played the West of Scotland, an up and coming team that were very well drilled.
“This was a competitive tie and we managed to win a few sets but unfortunately we weren’t able to clinch a rubber which resulted in another loss.
“With the under-11 age group a new entry in the County Cup, the divisions have not yet evened out, which means it was luck of the draw who we came up against.
“Starting early on the Sunday, we played the county that finished third in the other half of the draw, Durham & Cleveland.
“We started well with competitive matches and narrowly lost a third-set tie-break 10-8.
“Alfie brought home the first win by beating their number one with a strong performance.
“This inspired the team to get another win in the doubles, with a close tie resulting in a frustrating 4-2 loss.”
He added: “It was a fantastic experience for all six boys who played.
“We showed great spirit and competitive determination to never give up. I was so proud of how the team were gracious in defeat and the boys are a credit to Shropshire.
“We are excited to get back to training as a team, so we can battle again next year.”
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